The Amazing Spider-Man#36

Cover: Steve Ditko

The Amazing Spider-Man #36

May 1966 · Marvel · 0.12 USD

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“When Falls the Meteor!”

★ 1st appearance — Looter

About this Issue

Amazing Spider-Man #36 marks the debut of Norton G. Fester, the Looter — a meteor-empowered, self-deluded scientist who became one of Spider-Man's more enduring lower-tier antagonists, reappearing across five decades of Marvel continuity. The issue also advances the slow-burn friction between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, showing her frustration with his seeming obliviousness in one of the earliest beats of their campus courtship arc — a relationship that would eventually define the Bronze Age of Spider-Man storytelling. Collectors regard it as a key late chapter of the historic Lee–Ditko collaboration, arriving just two issues before Ditko's departure from the title that he had co-built from the ground up.

In "When Falls the Meteor!", a mysterious meteor grants Norton Fester extraordinary strength and agility, leading him down a path that blurs the line between genius and crime. Written by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, with art by Ditko and Carl Hubbell, this 1966 classic sees Fester become the Looter—not for greed, but to finance his groundbreaking research. The cover, penciled and inked by Steve Ditko, captures the moment the meteor's arrival changes everything.

writer, artist, inker Steve Ditko · writer Stan Lee · artist, inker Carl Hubbell · colorist Stan Goldberg · letterer Art Simek · cover Steve Ditko

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VG) $40

CGC 9.8 · 6 in census $10,859

CGC 9.6 · 27 in census $1,837

CGC 9.4 · 59 in census $1,125

CGC 9.2 · 92 in census $679

CGC 9.0 · 142 in census $420

CGC 8.5 · 190 in census $304

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CGC 8.0 · 198 in census $188

CGC 7.5 · 188 in census $188

CGC 7.0 · 205 in census $141

CGC 6.5 · 151 in census $110

CGC 6.0 · 146 in census $101

CGC 5.5 · 134 in census $95

CGC 5.0 · 145 in census $95

CGC 4.5 · 90 in census $95

CGC 4.0 · 77 in census $95

CGC 3.5 · 58 in census $72

CGC 3.0 · 48 in census $52

CGC 2.5 · 24 in census $52

CGC 2.0 · 12 in census $31*

CGC 1.5 · 4 in census $25*

CGC 1.0 · 2 in census $21*

CGC 0.5 · 8 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 9.6 $115 1 listing CGC 7.5 $385 1 listing

Raw — NM ▾ $4.24–$75 2 listings

NM $4.24 NM $75

Raw — FN $120 1 listing Raw — GD $60 1 listing Raw — POOR $99 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $4.99–$150 5 listings

Raw / ungraded $4.99 Raw / ungraded $9.99 Raw / ungraded $79.99 Raw / ungraded $80 Raw / ungraded $150

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History

The story, titled 'When Falls the Meteor!', was produced under the Marvel Method: Steve Ditko handled the plot and all artwork while Stan Lee scripted the dialogue — and unusually, Ditko received an explicit co-plotter credit on this issue, a distinction he earned only near the end of his Amazing Spider-Man tenure. The Grand Comics Database further notes that, at Stan Lee's request, artist Carl Hubbell redraws a specific panel (page 13, panel 5) to replace a Looter figure with a Spider-Man figure — a small but documented piece of production history. The issue arrived at newsstands in early 1966, deep in a period of creative tension between Lee and Ditko that would end with Ditko's quiet departure after issue #38.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Looter (real name: Norton G. Fester), a failed scientist who gains superhuman strength, stamina, and agility by inhaling gas released from a meteorite he cracks open.
The Looter later adopted the alias 'Meteor Man' and went on to appear in Marvel Team-Up #33–34 (1975), The Defenders #63–65 (1978), Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #41 (1980), and numerous subsequent issues spanning into the 2010s.
Written and plotted by the Lee–Ditko team, with Ditko receiving an explicit plotter credit — a rare acknowledgment on the book at the time — and Lee credited for script and editing.
The issue furthers the developing Gwen Stacy subplot: Gwen grows frustrated that Peter ignores her at a space exhibit, and later writes him off as a coward when he disappears to change into Spider-Man — a dynamic seeded since Amazing Spider-Man #31.
Flash Thompson also appears as part of the supporting campus cast, continuing his established role as the college-era foil and inadvertent comedic contrast to Peter's dual life.
The story's title is 'When Falls the Meteor!' and its cover is penciled and inked by Steve Ditko.
Multiple retailers and collector listings identify this issue as containing the first printed use of the word 'Thwip' as a sound effect for Spider-Man's web-shooters, though this claim requires additional primary-source verification.
The issue has been reprinted extensively: in Marvel Tales #28 (1970) and Marvel Tales #175 (May 1985), Marvel Masterworks #16 (1991), Essential Spider-Man Vol. 2 (1997), the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 (2007), and the Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 4 (2023), among numerous international editions.