debuts:
Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962); cover art by
Jack Kirby (penciler) and
Steve Ditko (inker). The science fiction-
fantasy anthology
Amazing Adult Fantasy began with issue #7 (
cover-dated Dec. 1961), having taken over the number of the similar anthology
Amazing Adventures. The earlier issues before the title change featured stories drawn by a number of artists including
Jack Kirby,
Don Heck and
Steve Ditko.
Amazing Adult Fantasy featured exclusively the quick, quirky, twist-ending tales of artist Ditko and writer-editor
Stan Lee that had appeared in
Amazing Adventures and sister titles primarily featuring rampaging monsters. The cover of the comic carried the motto "The magazine that respects your intelligence". Lee in 2009 described these "short, five-page filler strips that Steve and I did together", originally "placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill", as "odd fantasy tales that I'd dream up with
O. Henry-type [twist] endings". Giving an early example of what would later be known as the "
Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration, Lee said: "All I had to do was give Steve a one-line description of the plot and he'd be off and running. He'd take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect". With issue #15 (Aug. 1962)
Amazing Adult Fantasy was retitled
Amazing Fantasy. This issue's lead feature introduced the
superhero Spider-Man, written by Lee and drawn by Ditko, although Lee rejected Ditko's cover art and commissioned
Jack Kirby to pencil a cover that Ditko inked. In numerous interviews Lee has recalled how the title had been slated for cancellation, and so with nothing to lose, publisher
Martin Goodman reluctantly agreed to allow him to introduce Spider-Man, a new kind of
superhero – one who would be a teenager, but not a sidekick, and one who would have
everyman doubts, neuroses and money problems. However, while this was indeed the final issue, its editorial page anticipated the comic continuing and that "the Spiderman [sic] ... will appear every month in
Amazing". Regardless, sales for
Amazing Fantasy #15 proved to be one of Marvel's highest at the time, so the company launched the series
The Amazing Spider-Man seven months later. The DVD release of the collector's edition of the
Spider-Man film included a copy of
Amazing Fantasy #15. In 2001, Marvel published the 10-issue historical overview
The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time, with
Amazing Fantasy #15 topping the list. In 2008, an anonymous donor gave the original 24 pages of Ditko art for
Amazing Fantasy #15 to the
Library of Congress, which included Spider-Man's debut and the stories "The Bell-Ringer", "Man in the Mummy Case", and "There Are Martians Among Us".
Continuation in 1995 For decades, no attempts were made to relaunch the title or to continue it with an issue #16. However, in 1995, Marvel editor
Danny Fingeroth decided a story gap existed between
Amazing Fantasy #15 and
The Amazing Spider-Man #1. In an attempt to fill that gap, Marvel published three
Spider-Man flashback stories in
Amazing Fantasy #16–18 (Dec. 1996 – March 1998), each written by
Kurt Busiek and painted chiefly by Paul Lee.
Volume 2 ; cover by
Mark Brooks and Jamie Mendoza. The second volume of the series ran 20 issues (
cover-dated Aug. 2004 – June 2006). The first arc ran through (vol. 2) #1–6 and featured a new teenaged heroine,
Araña. The second arc, in (vol. 2) #7–12, published after a short hiatus, featured a
revamped, female version of the
supervillain the
Scorpion. A back-up feature in (vol. 2) #10–12 (Sept.-Nov. 2005) starred the character Nina Price, the
Vampire by Night, and (vol. 2) #13–14 (both Dec. 2005) led with the modern-West feature "Vegas", backed up by "
Captain Universe". In an attempt to replicate history, Marvel announced that the new issue #15 would introduce a new generation of heroes in a 48-page standalone issue. These heroes included
Amadeus Cho, Blackjack, the Great Video,
Monstro, the Heartbreak Kid, and Positron. The cover to #15 was a revamped version of the original
Amazing Fantasy #15 cover, complete with Spider-Man swinging through a modern-day New York City, while the new heroes watch in awe in the background. The final arc, in (vol. 2) #16–20 (Feb.-June 2006), introduced
Death's Head 3.0, a revamp of the
Marvel UK character, written by the original version's creator,
Simon Furman. Issues #18–19 contain two "
Tales of the New Universe" stories as backup features, while #20 featured a Western backup, "Steamrider".
Volume 3 The third volume ran for five issues (cover dated September 2021 - February 2022). Written and drawn by
Kaare Andrews, it follows numerous characters who wake up on a mysterious island with no memory of how they arrived. ==Collected editions==