The Amazing Spider-Man#2

The Amazing Spider-Man #2

May 1963 · Marvel

📊 ~123,945 copies sold its debut month

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★ 1st appearance — Vulture

About this Issue

The Amazing Spider-Man #2 (May 1963) is the cornerstone of Spider-Man's rogues gallery, delivering the debuts of two villains — the aerial predator Adrian Toomes (the Vulture) and the gadget-obsessed Phineas Mason (the Tinkerer) — in a single issue barely two months into the series' run. Beyond its villain firsts, the issue cemented the structural engine that would define Spider-Man for decades: Peter Parker selling photographs of himself in action to J. Jonah Jameson, a storytelling device that tied his heroism to his financial desperation and made every battle a double hustle. Historians note that the Vulture was 'the first in a long line of animal-inspired super-villains destined to battle everyone's favorite web-slinger,' setting a template the book would mine through characters like the Lizard, the Rhino, and the Vulture's own successors. Equally significant, this issue is the physical birthplace of Marvel's branded corner box — Steve Ditko's proposal to place a hero's face with the company name in the upper-left corner — a design that spread across the entire Marvel line and remained a fixture on its covers for nearly a decade.

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $798

CGC 9.8 $135,677*

CGC 9.6 $53,001*

CGC 9.4 $23,938*

CGC 9.2 $13,717*

CGC 9.0 $9,500

CGC 8.5 $6,236

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 $4,779*

CGC 7.5 $3,810*

CGC 7.0 $3,242

CGC 6.5 $2,566

CGC 6.0 $2,029

CGC 5.5 $1,419

CGC 5.0 $1,338

CGC 4.5 $1,336

CGC 4.0 $1,336

CGC 3.5 $1,336

CGC 3.0 $1,075*

CGC 2.5 $1,075

CGC 2.0 $649

CGC 1.5 $496

CGC 1.0 $486

CGC 0.5 $483

* 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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History

The issue was produced via the 'Marvel Method,' with Stan Lee providing a loose plot outline and Steve Ditko developing the page-by-page storytelling, dialogue placeholders, and visual design before Lee added finished scripts. Ditko later wrote that Lee 'never worked out a Spider-Man blueprint' — world-building was improvised month to month, meaning both villains here emerged from organic, unplanned creative sessions rather than any long-range editorial roadmap. A notable behind-the-scenes creative disagreement shaped the Vulture's look: Lee reportedly wanted an imposing, heavyset figure modeled on the actor Sydney Greenstreet, while Ditko overruled him on practical and aesthetic grounds, producing the lean, swift silhouette collectors know today. The issue is also historically notable as the first Amazing Spider-Man cover fully penciled and inked by Ditko himself — the first two issues' covers had been handled by Jack Kirby — marking Ditko's complete creative ownership of the book's visual presentation going forward.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Vulture (Adrian Toomes), a former electronics engineer who built an electromagnetic flight harness — created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, cover-dated May 1963.
First appearance of the Terrible Tinkerer (Phineas Mason), a genius gadgeteer revealed in this issue to be working alongside extraterrestrials — also created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Establishes Peter Parker's practice of photographing himself as Spider-Man and selling the images to J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle (referred to in early issues as 'NOW Magazine'), a defining character dynamic that persisted throughout the Lee–Ditko run and beyond.
First full pencil-and-ink cover by Steve Ditko on the Amazing Spider-Man title; prior covers for Amazing Fantasy #15 and ASM #1 were penciled by Jack Kirby with Ditko inking.
Debuted Steve Ditko's Marvel hero corner box — the small inset featuring a character's face alongside the company name and price — which was then adopted across the entire Marvel Comics line and remained a cover staple into the early 1970s.
The issue contains two separate stories: 'Duel to the Death with the Vulture!' (14 pages, lead story) and 'The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!' (10 pages, backup story).
Reprinted in Marvel Tales #139; also collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1, the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1, and numerous international editions.
Both debut characters — the Vulture (played by Michael Keaton) and the Tinkerer (played by Michael Chernus) — appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), making this issue the single source-comic for that film's two principal villains.