Home › The Amazing Spider-Man › #255

Cover: Ron Frenz & Joe Rubinstein

The Amazing Spider-Man #255

Name: The Amazing Spider-Man #255
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Aug 1984 · Marvel · 0.60 USD; 0.30 GBP; 0.75 CAD

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Even a Ghost Can Fear the Night!”

★ 1st appearance — Black Fox

About this Issue

The Amazing Spider-Man #255 (August 1984) marks the debut of the Black Fox — a charming, aging European cat burglar whose recurring presence in Spider-Man's world would distinguish him as one of the rare Copper Age villains Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz introduced that genuinely stuck. The issue sits squarely within the celebrated black-costume arc, coming just three issues after Spider-Man first wore the alien symbiote suit in #252; the story meaningfully advances the symbiote subplot by showing the black costume beginning to animate itself while Peter sleeps, a key early hint of its alien nature. The closing scene — an unidentified figure finding Spider-Man's spider-tracer on the Hobgoblin's recovered battle wagon and vowing revenge — functions as a sharp serialized tease that kept readers invested in DeFalco and Frenz's ongoing Hobgoblin mystery. Together, these threads make #255 a compact but consequential installment of one of the most creatively fertile stretches in the title's history.

In "Even a Ghost Can Fear the Night!", the Black Fox makes his final heist—only to be forced into an uneasy alliance with the Red Ghost and his Super Apes when the villain demands the robbery of a jewelry store to fund his latest invention, the Cosmicizer. With Spider-Man hot on their trail, the Apes' hideout becomes a ticking time bomb, and the Fox finds himself caught between a desperate escape and an unexpected payoff. Written by Tom DeFalco and brought to life by Ron Frenz’s dynamic art, with inks by Josef Rubinstein and colors by Glynis Wein, this 1984 classic features a cover by Ron Frenz and Joe Rubinstein that captures the chaos perfectly.

writer Tom DeFalco · artist Ron Frenz · inker Josef Rubinstein · colorist Glynis Wein · letterer Joe Rosen · cover Ron Frenz, Joe Rubinstein

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $6

CGC 9.8 · 283 in census $106

CGC 9.6 · 286 in census $93

CGC 9.4 · 139 in census $40

CGC 9.2 · 81 in census $35*

CGC 9.0 · 56 in census $31*

CGC 8.5 · 33 in census $26

Show all 17 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 30 in census $25*

CGC 7.5 · 20 in census $23*

CGC 7.0 · 14 in census $22*

CGC 6.5 · 11 in census $21*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 4.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 · 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

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.8 ▾ $110–$160 4 listings

CGC 9.8 $109.99 CGC 9.8 $120 CGC 9.8 $120 CGC 9.8 $160

CGC 9.6 ▾ $59.96–$61.99 2 listings

CGC 9.6 · Newsstand $59.96 CGC 9.6 $61.99

CGC 9.4 ▾ $50–$75 3 listings

CGC 9.4 $50 CGC 9.4 $67 CGC 9.4 $75

CGC $56 1 listing

Raw — MINT ▾ $14.99–$89.2 4 listings

MINT $14.99 MINT $19.95 MINT $25 MINT · Newsstand $89.2

Raw — NM ▾ $10–$12.99 2 listings

NM · Newsstand $10 NM $12.99

Raw — NM- ▾ $9.99–$17.5 2 listings

NM- $9.99 NM- $17.5

Raw — VF/NM ▾ $10–$24.99 8 listings

VF/NM · Newsstand $10 VF/NM $11.49 VF/NM · Newsstand $11.96 VF/NM $15 VF/NM · Newsstand $15.54 VF/NM · Newsstand $16.99 VF/NM $17.1 VF/NM · Newsstand $24.99

Raw — VF+ ▾ $15–$17.11 3 listings

VF+ $15 VF+ $16.99 VF+ $17.11

Raw — VF ▾ $4.75–$26.13 8 listings

VF $4.75 VF $5.99 VF $6.99 VF $8.5 VF $8.99 VF $11.99 VF $12 VF · Newsstand $26.13

Raw — FINE $3.99 1 listing

Raw — VG ▾ $3.99–$5.98 2 listings

VG $3.99 VG $5.98

Raw — VERY GOOD $13 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $2–$130 28 listings

Verified matches for The Amazing Spider-Man #255 · eBay asking prices, seen 22 days ago

More listings for this title

The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #255 (1984) Marvel Comics $5

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 1 total · seen 22 days ago

Read it digitally

Marvel Unlimited Marvel’s subscription reader ▸ Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

By the time #255 went on sale (direct edition shipping April 10, 1984; newsstand May 1, 1984), Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz had only recently settled into their roles as the regular writer-artist team on Amazing Spider-Man — Frenz having originally been brought on as a short-term fill-in for John Romita Jr., who left to help launch the X-Men, but was retained once it became clear he and DeFalco worked well together. The creative team was edited by Danny Fingeroth, with Bob DeNatale as assistant editor and Jim Shooter as editor-in-chief. According to the Marvel fan-history site Alchetron, the inspiration for the Black Fox character came from safari cards that DeFalco had purchased, lending the villain an offbeat, real-world origin. The issue was inked by Josef Rubinstein, colored by Glynis Wein, and lettered by Joe Rosen — the same core production team anchoring most of the DeFalco-Frenz run.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Black Fox (real name unrevealed in this issue), an elderly, non-powered master thief from Western Europe, created by writer Tom DeFalco and penciler Ron Frenz; August 1984 cover date.
Story title: 'Even A Ghost...Can Fear the Night!' — script by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Ron Frenz, inks by Josef Rubinstein, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Joe Rosen, edited by Danny Fingeroth.
The Black Fox's debut appearance also features the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes as co-antagonists, with the Ghost coercing the Fox into stealing funds to complete his 'Cosmicizer' device.
The Fantastic Four members (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, The Thing) appear only in cameo flashback form, as does Iron Man (James Rhodes), Jack O'Lantern, and the Hobgoblin — they are not active participants in the main story.
The issue contains an early, unambiguous hint of the alien symbiote costume's autonomous nature: Peter Parker's black suit is shown animating itself while he sleeps, a breadcrumb pointing toward the full symbiote revelation in #258.
A subplot cliffhanger closes the issue: an unseen figure discovers Spider-Man's spider-tracer on the Hobgoblin's battle wagon and vows to destroy Spider-Man — sustaining DeFalco's ongoing Hobgoblin mystery thread.
The story was reprinted in Marvel Tales #269 (January 1993) and collected in Spider-Man: Birth of Venom (2007), Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga Vol. 1 (2014), and Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 24 (2022).
Marvel published a facsimile edition of this issue in June 2024, reproducing the original in its entirety including period advertisements, as part of a line-wide celebration of the black-costume era.