As proven by the record-breaking success of Brand New Day, Spider-Man is not only Marvel’s most iconic super-hero, but one of the most beloved figures in modern pop culture. Since his 1962 debut Amazing Fantasy #15, fans the world over have been able to see themselves in Peter Parker, a perpetually luckless young man so determined to make the world a better place for the people he loves that he can overcome virtually anything in his way. In only eleven pages, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko established Peter almost exactly as we know him today, fully formed from the first time Liz Allan calls him “Midtown High’s only professional wallflower.” Gifted with great power and burdened with great responsibility, Spider-Man’s origin set into motion sixty-four years of adventure, tragedy, and triumph that have inspired millions. It’s for this reason that Amazing Fantasy #15 represents the absolute holy grail of Marvel Comics collecting for many, still worth thousands of dollar coverless.
Although it’s a subject of controversy exactly what share of the credit Stan Lee deserves for Spider-Man, his influence in creating and shaping the hero and his early years is inarguable. After all, the hope and optimism that define Spider-Man are endemic of Lee’s work. To Marvel fans who grew up on Lee as the face of Marvel Comics, he is inseparable from the hero. That makes a signed copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 like this, up for bid right now through Goldin Auctions, an invaluable collection centerpiece. Thought many higher grade samples than this CGC (Certified Guarantee Company)-graded 3.0 exist, to many Marvel fans, Lee’s signature is worth more to them than mint condition. The copy on auction through Goldin is one-of-a-kind, inscribed not only with Lee’s signature, but a cheeky reference to how Lee credited himself in the pages of Marvel Comics: “Stan the Man.”
While everybody knows how Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, nobody’s quite sure how the idea came to Stan Lee. Even less clear is who did what after the initial idea came to Lee. The story Lee liked to tell was that after Marvel found success with new super-hero characters the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk, he experienced writer’s block while trying to invent a new hero for this burgeoning universe. That writer’s block ended when, as Lee recounted to Larry King in 2000: “I saw a fly crawling on the wall, and I said, ‘Wow, suppose a person has the power to stick to a wall like an insect.’ So I was often running and I thought, ‘What do I call him?’ I tried Mosquito Man, but that didn’t have any glamor. Insect Man, that was even worse. I went down the line and I got to Spider-Man. It sounded mysterious and dramatic, and lo a legend was born.”
In the introduction to 2001’s Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide, Lee recalled that the impetus for making Spider-Man a teenager came from recognizing that most comic readers were, themselves, kids. He wanted to give readers a character who they could relate to, one who had the same problems and the same anxieties that they did. Superman and Batman never had to worry about money, or their job, or whether girls liked them. The teen heroes who did inhabit comics — sidekicks like Robin, Kid Flash, and Speedy — didn’t seem too concerned with these things either. Spider-Man would be totally unlike any character readers had met before. Lee took the idea to publisher Martin Goodman, and as Lee remembers it, Goodman wasn’t interested.
Apocryphally, Goodman told Lee that people hated spiders, wouldn’t read a teenage super-hero, and wouldn’t be interested in a hero with personal problems. Despite this, Lee pursued the idea, first discussing it with his Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk writing partner Jack Kirby. Kirby conceived Spider-Man gaining his powers from a magic ring, turning the teenager into a separate, adult hero akin to Shazam (and, as Kirby’s colleague Joe Simon pointed out, Simon’s Archie Comics character “the Fly”). According to Steve Ditko, Kirby penciled several pages of this Spider-Man before Lee stopped him, feeling that “it was too heroic,” and too far removed from the everyman teenager Lee wanted Spider-Man to be. Lee gave Spider-Man to Ditko to redesign, and Ditko created the wall-crawler’s powers, costume, and overall look. Though Ditko drew a cover for the issue, a cover by Jack Kirby was used instead, keeping Kirby an integral part of the issue’s lore despite his contentious role in the character’s creation.
As with everything else about Spider-Man’s origin, how Amazing Fantasy was chosen as the testing ground for this new, experimental character is up for debate. The most common narrative is that Amazing Fantasy was already slated for cancellation. Goodman agreed to let Lee and Ditko publish Spider-Man there because sales didn’t matter if Amazing Fantasy #15 was going to be the comic’s last issue no matter what. The issue’s letter page, which declares that Spider-Man “will appear every month in AMAZING” suggests that as the issue went to print, Lee and Ditko were unaware of Goodman’s plans to cancel the title. Supporting this is the format of the first four Spider-Man stories published in 1963’s Amazing Spider-Man #1-2, each thirteen pages rather than full-issue length — seemingly designed as features to go along with an additional twelve pages of back-up stories for Amazing Fantasy #16-19. Regardless, Amazing Fantasy was cancelled before issue fifteen hit newsstands on June 5th, 1962.
However complicated the road to publication was, things became much clearer once Marvel got the sales data back for Amazing Fantasy #15: the issue — and Spider-Man — were a massive hit, catching even Lee off-guard. In response, Spider-Man became the third Marvel super-hero to be given his own monthly comic, with Amazing Spider-Man #1 published six months later in December of 1962.
Although widely misquoted thanks to adaptations, Lee’s closing text box for Amazing Fantasy #15, declaring that “with great power there must also come — great responsibility” is the most well-known piece of dialogue in comics history. It’s transcended the medium, iconic even to those who have never read an issue of Spider-Man in their lives. Spider-Man’s origin is so codified that the MCU felt comfortable skipping it entirely when introducing their version of the hero. Along with the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne and the destruction of Krypton, Peter Parker’s radioactive spider-bite and the death of his Uncle Ben are completely engrained in the modern pop cultural consciousness. Lee and Ditko created something so timeless that there’s been virtually no significant update to this origin in more than sixty years, unlike Bruce Banner’s accident at a bomb testing range or Tony Stark’s capture in South Vietnam.
By owning Amazing Fantasy #15, a fan owns the origin of their favorite Spider-Man, no matter what iteration or medium that favorite comes from. This comic is the backbone of every comic, movie, cartoon, or video game ever to feature the hero. And with Lee’s signature, it becomes even more than that, it becomes a tribute to the writer who, if nothing else, gave Spider-Man his spirit. While Lee had a much-publicized tendency to exaggerate his contributions to the Marvel Universe, one of the clearest is Peter Parker. Steve Ditko established the look and feel of Spider-Man, but it was Stan Lee that gave the hero his humanity and his heart. As Lee was quoted at the end of 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, “That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.” With this auction, one lucky Spider-Man fan will gain a tangible reminder of Lee’s legacy, fittingly inscribed on his most lasting contribution to comics.
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