your thoughts on why

[The Less Blob]

Peter Parker Spectacular Spiderman always plays a distant second fiddle to ASM in terms of collecting interest? ASM is always a strong seller, in almost all grades, if you give a decent discount (but less of a discount is necessary than with most marvels). Heck, I even occasionally sell some Larsen issues and other post-McFarlane 90's dreck for a few bucks.

 

From issue #1 through some point in the mid-80s, I never really felt that the quality was noticeably different and PPSSM had some decent story lines. At some point in the mid-80s Sal's work just became horrendous and the stuff can't be looked at, but before then, there's a lot of good stuff that really is on par with what was going on in ASM at the same point, yet these books have far less interest and they did even before PPSSM got cancelled.

 

Why do you think? Would Frank Miller's first DD be a $50-$100 book if in the pages of ASM? (Would Byrne's first X-Men be a $50-$100 book if in ASm rather than MTU?)

 

I understand why MTU might not get the same props. While fun, a lot of those stories were even more concocted than the typical ASM story and some of the team-ups were dopey. but then again, there's a lot of good stuff in there sitting in dollar bins like a lot of nice mid-70s Byrne work.

[cd4ever]

Peter Parker Spectacular Spiderman always plays a distant second fiddle to ASM in terms of collecting interest? ASM is always a strong seller, in almost all grades, if you give a decent discount (but less of a discount is necessary than with most marvels). Heck, I even occasionally sell some Larsen issues and other post-McFarlane 90's dreck for a few bucks.

 

From issue #1 through some point in the mid-80s, I never really felt that the quality was noticeably different and PPSSM had some decent story lines. At some point in the mid-80s Sal's work just became horrendous and the stuff can't be looked at, but before then, there's a lot of good stuff that really is on par with what was going on in ASM at the same point, yet these books have far less interest and they did even before PPSSM got cancelled.

 

Why do you think? Would Frank Miller's first DD be a $50-$100 book if in the pages of ASM? (Would Byrne's first X-Men be a $50-$100 book if in ASm rather than MTU?)

 

I understand why MTU might not get the same props. While fun, a lot of those stories were even more concocted than the typical ASM story and some of the team-ups were dopey. but then again, there's a lot of good stuff in there sitting in dollar bins like a lot of nice mid-70s Byrne work.

 

Other than being the first spidey book, which must count for something, ASM also seems to have plenty more 'key' issues with the first venom, first hobgoblin, first black cat, first black costume, Carnage, the McFarlane issues....although I kind of agree on the Miller DD's....they seem very undervalued and probably would command more $$ in a more prestigious book, like ASM.

[The Less Blob]

yeah, but even the generic ASMs seem to do better than semi-key PPSSMs. i suppose people are completing runs out there and they'll do ASM before PPSSM.

 

i just sold 24 issues of various SA through modern ASMs in the last 24 hours (that's a lot for me). i'm going to need to dig up some more inventory!

[Rodey]

I guess the Spidey purists prefer ASM over PPSSM. The only other "valuable" 1st app is Cloak and Dagger. But that's not a major key.

[The Less Blob]

I guess Batman/Detective and Superman/Action are both such old titles that it doesn't matter as much (thouhh most of the BA "keys" are in the batman title), although I gues Superman has been relaunched a few times?

[DKB]

I'd love to shore up my PPSSM run with higher graded nicer copies...but ASM takes precedence. Just does.

 

Although, for some reason, I'm upgrading my Web collection, but those books are costing me $1 a piece. Real nice copies of PPSSM 1-50 are usually a bit more.

 

I'll get to it eventually though.

[trevorlsmith]

I thought Miller's 1st DD was DD 158, which is a $50-100 book?

[trevorlsmith]

Other than being the first spidey book, which must count for something, ASM also seems to have plenty more 'key' issues with the first venom, first hobgoblin, first black cat, first black costume, Carnage, the McFarlane issues....although I kind of agree on the Miller DD's....they seem very undervalued and probably would command more $$ in a more prestigious book, like ASM.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure the Miller DD's except perhaps the first few were heavily hoarded, and in my opinion, not under valued at all.

[joe_collector]

I thought Miller's 1st DD was DD 158, which is a $50-100 book?

 

It is, but the PPSSM issues are the first time Miller drew Daredevil.

[ft88]

Also PPSM 1-4 were bought in hoards keeping the price low for a semi key issue like #1. There are ads where you could but multiples of these issues in later marvels. I don't like PP 27 and 28 nearly as much as the Daredevil art and stories, plus the cover to 28 just stinks. I'll match up the Jean Dewolf storyline to anything of that era. One of my favorites.

 

I could do without "Spot" however and the Black Cat/Kingpin storyline was tedious at best. It seemed to get more play in PPSM than in ASM as I recall.

[The Less Blob]

well, sure, there's plenty of supply, but that's true for all ASMs from 1976 onward

 

perhaps that's it. PPSSM #1 was at best a $5 book for so long due to the huge numbers of them out there that it tainted the whole title in collector's minds for years and years.

 

Fewer GG and early Punishers appearances in PPSSM as well, not to mention almost all of the early hobgoblin appearances were in ASM (but by then PPSSM had started to look bad anyway)

 

Anyone have a scan of that great painted cover with Doc Oc out of PPSSM. Always thought that one should go for more than it does.

[joe_collector]

Here's the deal from a comic-reader's POV:

 

Nothing happened in PPSSM, and all the big stuff was in ASM. Sure, there might be the odd anomaly like Miller's DD in #27, but for the most part, ASM was the place to be and PPSSM was just a second title for those Spidey fans who couldn't get enough.

 

I believe there were even a few editorial responses to questions of why nothing of importance really happened in either MTU or PPSSM, and I believe the replies were that ASM was Spidey's main book and Marvel didn't want fans of their best-sellng book missing anything.

[valiantman]

Except for the "manufactured collectibles" of the Ultimate Spider-man run,

each of the successive lines of Spider-man comics appears to "tier downward"

when compared to Amazing Spider-man.

 

ASM is top tier.

Peter Parker SSM '76 is second and well above Web of Spider-man.

Web of Spider-man is more important than 1990s Spider-man,

and the various titles of the mid-1990s (Spider-man Unlimited, Saga, etc.)

don't seem to have a fan following driving any notable back issue sales.

 

Except for the most recent incarnation as Ultimate Spider-man,

there is a logical "flow" to the downward spiral that is

all titles of Spider-things non-ASM.

 

If Spider-history tells us anything, Ultimate Spider-man is doomed as a title...

ready to be tossed aside by the next incarnation that becomes hot for a short amount of time,

... though I suppose the limited quantities of USM #1 will probably hold

the prices above the bargain bins... for some of those variants.

 

Personally, I'd much rather have a CGC 9.8 of Spectacular Spider-man #1

than CGC 9.8 USM #1 White... even if they were the same price.

 

But I'd probably pick any number of high grade copies of ASM pre-1976

before I'd shell out the cash for 1976's PPSS #1.

 

Slapping a "#1" on the cover shouldn't make a book more important than the predecessors.

(But unfortunately, the gimmicks sometimes work.)

[The Less Blob]

well, at the time, cloak and dagger seemed like a big deal. they had their own mini and everything! but i guess that's about it. lots of generic issues, no less than ASM generic issues, sure, but fewer "special" ones mixed in.

 

actually, some of the early PPs had some nifty stuff going on, but it didn't last for long.

[Rodey]

And where is Cloak and Dagger today? I'm surprise they didn't throw them in Civil War or start another series with them. they've used every other character out there.

[FrankCastle]

The Sin Eater saga, where he killed Jean DeWolf (among others), in PPSSM 106 to 110 were terrific issues ( I still go back and read them from time to time), and I don't think he (SE) even appeared in Amazing. I collected all 3 growing up in the 1980's and I'd have to say back then my friends and I all liked PPSSM better than Amazing because in ASM there were something like 2-3 years of Hobgoblin stories, just got boring after awhile.

I just think they aren't as collectable because there are so many completionists of ASM where there are basically weekly auctions where you can get PPSSM from the beginning to the early hundreds for pennies on the dollar. You can't even get full runs of ASM starting in the 200's because of the keys.

Jay

[HighVoltage]

PPTSSM had some good issues, story-wise and art-wise. I believe the 'Carrion' issues in the 20's & 30's were very good, as were issues in the 60's/70's/80s's. Cloak & Dagger's origin was pretty different at the time, I thought.

 

I would say that PP was much grittier than ASM, particularly in those issues from the 60's through the 80's. Seemed like PP dealt with more 'street-related crime,' with ASM dealt with more superhero stuff.

 

Check out #71, 'With This Gun...' That's one of Spidey's all-time BEST stories anywhere.

 

Peter David wrote both ASM and PP in the early/Mid 1980's, including the 'Sin Eater' storyline. HIs PP stuff seemed like it was better, though (again - much grittier).

 

I tend to agree - if these stories had appeared in the regular ASM book, they would command more respect than they do now. How much more is hard to say. Maybe we should be thankful that they're still available at such cheap prices!

[ft88]

PPSM 75 with the near death of Black Cat and the following ripping off of Doc OCks arms was pretty good. Origin and Punisher stories 81-83 were well done as well. The gun story I can appreciate but since I lean more libertarian/conservative it sort of fell into the typical left viewpoint Marvel would push out every now and then. Same reason I can't really appreciate the GL/GA Adams run like everyone else. The "save society" storyline just bothers me to no end and it feels preachy. Thats fine if you agree with the viewpoint, but if you disagree it sort of interrupts.

[mica]

MARVEL TALES brought many up to speed on the Amazing Spiderman title and helped young readers to get hooked into checking out earlier runs. This had to have helped in small ways to the already popular ASM title.(depends)

 

Had there not been Marvel Teamup and Spidey-Super Stories for competition the Peter Parker title would have had more of an impact.

You as a kid would be able to purchase a few Spiderman titles, so you choose from the 5.

Amazing; PP Spectacular; Marvel Tales ; Marvel Team Up(which stopped so that we could start WEB of Sp.; SpideySuperStories

 

You'll probably only choose 3 Spiderman titles on average if you want to also be able to get FF, Thor, and Avengers. This doesn't leave much room for X-men, CaptainAmerica, Hulk, Conan, SGT Fury...etc..etc...

 

Then the fateful day when they produced the new title called Spiderman I got tired of the multiple books