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Why is Spiderman #129 now a mega key comic ?
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183 posts in this topic

11 minutes ago, Bronty said:

Punisher mini series hadn't come out yet.   That was the game changer.

I was a bit disappointed when I got around to reading it. The first issue with the jailbreak is good, then it’s quite mediocre after that.

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5 hours ago, Gatsby77 said:

Why is ASM 129 key?

I'd argue primarily nostalgia. If you were collecting in the late 1980s-early 1990s (particularly 1988-1993), Punisher was a top 3 (maybe top 4) comic character.

It was like: Wolverine, Batman, Punisher...maybe Spider-Man ------> Everyone else.

If you weren't there in 1992-93, it's hard to describe how popular Punisher was -- three monthly titles and guest-starring everywhere.

At the time the list of top Bronze Age keys was incredibly short -- Hulk 181, Giant-Size X-Men 1/X-Men 94, ASM 129 ---> everything else. (Yes - even GL 76 and Conan 1 lagged well behind those books).

While Punisher has fallen off in importance in the decades since, ASM 129 still holds sway among the bulk of today's comic collectors, who are in their 40s and 50s and fondly recall that period from about 1986-1994 when Punisher was at or near the top of the A-list.

That he's had three movies and (arguably - with Daredevil Season 2) two TV seasons doesn't hurt either.

This is basically it.  The late 80’s early 90’s dark and violent characters took over.  The Dark Knight Returns in ‘86, The Punisher limited series in ‘86, and the Watchmen in ‘86/‘87.  And of course a lot of this was due to Wolverine becoming such a favorite character in X-Men leading up to this.  In the late ‘80’s early ‘90’s I had my store and those are all anyone asked about.  People who were 12-22 In 1990 are now 42-52 and have disposable income.

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32 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

I was a bit disappointed when I got around to reading it. The first issue with the jailbreak is good, then it’s quite mediocre after that.

I remember that issue 4 was mislabeled 4 of 4.  After we read it my friends and I were like “That’s the end?”

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5 minutes ago, kav said:

I think there are keys, mega keys and ultra keys:
ASM 129, AF15 and Action #1 would be examples.

Saying there are just 'keys' renders the word useless.  First Warlock vs the First superman are entirely different animals and thus adjectives are appropriate.  If the same logic was applied to money, there would be no such thing as a one dollar bill, twenty dollar bill, etc, it would all just be 'money'.
"How much is that?"
"Money"

That's amazing and makes total sense

A key gets you in the garage

A mega key gets you in the house

And an ultra key is to the city!

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Just now, Hollywood1892 said:

That's amazing and makes total sense

A key gets you in the garage

A mega key gets you in the house

And an ultra key is to the city!

Saying there's just 'keys' wont work so good when you try to start car with house key.

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8 hours ago, Logan510 said:

That's not entirely true. In the early 1980's I held a dozen copies in my hands at my LCS and they were $10 each, like an insufficiently_thoughtful_person I didn't buy any of them :(

 

In the early 80s it may have been a $1 book. I don't think the ads of the day bump it out. Which is weird as it should have been. Punished had enough solo books and was a pretty important spidey guest appearance type, but a lot of firsts of secondary characters did not have a bump.

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9 hours ago, Gatsby77 said:

While Punisher has fallen off in importance in the decades since, ASM 129 still holds sway among the bulk of today's comic collectors, who are in their 40s and 50s and fondly recall that period from about 1986-1994 when Punisher was at or near the top of the A-list.

This!   I remember the 1980's Punisher was very popular amongst the kids in our neighborhood.  I never really gravitated toward the character, but he was certainly one of the more prominent figures in the years you mention.  They threw him in guest appearances in New Warriors, Darkhawk, Daredevil, wherever they thought a book needed a sales boost, they put him in.   Why he tapered off, is anybody's guess, but ASM #129 is a pretty important Bronze Age book due to his place in the MCU past/present/future.

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4 hours ago, PunisherPunisherPunisher said:

Delete thread now!! :baiting:

I've always liked the character, actually.  Just in small doses, rather than overkill. 

I have a nice 9.0 slab of ASM 129.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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10 hours ago, WoWitHurts said:

Are you saying there are not degrees in importance?

Yes that’s what he’s saying 

and there are no degrees of key 

a key describes the importance of a book in relation to to a key element it introduces 

you can subjectively assume that one book is more important than the other, but it’s not more key than another 

 

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Funny as I was about to start a thread earlier today about the importance of Punisher v the importance of Deadpool. 
I guess that to the younger audience Deadpool is a much more relevant character than punisher but to older folks that doesn’t even make sense. 
would be interesting to study the market cap of each book (asm 129 vs nm98) and see which one totals higher value. 
also interesting that asm129 and nm98 had similar parallels in terms of character popularity and value of 1st app (only in different times). It took both books about 14 years to gain equal value and an additional 10 years to become extremely valuable and collectible. Of course asm129 had a head start so it’s financially supposed to outperform nm98, but character recognition suggests that there may be some stark differences among younger audience reception. 
All in all it would make total sense for a younger fella (one that grew in the 00s) to assume that a character like Punisher and a book like asm129 are astonishing in significance and value

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Whether this book is key or not, because of his first appearance...… there has got to be tens of thousands of copies of it around.  Are there that many people who are looking for it ? 

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1 hour ago, Ken Aldred said:

I've always liked the character, actually.  Just in small doses

Yep.  ASM 129 was enough for me.

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