This is the comic book series that took its' name from the Amazing Fantasy comic book where Spider-Man first appeared in issue #15 in August of 1962! 

The Amazing Spider-Man series ran for 441 issues from March 1963 to November 1998 in its' first volume.

The craziness of catering to collectors wanting new #1s created a number of different Spider-man titles during the speculative craze. However, Volume 1 was restarted with issue #500 in December 2003. 

That period of time with all of the renumbering of this title and other Marvel titles is when I personally stopped being a 'Marvel Zombie' buying all Marvel Comics, and actually started paring back my collection!

Amazingly, this comic book series started with a throw-away character in a comic book title that was going to be discontinued anyways. Even the publisher, Martin Goodman, didn't see how a superhero character based on a spider would sell...and here we are in 2007 with a THIRD Spidey movie due out!!!  

Superheroes had already started a revival at DC Comics in 1956 with the Flash appearing in ShowCase Comics. By 1960 DC had the Justice League of America in its' own title, with the team made up of several individual superheroes who either had their own title, or would be 'showcased' for a while before getting one.

The company that would be called 'Marvel Comics' was printing romance, westerns, monster, war and sci-fi comics with NO superheroes.

Stan Lee was asked by his publisher, Martin Goodman, to write a superhero team book similar to the JLA, and he and Jack Kirby came up with the Fantastic Four.

Upon that success they then came up with the Incredible Hulk, and Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish and Spider-Man! 

The series created by these two have given me great enjoyment for over 45 years.  Thank you Stan & Jack! PLUS a BIG Thank You to Steve Ditko, who with Stan Lee, co-created Spidey! 

For those interested in checking out Spider-Man comics, we have several unslabbed and CGC graded comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Yes, Because They are THE Fantastic Four!

This is the comic book series that started THE MARVEL AGE OF COMICS! 

The series ran for 416 issues from November 1961 to September 1996 in its' first volume.

A renumbering of the series with a new #1 in November 1996 started Volume 2. The craziness of catering to collectors wanting new #1s created a Volume 3 in January 1998. Volume 1 was restarted with issue #500 in September 2003. 

That period of time with all of the renumbering of this title and other Marvel titles is when I personally stopped being a 'Marvel Zombie' buying all Marvel Comics and actually started paring back my collection!

This comic book started as a combination super-hero team with a 'monster' team member, as monster comics were so popular in the late 1950's to early 1960's.

Superheroes had started a revival at DC Comics in 1956 with the Flash appearing in ShowCase Comics. By 1960 DC had the Justice League of America in its' own title.

The company that would be called 'Marvel Comics' were printing, romance, westerns, monster, war and sci-fi comics with NO superheroes. Stan Lee was asked by his publisher, Martin Goodman, to write a superhero team book similar to the JLA.

The Fantastic Four were his contribution along with co-creator Jack Kirby. The series created by these two have given me great enjoyment for over 45 years.  Thank you Stan & Jack! 

For those interested in checking out the Fantastic Four comics run we have several unslabbed and CGC graded comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Tales To Astonish...

...was a comic book series from Atlas / Marvel Comics! 

The series ran for 101 issues from January 1959 to March 1968 in the first volume.

The comic started as a HoRRoR / Sci-Fi comic and then switched to the monster features that were so popular in the late 1950's to early 1960's.

Hank Pym, aka 'the Antman' was introduced in a monster story, and was converted into a superhero in issue #35.

Hank's size as a superhero was just a little small, so he later became 'Giant-Man' in the series. Hank's girl friend, the Wasp had a backup feature for a few issues...

The Incredible Hulk, whose own title was cancelled after six issues, was a co-feature in this title starting with #60.

Then with issue #70, Giant-Man was booted out and Namor the Sub-Mariner shared the TTA title with the Hulk.

This lasted until issue #102 when the Incredible Hulk was given the title on his own, which changed to the Incredible Hulk #102.

Later, Marvel used the title TTA for a reprint series from December 1979 to January 1981, probably to renew the copyright. 

For those interested in the Tales to Astonish run we have several unslabbed  comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

...was a comic book series from Gold Key Comics and later from Marvel Comics! 

The Gold Key series ran for 3 issues from April 1964 to October 1964.

The Marvel comic books series ran for 28 issues from June 1977 to October 1979.

Both series were based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs' character, John Carter, Warlord of Mars.

John Carter was an Earthman who upon entering a cave encountered a strange light. When the light touched him, he seemed to split into two, one part staying on Earth and the other part teleporting to the planet Mars.

Believe it or not, this was ERB's first hero, pre-dating his work on Tarzan of the Apes, and his son Korak. 

There were earlier versions of John Carter, the first being in 1939's The Funnies #30.  DC Comics had a version in between Gold Key and Marvel, in the comic book series 'Weird Worlds' in 1972! However he only headlined his own title in the Gold Key and Marvel Comics series.

For those interested in any version of the John Carter Comics run we have several unslabbed  comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Helen Slater

...Was the Star of the SUPERGIRL Movie... Which Was Based on the Comic Book Title

Helen, born in 1963, was the star of the 1984 theatrical movie 'Supergirl'.

She is known as an actress and a singer-songwriter. Helen attended Manhattan's School of Performing Arts, graduating in 1982.  (Today she is an accomplished pianist with two solo albums in 2004 & 2005.)

Within months of her graduating, she attended auditions for an upcoming spin-off movie of the famous Superman (1978) film franchise. The film was to be shot in the United Kingdom at the Pinewood studios, where the first Superman films were filmed. .

After being the first to audition for the Supergirl role she won it. Although the Supergirl film received mixed reviews at its opening, most critics were impressed with her abilities to perform the role. In fact, most critics thought that she did a better job at keeping her secret identity, (a mousy school girl), than Christopher Reeve did as Clark Kent!

Personally, I just couldn't get into this movie when I first saw it. Marc McClure reprised his role as Jimmy Olsen in this film as he had in Superman, but something was missing.... maybe Superman in a cameo??   

Faye Dunaway was over the top as the primary villain in the movie, and the movie did not pull good reviews or box office money. The movie is technically of the same series that Christopher Reeves did as Superman from 1978 -1987 but is usually not included in any boxed sets of the movies.

For those interested in the Supergirl comic books or DC Comics that feature Supergirl, we have them listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Thanks for viewing this comic book blog post.... and feel free to comment!

Plus don't forget to VOTE for YOUR favorite Superhero for PRESIDENT in our poll... just click on the 'easy button' being held by yours truly on the bottom right!

Michael