Wall Book Wednesday: Amazing Fantasy Vol 2 #1

Good evening Crewmembers and welcome to Wall Book Wednesday! Here we discuss key comic book issues and why they've earned a coveted showcase spot on The Wall.

Tonight we're looking at Amazing Fantasy Volume 2 #1 which is the first appearance of Anya Sofia Corazon, or as she’s known in Super-hero circles; Araña.

In our reality, Araña was created by writer Fiona Avery and artist Mark Brooks in 2004 and was targeted at a younger, teen audience. On Earth-616 (the main MARVEL comics universe), Anya was on her way to her first day of High School when she got caught in the crossfire of a fight between two mystical clans. Anya was mortally wounded, and the mage from the Spider Society clan performed a ritual to save her life.

Some members of the Spider-family got their powers from a radioactive spider bite, some from cloning, others took a spider-powered laser beam to their mother’s womb; Anya got hers from a tattoo. The magical ritual Mage Miguel performed left a spider-shaped tattoo on Anya that endowed her with spider powers. Like other MARVEL Spider-familia, Araña has super-human strength, speed, agility, balance, stamina, and enhanced reflexes/reactions. Unlike other members, she is able to sprout a blueish spider-like exoskeleton to help protect herself from damage and enhance her abilities.

Now that you have a quick history, why is this single issue currently selling for an average of $40? For starters, it’s the origin and first appearance of a character that is still active in the MARVEL Universe 18 years after her debut. She is a bilingual member of the Latino community with a Puerto Rican father and Mexican mother. AND, she MAY be coming to a theater near you!

In September 2020, Olivia Wilde was hired by SONY to direct a female character-driven movie for their growing Spider-Verse. Those are really the only facts involved in the story, and “evidence” has also pointed to the project being about original Spider-Woman Jessica Drew instead of Anya “Araña” Corazon. That doesn’t stop Speculators from making guesses and inferences and sometimes, like in the case of Amazing Fantasy V2 #1, it helps drive up the value of the book. (You’d probably be surprised at how much like the Stock Market collecting comics can be.) Since there hasn’t been any new news surrounding Olivia’s project, the average value for Araña’s first appearance has settled back down a bit. Still, when you look at the original cover price of $2.99, $40 isn’t a bad bounce!