23 Apr Underhyped: Summer of Spider-Man

As the release date for Sony’s Oscar-winning Spider-Verse sequel approaches, Miles Morales key issues are on the climb causing collectors to seek second-tier keys like his first meeting with Peter Parker. But are they buying the right comic?

It’ll Be a Summer of Spider-Men for Sure

By the time Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opens on June 2nd, collectors will have loaded up on the first appearances of each and every version of Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Spider-Punk, and Spider-Boy (that last one is a story for another article), banking on the speculation that casual collectors and movie fans will see the film and want to own them all.

As extended trailers and promotional clips made it clear that Spider-Man 2099 is a major part of the plot of the film, every key is rising –from early preview appearances in Marvel Age #114 and Marvel Annual Report 1991  to solicitation catalog covers like Diamond’s Previews Vol II #8 (July 1992) and Marvel’s own Sales to Astonish Autumn 1992 (cover B) to pre-continuity publication in Web of Spider-Man #90 ‘s pull-out poster and the five-page preview in Amazing Spider-Man #365, and of course, the canonical debut in Spider-Man 2099 #1.

The Spider-Man 2099 key that currently holds the highest FMV is ASM #365, which in CGC 9.8 sells for 80% more than the first issue of the character’s solo series. While there is a lot of controversy about whether a preview appearance counts as an actual 1st appearance, in this case the hobby has decided that it does.

That offers us a compelling case study with regard to the first meeting of Miles Morales and Peter Parker, which occurred in Marvel continuity in Spider-Men #1, with a publication date of June 13, 2012 and a current FMV of $95 if graded 9.8.

Because six weeks earlier, on May 1, 2012, Marvel published a Free flip-book sampler comic, titled The Summer of Spider-Man. In addition to running the same cover image (and most of the story) of the first meeting between Miles Morales and Peter Parker that appears later in Spider-Men #1,  it also previews Carol Danvers taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel four months to the day before that same cover and story would be printed in Avenging Spider-Man #9 on September 1, 2012. The current FMV in 9.8 is $150.

Where this gets interesting and offers a potential reward for early acquisition is that Summer of Spider-Man has a current FMV in 9.8 of only $32! Think about that for a second: Spider-Men #1 has an FMV of $95, Avenging Spider-Man #9 has an FMV of $150, and you could buy eight copies of the comic that predates both and contains all the things that make them worth anything for the same combined FMV.

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As I write this, there are only 128 total graded copies of Summer of Spider-Man, whereas there are 938 total graded copies of Spider-Men #1, and 2485 total graded copies of Avenging Spider-Man #9. By those stats, Summer of Spider-Man is rarer by a ratio of almost 9 to 1, and while the print runs on Free comics can sometimes be exponentially greater than the comics they preview, they aren’t generally well-preserved, so there should be far fewer candidates for 9.8. In fact, currently, there are no 9.9s or 10s.

When comparing to the Spider-Man 2099 examples above, the pricing disparity here seems likely to adjust with greater market awareness. And, all things considered, there is a compelling argument for just how overlooked and underrated Summer of Spider-Man is. At least for now…

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  *None of the content of this article is intended as investment advise.
  This is just the opinion of the columnist – Do your own research!