Amazing Spider-Man 159

Issue 159 is the last of the 30 cent price variant issues. It is also one of my least favorite Spidey issues of all time. Except for a couple of interesting story interuptions, the issue is kind of weak. The first interlude gives us the answer to what has happened to Spidey's sunken car. Some mysterious hands are modifying it and we learn that, "Once I put this machine in action, Spider-Man will never bother anyone again!" The second interlude is another peek at J. Jonah and his exhasparation with his temporary secretaries. Forget what I said about Michael Turner drawing these ladies - Mrs. Plumm is very large and I don't think Turner could make her hot. But this is the only issue for Mrs. Plumm as she quits on J. Jonah, who is left to opine that "you just can't find good help anymore". Two issues since Betty Brant's marriage and two secretaries gone.

The story picks up where issue 158 left off. Hammerhead has been brought back to life. Spider-Man and Doc Ock attack Hammerhead and somehow Hammerhead survives this one-sided match-up when the three bang heads together and all three fall to the ground like Rocky and Appollo Creed.

At which point, Aunt May screams and then the SWAT team commences its assault with anasthetic bullets. Anasthetic bullets? Don't ask me. Dirty Harry is still laughing about this issue. At the same time another squad of commandos drops in from the roof. You can tell the commandos aren't part of the swat team because of the ridiculous costumes that they are wearing.

Spidey is the first to wake up, but he can't tie up Doc Ock and Hammerhead because he is attacked by the commandos and then the SWAT team attacks the commandos. Everyone is fighting everyone and Doc Ock huries to rescue Aunt May, which should be the job of Spidey or the SWAT team. But alas, Hammerhead captures her first with a gun pointed at her head and he and his goons escape in a helicopter.

For some reason, Hammerhead and his men return to their old but well-known hangout. Don't ask me why. But returning to his old hangout makes Hammerhead easy to find for Spidey and Doc Ock who attack the hangout. Dispatching the guards, the two sneak into the kitchen where Doc Ock takes out the cooks by pinning them to the wall with a bunch of precisely aimed knives. Spidey takes out two more guards with frying pans, which is symbolic of this cooked-up story.

Inside his office Hammerhead is offering Aunt May a shot of whiskey. Maybe he figures if he can get Aunt May looped, he could get lucky, which makes me really want to take back my comment about wishing that Michael Turner had drawn these issues. But I digress. Back to the office, Aunt May refuses the free drink offer from Hammerhead and is about to get rewarded with a slap across her face, when he is stopped by a serving cart loaded with two of his knocked out guards. Hammerhead sees Spidey and Doc Ock entering his square office and presses a button which opens up the walls to reveal more guards. But the guards skipped marksmanship class and Doc Ock dispatches the guards while Spidey hides Aunt May in a hole in the floor.

Hammerhead hits another hidden switch and the office starts spinning like it is on a giant record player. As the room spins a single window lines up with a hole in the outer brick wall and Hammerhead escapes on the first pass. The room is spinning faster which makes it more difficult for Doc Ock to time his jump and escape the room to chase after Hammerhead. Spider-Man starts throwing furniture into the hole in the floor to jam up the giant gears that propel the room. He manages to stop the room which allows the remaining guards to regain their weapons, but Spidey easily takes them out. Unfortunately, the turntable stopps spinning when the window didn't match up with the hole in the outer brick, which is pretty similar to my experience in Las Vegas.

The story resumes with Doc Ock finding Hammerhead. Hammerhead escapes in a weird helicopter. Doc Ock begins throwing trash cans at the helicopter and manages to find the range with the third one which brings the helicopter down in an explosion in the Hudson River.

Spider-Man rescues the unconscious Aunt May to the roof. Doc Ock demands that Spidey hand over Aunt May which of course Spidey refuses to do. The police arrive and Doc Ock retreats. Spider-Man lays Aunt May near a fire truck to be rescued and makes his escape.


CGC has certifed one 9.6, two 9.4s, three 9.2s and two 9.0s. They have certified a total of 23 issues in all grades. As usual, becuase high-grade sales are so infrequent, price information for high-grade copies is sketchy. GPA records only two sales of 9.0 or higher specimens in the last five years. Further clouding the issue is the fact that both sales were for the exact same 9.0 copy, first in August 2009 for $90 and again in February of this year for $159. The last sales record of a 9.4 was in 2005 for $300. The only sales record of a 9.2 was in 2004 for $150.

Amazing Spider-Man 158

If Amazing Spider-Man 157 is the easiest of the Amazing Spider-Man Bronze-Age Price Variants to find in high-grade, its successor, issue 158 is one of the hardest. The Comics Guaranty Corporation (CGC) has certified five issues in 9.4, five issues in 9.2and one in 9.0.

CGC is the third-party grading house most accepted by comic book collectors. CGC provides a really neat feature for collectors which is their comics registry. The comics registry is a database which allows collectors to enter information about their certified collections and compete on who has the best set. To measure how popular the Spidey is, there are currently 461 registry sets for the complete Amazing Spider-Man set. There are an additional 176 collectors with registry sets of issues 100 to 200 which include the price variant issues and eighty collectors with registry sets in the complete Amazing Spider-Man set plus variants category. You can see the problem with the marvel price variants, in a sea of competitive collectors, there is only a thimble full of certified copies of the price variant issues - 21 total of this issue. The competition for high-grade examples is fierce when one shows up at auction. There have been three high-grade copies sold in the past three years - yes, one per year. In October of 2008, a 9.4 sold for $420 which would be a bargain today. In August of 2008, a 9.2 sold for $190 which would also be a bargain today. The last high-grade book to sell was a 9.0 which sold in March of this year for $300.

Issue 158 picks up where 157 left off. Spider-man is falling from a mile in the sky after Doc Ock snipped his web-lines. Spider-man could use his web-shooters to make a parachute and glide to the ground, but this is the 1970's and he quickly fashions a hangglider out of webbing and manages to land in a dumpster after misjudging his flight path.

So we next meet Petey in his apartment where he is repairing his spidey costume and he is visited by Glory Grant - a good stripper name if ever there was one. Then Mary Jane comes in and tells Peter that Aunt May's place has been trashed. Peter gets a call from Robbie Robertson about an emergency assignment, so Peter slips on his costume beneath his clothes.

When he gets to work, he learns that J. Jonah is not happy with the hapless new temp who is replacing Betty Brant while she is on her honeymoon. He also learns from Robbie that the Daily Globe is raiding the Bugle for employees. He also hears that Doc Ock is holding at Aunt May at Brookhaven Labs.

Spidey rushes to the Labs where he finds Doc Ock working on some equipment and a SWAT team (1970s, remember) gathering for a hostage rescue. Spidey fights Doc Ock which breaks the equipment and then Hammerhead appears and Spidey helps Doc Ock put the equipment back together which Doc Ock thinks will destroy Hammerhead once and for all but Hammerhead knows will put him back in phase and give him his material body back and Spidey realizes what Hammerhead knows but is unable to stop Doc Ock from hitting the button and the issues ends with Hammerhead material again. Whew...We will have to wait for the conclusion in issue 159.

I love this bronze age stuff - but am left wondering what the parade of hapless secretaries would look like if these issues were drawn by Michael Turner - not to mention Glory Grant...