TSwift25

Press and a clean would do wonders to that back cover. VF-/VF with that BC as is, could be VF+/VFNM with the clean and press.

Higher quality scans would be helpful here. Looks like a heavy dust-shadow on the back cover. Torn overhang on the BC is unfortunate because it looks like it was miscut, contributing to that tearing/fraying. I’d call it a VG/FN, but my experience is CGC hammers dust-shadowing, so it may grade out lower than that.

X-Men 1 continuing to run seems the most likely. Movie buzz, the title getting "put back" prominently in the Marvel universe (both comics and eventually joining the MCU) and having a lot of catching up to do relative to its Marvel key peers all make for a good bet. SC 22 also seems like a good bet. It's really tough above mid-grade, Hal is by far the most popular version of the GL character, and DC due to probably reboot everything related to their movie universe puts this one at the top for me.

Such a tough book. Awesome copy!

I finished that run, plus annuals. Highlight for me.

The thing I wonder is if ASM 1 introduced a mainstay character (JJJ aside), would this be even higher? Like let’s say ASM 1 was the first Aunt May, or Doc Ock, it’d be through the roof.

What a great idea for a thread! I have four that are too sentimental to sell. All have to do with my father starting my collecting habit. ASM 19 was the first 12 cent Spider-Man I ever got, and ASM 28 was a personal grail. When Stan Lee was in South Florida my dad took me to meet him and he signed both books for me. X-Men 1 was the first mega-key I ever had (a birthday present) and FF 48 was the last book my dad bought me as he'd pass away a few weeks later. All this was within about a year of each other. It's a whirlwind and a bittersweet memory. All too sentimental to ever let go.

798 has to be the first full appearance, no other way to look at it. 797 is first "in shadow". This is Venom ASM 298/299/300 + Web 18 all over again

I really think this is kind of the end of the brick and mortar comic shops. It would seem Marvel's only function to Disney is as an IP factory. Whether that's in print or digital is really of no concern. You're going to see fewer and fewer people buying the monthlies, instead just waiting for collected editions. And if that's the case, it's not a far step to just going digital for the collected editions, or Marvel Unlimited. It's really bad for the hobby, long term.

If the content is to be taken literally, he hasn't shown up yet. ASM 796 had the Carnage symbiote reject the nanites in Norman's blood preventing him from being the green goblin. Safe bet seems to be that we'll see the Red Goblin in 797. Everything else has just been Norman with the Carnage symbiote, not the Green Goblin with the Carnage symbiote, hence, the Red Goblin.

Avengers 4 is significantly more common, and the FF have such a significant place in Marvel history. It's easy to picture all the early FF's making a run when the Fox acquisition is finalized by Disney on movie speculation. As pure collecting, FF 1 - 100 is about the peak of Marvel, IMO, the covers, the stories, the characters are all top notch.

A bit late to the party here, but the 650's - 680's (?) have a few quasi-keys that may heat up as the events become more central to Spider-Man canon. There are variants that are pretty hot in that run, too, but for just the "content keys" there's first Flash as Venom, JJJ as mayor, death of Marla Jameson, and the "death" of Peter Parker.

I'm interested in seeing what the lasting affect on the status quo this leaves. Seems like it's more of an unofficial sequel to Court of Owls than a DC Universe altering event, but it's Snyder and Capullo so I'm in. Still feels more funky than meaningful, but that's comics, right?

I'm completely in this camp.

Also - I'm surprised that with all the generations and legacy and whatever the other events are that they're not throwing back to the original Wolverine numbering as that I think is closing in on #400 by now.

I would love them to keep with the legacy numbering, but it's clearly to milk a Thor 700, an ASM 800, the milestones for Daredevil and Avengers, wait a bit and then go back to #1's and return to original numbering for 900's.

My recollection - and this is 20+ years ago - is that comic shops had the Bagley flat cover in addition to the grey and the white. However, Newsstands ONLY got the flat cover. I need to check if my copy has the "direct edition" or not (I definitely recall buying that cover at a newsstand). I think, in any event, the "newsstand variant" simply caught on as an identifier not that it was only available at newsstands.

Slight stress on overhang of top back cover, discoloration / stress at top staple. VF+

Spine stress, staple stress, writing on front and back cover, slight tear top cover above the 'N', and what appears to be pre-Marvel chipping. I'd call it VG/FN+ so 5.0/5.5. I'd imagine it gets a slight bump so 5.5 is probably fair.

I'd love to be in.

Refocusing, maybe that means purging. I finished my complete ASM a few years ago and then got distracted, tried simultaneously to do FF and UXM completes but never stayed focused. Might pause the FF, focus on UXM.

1 - Iconic cover, #1 issue. 3 - Introduces either villain 1 or 1A for Spidey. 2 - Great cover, iconic villain, hard book to find in presentable shape due to red cover 4 - Another iconic villain's 1st. For whatever reason, my favorite early cover. 6 - Iconic villain's first, dropped because cover (to me) is dull. 9 - Great villain, great cover 10 - Eh cover, Enforcers irrelevant now, but were big deal for first 40 issues or so 7 - Second vulture...did we really need to see him again so soon? :-P 8 - Bumped because of the first Spidey - Torch interaction. issue otherwise. 5 - Way too early in a title's run for a filler issue. Such is life.

To locate? Not hard. There are always copies on eBay, at least. To come across at a store? Hit and miss, probably not so easy. To come across at a small show? Hit and miss, maybe not so easy. To come across at a large convention? Probably not hard. I have seen them in LCS's, but usually well over priced. I've seen them at cons, both large and small. To me, the undeniably "hot" books from the late 90's / early 00's always seem to show up just usually at a eye-popping price. It's the random fill in the run copies that don't seem to show up as much. For example. When I went in to fill in my ASM complete run vol. 2, #19 was fairly "common" in the wild (non-eBay edition) I had to take to eBay to find a vol. 2 #20. I'd guess it's because that was an easier retail return because of the 100 pager.

HG moderns are tough to me. There's 9.8 and not 9.8. This is not 9.8. Maybe 9.4?

That's probably my personal favorite modern variant (the fan expo with Stan). I just think it's perfect.