Auctions: comic books July 1972

Amazing Spider-Man (1963 1st Series) 110 GD/VG 3.0 (R)

Restored (see item notes)

RESTORATION. Color touch.

First appearance of the Gibbon in "The Birth of the Gibbon!" Part 1 of 2. Script by Stan Lee. Pencils by John Romita. Inks by John Romita and Tony Mortellaro (backgrounds). Cover by John Romita and Frank Giacoia. On a Manhattan rooftop, the wall-crawler has a chance meeting with a man named Martin Blank. And after he talks with Spider-Man; the tall, lanky, and athletic Martin decides to become a superhero! But when Martin (in his ape costume) meets the web-slinger again, Spider-Man laughs at his offer to become partners, and Martin is hurt. And now the Gibbon is vulnerable to becoming partners...with someone else! Origin of the Gibbon. Cameo appearances by Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, and Kraven the Hunter. (Notes: This story completes Stan Lee's extraordinary scripting run on the Amazing Spider-Man title -- which began with issue #1 in 1963. The letters page includes a letter from comics writer David Michelinie. This issue was reprinted in Marvel Tales #89.) 32 pages. Cover price $0.20.

Marvel Premiere (1972) 3 FN+ 6.5

Cover pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith, inks by Frank Giacoia. While the World Spins Mad!, script by Barry Smith (plot) and Stan Lee (dialogue), pencils by Barry Smith, inks by Dan Adkins; Sensing evil, Strange is so focused on seeking it out he's almost hit by a truck; He calls upon The Ancient One, who warns him of the nature of the evil, but is still mystified; Then he finds himself confronted by someone (or something) who takes his own form, and tells him he's "already defeated"; Only when he discovers his oldest enemy is at the bottom of it does he also realize he was hit by the truck--and has been in a hospital bed ever since!; On recovering, he erases the memory of the night's events from the doctor's mind, as "Many things there are that mankind must not know..." 36 pgs. $0.20. Cover price $0.20.