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Cover: Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia

The Amazing Spider-Man #102

Name: The Amazing Spider-Man #102
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Nov 1971 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

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“Vampire at Large!”

★ 1st appearance — Martine Bancroft

About this Issue

Amazing Spider-Man #102 closes out the 'Six Arms Saga' by delivering the full origin of Morbius the Living Vampire — the character's second appearance and the issue in which his transformation from Nobel Prize-winning biochemist to pseudo-vampire is told in detail for the first time, cementing the tragic, science-fictional nature that would define him across five decades of stories. The issue also resolves one of Spider-Man's most memorable body-horror subplots: the six-arm mutation introduced in #100 is permanently cured here via Morbius's own blood, restoring Peter Parker's familiar silhouette and closing an arc that pushed Marvel's flagship title into unexplored genre territory immediately after Stan Lee's decade-long run as writer ended. As the concluding chapter of the first multi-issue story on the book written by Roy Thomas, the issue marks an unmistakable creative transition point — the moment the series fully entered the Bronze Age under a new authorial voice. Its willingness to blend superhero action with body-horror and gothic monster drama, made possible by the 1971 revision of the Comics Code Authority that lifted its longstanding ban on vampires, helped establish the tone of Marvel's horror-inflected Bronze Age output.

In "Vampire at Large!", Spider-Man finds himself caught between the mysterious Morbius and the rampaging Lizard, all while uncovering the dark origins of the vampire-like Morbius. Written by Roy Thomas and brought to life by Gil Kane’s dynamic art with Frank Giacoia’s inks, this 1971 classic also sees Doctor Connors working on a serum that could finally cure Spider-Man’s six-arm affliction. The cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia captures the chaos perfectly—this is a must-read for any fan of early Spider-Man’s supernatural twists.

writer Roy Thomas · artist Gil Kane · inker Frank Giacoia · letterer Art Simek · cover Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $57

CGC 9.8 · 19 in census $5,755

CGC 9.6 · 71 in census $1,246

CGC 9.4 · 128 in census $338*

CGC 9.2 · 189 in census $303

CGC 9.0 · 190 in census $237

CGC 8.5 · 246 in census $178

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 212 in census $137

CGC 7.5 · 190 in census $119

CGC 7.0 · 157 in census $93

CGC 6.5 · 104 in census $88

CGC 6.0 · 96 in census $88

CGC 5.5 · 58 in census $71

CGC 5.0 · 54 in census $71

CGC 4.5 · 43 in census $57

CGC 4.0 · 35 in census $57

CGC 3.5 · 20 in census $54

CGC 3.0 · 18 in census $54*

CGC 2.5 · 8 in census $41*

CGC 2.0 · 3 in census $36*

CGC 1.5 · 1 in census $25*

CGC 1.0 · 1 in census $21*

CGC 0.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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CGC 9 $295 1 listing

CGC 8 ▾ $180–$716 2 listings

CGC 8 $180 CGC 8 $716

CGC 7.5 $145 1 listing CGC 7 $149 1 listing

CGC 5 ▾ $76.49–$200 2 listings

CGC 5 $76.49 CGC 5 · Signed $200

CGC ▾ $187–$300 3 listings

CGC $187 CGC $260 CGC $300

CBCS 8.5 $270 1 listing CBCS 3.5 $115 1 listing PGX 6 $79.99 1 listing Raw — NM $275 1 listing Raw — VF+ $115 1 listing

Raw — VF ▾ $89.99–$210 6 listings

VF $89.99 VF $95 VF $100 VF $103 VF $190 VF $210

Raw — VERY FINE $95 1 listing

Raw — FN ▾ $39–$225 6 listings

FN $39 FN $49.99 FN $55 FN $65 FN $85 FN $225

Raw — VG+ ▾ $33.99–$90 4 listings

VG+ $33.99 VG+ $42 VG+ $59.99 VG+ $90

Raw — VG ▾ $39.99–$75 11 listings

VG $39.99 VG $40 VG $41.9 VG · Variant $49.87 VG $49.95 VG $49.95 VG $66 VG $69 VG $72 VG $72 VG $75

Raw — GD $39 1 listing Raw — GOOD $33.33 1 listing Raw — FR $49.5 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $25.99–$200 24 listings

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History

The issue was produced during Stan Lee's unexpected extended leave from scripting Amazing Spider-Man — what had been announced as a brief break stretched to roughly three months, leaving Roy Thomas and penciler Gil Kane to carry the book through this arc. Thomas scripted #101 and #102 to resolve a six-arm cliffhanger Lee and Kane had set up in the landmark 100th issue, while simultaneously completing the introduction of Morbius, a character born from Stan Lee's desire to exploit the Comics Code Authority's February 1971 revision permitting vampires and similar supernatural figures to appear in comics again. In his own words quoted in collector commentary, Thomas noted that the expanded page count of #102 — a double-sized 35-page story, the first regular (non-annual) 48-page issue in the series' run — allowed the creative team to finish the Morbius storyline in a single issue rather than spreading it across additional chapters, though he acknowledged that the rush to conclude Spider-Man's extra-arm subplot left the resolution feeling slightly compressed on the final page.

Trivia · 8 facts

Second appearance and first full origin of Morbius the Living Vampire (Michael Morbius), presented in an extended flashback sequence that establishes his Nobel Prize background, his degenerative blood disease, his experiments with vampire bats aboard a yacht, and his inadvertent transformation.
First appearance of Martine Bancroft, Morbius's fiancée and scientific companion, who debuts in flashback and goes on to become a recurring figure in Morbius's ongoing mythology.
First appearance of Emil Nikos, Morbius's laboratory assistant who is killed by Morbius immediately after the transformation — also appearing only in flashback.
Final issue in which Spider-Man is depicted with six arms: Curt Connors synthesizes a serum using Morbius's blood that cures both his own Lizard condition (temporarily) and Peter Parker's mutation, restoring the wall-crawler to his standard two-armed form for good outside of flashbacks and alternate-universe stories.
Titled 'Vampire at Large!' and written by Roy Thomas, penciled by Gil Kane, inked by Frank Giacoia (with Tony Mortellaro uncredited), and edited by Stan Lee — part of the Thomas–Kane run that was the first sustained creative team on Amazing Spider-Man after Lee's nine-year tenure as sole scripter.
First regular (non-annual, non-King Size) 48-page issue of Amazing Spider-Man, published at 25 cents rather than the standard 15 cents of the preceding issue — part of Marvel's short-lived 'Giant-Size' month experiment in August 1971.
The cover contains a misspelling of 'Morbius,' a production error documented across multiple collector and reference sources.
Reprinted in Vampire Tales #5 (June 1974, black and white), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #141–142 (Marvel UK, October–November 1975), and Marvel Tales #253 (September 1991), among other international editions.