Just for Tracy Saboe

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http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=John+Clayton%3a+Now%27s+your+chance+to+get+a+web+around+a+collectible&articleId=80e28974-013e-4b04-9a18-46176759a6f6

John Clayton: Now's your chance to get a web around a collectible

By JOHN CLAYTON
Union Leader Staff

AS ANY hard-core comic book fan will tell you, the new comics hit the shelves every Wednesday, so back on Wednesday, I went to Double Midnight Comics here in Manchester and picked up the newest issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man."

It cost me $2.99.
Spider-Man

Today, you can get your own Spider-Man comic for free.

If you look through the inserts in this very newspaper today, you'll find a copy of Spider-Man's comic book debut. It's a reproduction of the Marvel Comic called "Amazing Fantasy" -- dated Aug. 15, 1962 -- and it's your second chance to get in on the Spider-Man phenomenon at the ground floor.

By the way, an original copy of that debut issue. The one that sold for 12 cents back in 1962.

One of them went for $3,246 on eBay last week.

If you hang on to the special issue in today's paper, I can't promise that same kind of economic windfall 40 years down the line, but I can guarantee that, today, and for the next 17 weeks, each edition of the New Hampshire Sunday News will carry new issues of vintage Spider-Man comics.

For those of us who grew up with Spidey -- heck, even for you movie-going youngsters who think Tobey Maguire invented Spider-Man -- this is exciting news.

It's thanks to an outfit called News America Marketing.

"The marketing people from News America are the ones who first approached our advertising department," said John Whalen, who is director of newspaper sales and marketing for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News.

"The proposition was simple in that they would provide us with these Spider-Man comics books -- 18 different issues -- which we will be inserting into the Sunday News for 18 consecutive weeks starting Aug . 20.

"They're doing it for a couple of reasons," John added. "One is to help boost newspaper circulation, perhaps by reaching out to a group of folks who may not typically buy a newspaper but who would be interested in a possible Spider-Man collectible. The other is to sell some advertising. With the approval of Marvel Comics, they're inserting a couple of advertisements inside the comic books," (such as today's ad for a Spider-Man HO Scale train set).

Rick Williamson may not buy that train, but he buys every issue of Spider-Man he can lay his hands on, and he's excited about the new reproductions.

"Marvel has done this in the past,'' said Rick, who is the No. 1 Spider-Man fan at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, "and when they do it, they do it really well. When most readers pick up on a super-hero, they want to back-track through the character's story-line, and for Spider-Man, that goes directly back to his debut in ?Amazing 15.'"

As vast as his collection is, Rick doesn't have an original copy of "Amazing 15," so for the time being, the reproduction issue will serve as the next best thing.

"And I'm not alone," he added. "I think you'll find a lot of interest. Readers are going to scoop these up."

First, let's bring you up to speed.

On the off-chance that you are not fully informed on the mythology of Spider-Man, I'm going to offer up a little quiz which -- if you've managed to read this far without your lips getting too tired -- I guarantee you'll pass.

1) Spider-Man creator Stan Lee decided to hyphenate Spider-Man's name so the character wouldn't be confused with:

A) Superman

B) Green Lantern

C) Donovan Leach

D) The Fantastic Four

2) Before he became Spider-Man, the hero of our tale was a meek, bookish science nerd named:

A) Parker Posey

B) Peter Parker

C) Peter Piper

D) Pickled Pepper

3) Spider-Man first discovered his awesome arachnid powers after he was bitten by:

A) A rabid dog

B) A radioactive yak

C) A radioactive spider

D) Paris Hilton

4) Although he often refers to himself as "Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man," Spider-Man's most commonly accepted nickname is:

A) Old Yeller

B) Old Faithful

C) Old Man River

D) The ol' Webslinger.

5) One of Spider-Man's most famous enemies is a deranged scientist with multiple mechanical limbs -- pssst: that's a hint -- whose name is:

A) Doctor Kildare

B) Doctor Octopus

C) Doctor of Optometry

D) Doctor of Obstetrics

6) Spider-Man's mean-spirited media nemesis is J. Jonah Jameson, who is the publisher of:

A) Pravda

B) The Union Leader

C) The Daily Bugle

D) The Daily Harpsichord

7) Upon the death of his parents, Peter Parker -- whoops, there's the answer to No. 1 -- was taken in and raised by his:

A) Aunt Bea

B) Aunt May

C) Aunt Jemima

D) Uncle Tonoose

In his comic book roots, Spider-Man's ability to swing from skyscraper to skyscraper is due to implements on his wrists that fire out:

A) Yarn

B) Hemp

C) Grappling hooks

D) Artificial spider webbing

OK, that's it. What? You were expecting 10 questions? Sorry, but a spider has eight legs, so there are only eight questions in this quiz.

The answers, some of which can be verified in today's comic book are: 1-A; 2-B; 3-C; 4-D; 5-B; 6-C; 7-B; 8-D.

Now that you're ready, root through the paper and immerse yourself in Spider-Man.

If you do, you'll know how the old Wall-Crawler feels, because once you get hooked, like him, you'll be climbing the walls until next week's installment.

[tracysaboe]

They've reprinted that so many times it doesn't really suprise me. I have a copy of the 1st runs of reprints for that. It's dated mid-70s. In the condition it's in, I could probably fetch about a third of that.

Tracy

[Radical_Teen]

I got all the questions right, but I have never read the comic book. I just saw the movie.

[Braddogg]

I got all the questions right, but I have never read the comic book. I just saw the movie.

In the movie, the webs that sling from Spiderman's wrists are "natural."  In the comics, the webs are artificially created by Parker.  Other than that, you could get everything from the movie