You may think that this photo of Amazing Spider-man 361 looks a little off, and you would be correct! This copy is a 2nd print, designated by the silver background (which looks cooler in my opinion). This isn’t the only book that does this though. New mutants 100 for example, has the classic purple background but also has a 2nd and 3rd printing featuring silver and gold accents on a white background, Just as one example.
So why is this important? For a few reasons, actually. Many people overlook these later printings, only wanting to collect the first prints. And I can respect that. But, if you look at the print runs on some of these later printings (Looking at you, Hulk 377 3rd print), they are typically much lower than those of the first print. Usually, a book with a smaller print run, such as a variant on newer books, would drive up the price, but on these copper age keys, the silver background doesn’t seem to catch the same attention.
Check out our video below for more on this, as well as some other books that are severely underappreciated.
