Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 4/85 · DIRECT EDITION
UNIT ECA-011760
PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #101
John Byrne cover art on a routine Cary Burkett/Juan Alcantara Spectacular Spider-Man issue featuring Whiplash
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | April 1985 | Copper | Direct Edition | — | AVAILABLE |
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-011760 | ~9.0 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creasing or color breaks. Spine appears tight with no stress lines visible in this image. There is slight edge wear possible at the top right corner but otherwise the surface looks clean; interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade is capped conservatively.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $3 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $12 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $350 |
// Archive commentary
Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #101 is a Copper Age issue written by Cary Burkett with interior art by Juan Alcantara and Jack Abel, featuring a secondary Spider-Man villain, Whiplash, in a self-contained street-level story typical of the mid-1980s expansion of the Spider-Man line. The issue's primary point of interest for collectors is its cover, illustrated by John Byrne, whose name recognition from his celebrated runs on Fantastic Four and Uncanny X-Men lends the book modest crossover appeal beyond the core Spider-Man completist audience. There is no first appearance, origin, or other landmark event contained in this issue; it functions as a solid but unremarkable entry in a long-running secondary Spider-Man title.
Market data reflects a book produced in high volume with a correspondingly large certified population, over 1,500 CGC Universal copies graded, and correspondingly soft pricing across the curve outside of top-census grades. Demand is concentrated almost entirely at the 9.6-9.8 tier, where Byrne cover-art completists and registry-focused collectors compete for pristine copies, driving a sharp premium at 9.8 relative to the flat, low-dollar values seen from 6.0 down through the lower grades. Raw and mid-grade copies trade as inexpensive commodity books, with minimal differentiation in value across a wide swath of the grading scale until the top of the census is reached.
This issue is best understood as a value-tier back-issue for Spider-Man run-builders and Byrne cover collectors rather than a standalone investment vehicle. Lower and mid-grade raw copies are readily available and inexpensive, suited to readers completing the Spectacular Spider-Man series or filling gaps in a 1980s Marvel run. High-grade 9.8 slabs represent the only meaningful value tier, appealing to registry competitors and Byrne specialists willing to pay a steep premium for top-census condition census in an otherwise common and plentiful title.
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