Sunday, July 8, 2018


The SPIDER-MAN CHRONICLES: AMAZING FANTASY #15 - With Great Power - Comes Ownership Disputes!

All Pictures are taken from a reprint and not the actual first print comic.

Inarguably one of the 3 greatest, most collectible comics ever released, it starts off with a Jack Kirby cover. Amazing Fantasy #15 came out on newsstands on June 5th, 1962, the same week as Journey Into Mystery #83 - the first appearance of Thor - and Tales to Astonish #35 - the 2nd appearance of Ant-Man. (A week later Fantastic Four #6 came out).

(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with cover art by Jack Kirby)


Here's the cover Ditko did that Stan rejected. I actually like it better! It seems strange that they'd go to all this trouble for a comic that was getting canceled and a character they had figured was just a one-shot...

(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - UNUSED cover probably drawn around April 1962 by Steve Ditko)


Here is the original art for page one of Spidey's origin. The Liz Allen (?) character's face has been redone by Al Hartley. You can see the white out on the page. That wasn't one of Ditko's strengths. Though I guess he could've had Eric Stanton do it...

(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)


Way back in, roughly 1972/3-ish, I saw this page and this page only, recounting the 'origin' of Spider-man in some Kids Scholastic Magazine at school. I was already familiar with the character from repeats of the Spider-man 60's cartoon which I loved, but it was cool to see the original story from the comics.

(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)


I'm pretty sure I didn't read the whole origin until Marvel Tales released it in 1982 (I was 19). It had been reprinted a few times before in the US - Marvel tales Annual #1 (1964), The Origins of Marvel Comics (1974) which I wouldn't own a copy of for a few more years, The Pocketbook series from 1977, and some book called Spider-man: The Secret Story of Marvel's World-Famous Wall Crawler (1981) which I didn't know existed until about 10 years ago!

That Marvel Tales #137 started the whole series over in reprints, in order, and it started my first reading of the entire series.



Ditko's art was probably still being toned down a bit from the Comics Code scare which had only happened less than 5 years previously, but when Spidey faces off against Crusher Hogan, we get to see a little bit of his trademark style start to show through.


(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)


Before Pete's mistake, he sure was casual about the handling of his costume! And Aunt May looks a little more... bosomy there than I remember...

(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)


Speaking of ...


(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)


The first in-story appearance of the costume...


(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)



(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)





(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)



(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962.)



(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962.)



Always thought it was funny though, towards the end of it, the Hulk punches the Surfer square in the face! Not sure who's idea it was, but I thought it was pretty humorous...


(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962.)




(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962.)



(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)




(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)



(AMAZING FANTASY #15 - was cover dated September 1962, but on newsstands June 5th, 1962 with art by Steve Ditko)









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