Alternate cover to Amazing Fantasy (Vol. 1) #15 from Marvel Wikia.

How Many Issues?

The only issue I reviewed was #15, which was the final issue for 30+ years.

Creative Team:

Writers: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko

Penciller: Steve Ditko

Inker: Steve Ditko

Was It Good?

Actually, despite only covering one issue, I can say that 1962 was a triumph for Amazing Fantasy. The Spider-Man origin was the best Marvel origin to date, and Steve Ditko’s pencils — keep in mind that this was the sole super-hero story for Marvel in 1962 that didn’t have Jack Kirby drawing it — were pretty great. I liked the tragic origin, and I liked that Peter Parker has a (reasonable, but still present) chip on his shoulder. All in all, this was a great setup for a great character.

Behind the Scenes:

There is a sizable gap between the cover date of Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1; seven months, by my count. That seems bizarre, if you consider that Ant-Man and Thor both became monthly features in that time span, the Human Torch received a solo spin-off feature, and both Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner made multiple appearances in Fantastic Four.

I reached out to comic historian Brian Cronin for more information — he is my favorite Internet comic historian — but he did not have a published column addressing this issue yet. He stated (and he checks his sources, so I trust him) that the stories that eventually became Amazing Spider-Man #1 & 2 were originally going to be included in Amazing Fantasy #16-19. This makes sense, because there was a teaser in Amazing Fantasy #15 that said Spidey would return in the next issue.

All in all, this was a great start that was, somewhat bizarrely, not immediately followed up on.