COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Amazing Spider-Man 162 Modern
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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1214552019
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Owner:
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Professor Pecora
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Amazing Spider-Man #162 features the 1st appearance of Jigsaw (William Russo) & Doctor Marla Madison!
Overstreet 2023 NM- 9.2 value = $115.
According to the CGC Census Report as of Tuesday, August 22, 2023, out of a total of 1,339 Universal copies graded, only 133 copies were graded in 9.8 with 0 copies graded higher!
With these statistics in mind, this represents an impressive rarity factor of only 9.93% of the total population!
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In November of 1976, legendary writer Len Wein and artist Ross Andru combined their creative forces and introduced us to the supervillain known as Jigsaw!
If you are unfamiliar with Jigsaw’s background, please enjoy his origin story in which I pulled from ** Wikipedia (Marvel Comics):
** Billy Russo was born to a poor Italian-American family, kicked out and abandoned as an orphan by his abusive father at the age of ten, and went on to become a hitman for New York's Italian criminal underworld, where his good looks garnered him the nickname "Billy the Beaut.”
He married a woman named Susan, and would beat both her and their son, Henry, once forcing Henry to drown his pet cat's kittens by threatening to shoot Susan.
After the botched gangland execution that inadvertently led to the Castle family being massacred, Russo was hired by Frank Costa to cover up their deaths by killing all of their friends and loved ones. Russo killed all of his targets except for Frank Castle, who survived a bomb planted by Russo. Hours later, Frank, now the vigilante Punisher, tracked Russo down to a Maggia nightclub. He gunned down all of Russo's men, but left him alive to send a message to organized crime after knocking him through a glass window pane, an act that reduced Russo's face to a jigsaw puzzle-like mess of scars.
Taking advantage of his hideous visage, Russo adopted the identity of "Jigsaw," and attempted to frame the Punisher for murder. However, the plan failed due to the intervention of Spider-Man and Nightcrawler; Spider-Man witnessed one of Jigsaw's murders, and one of his victims was an old friend of Nightcrawler's. Jigsaw later battled Spider-Man again ** (in Amazing Spider-Man #188).
With his origin story in mind, please enjoy the following image taken from a page within Amazing Spider-Man #162, which depicts the 1st time we see Jigsaw in the history of comics:
Like I mentioned previously in my commentary for Amazing Spider-Man #161; Amazing Spider-Man #162 is also a highly undervalued KEY issue! We’re talking about the 1st appearance of the Punisher’s arch nemesis! With that being said, I view Jigsaw to the Punisher as I do Bullseye to Daredevil and Sabretooth to Wolverine! Without great villains, there would be no great superheroes or antiheroes; the most ruthless and powerful antagonists allow each superhero’s character to be tested—bringing out the best in them!
In terms of the cover art, Ross Andru & John Romita created a phenomenal 1976 Bronze Age classic! The setting takes place on the Roosevelt Island Ariel Tramway in NYC, where we see the Punisher crouched on top of a crowded tram with his pistols aimed directly at Spider-Man & Nightcrawler! To bring this action-packed scene to life, the comic dialogue bubble above the Punisher reads: ONLY ONE OF US IS COMING DOWN FROM HERE ALIVE!
In addition, the geometric positioning of Spider-Man and Nightcrawler is quite intriguing! Spider-Man’s ejected web runs parallel to the Tramway cable on the left-hand side with his face positioned upwards; while Nightcrawler is dangling off the cable with his tail on the opposite side and his face positioned towards the East River below. If you look really carefully at the motion depicted, you’ll notice that Spider-Man & Nightcrawler’s bodies are curved in a circular position central to the cover, which almost resembles the structure of a yin-yang symbol!
When you add in the intricate details like the life-like structure of the Queensboro Bridge, the frightened faces of the passengers in the tram with the Roosevelt Island decal, and the Punisher’s iconic skull-imprinted black suit near the center of the cover coupled with a beautiful orange background to symbolize the sunset…you have yourself a unique classic cover!
Of historical significance, not only does ASM #162 feature the 1st appearance of Jigsaw, but it also features Nightcrawler’s 2nd crossover appearance into another title and his 10th appearance in the history of comics! In addition, the Punisher makes only his 5th overall appearance and this is also the first time these 3 characters graced a cover together: SPIDEY…NIGHTCRAWLER—AND THE PUNISHER MAKES THREE!
Furthermore, actor Dominic West portrayed Jigsaw in Punisher: War Zone (2008), which was released by Marvel Knights Pictures; an offshoot of Marvel Studios dealing with movies for mature audiences. In more recent times, actor Ben Barnes starred as William “Billy” Russo in the critically acclaimed Punisher Netflix TV Series (2017-2019), which is a spin-off of Marvel’s Daredevil Netflix TV Series (2015-2018) and takes place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Moreover, once they announce that a new Punisher movie or TV series will be released, it’s more than likely that we’ll see Jigsaw on the silver screen again. Therefore, ASM #162 still has a ton of growth potential on the CGC market!
This stunning copy is WORLD CLASS in every way! It’s PERFECTLY WRAPPED and CENTERED and contains PERFECT WHITE PAGES! I have honestly not seen a nicer looking copy! This blazer has a super tight spine with no visible stresses or color breaks, deep color saturation that looks like it was printed yesterday and perfectly inserted staples! This copy truly looks MINT!
In closing, I won this pristine beauty during a Pedigree Comics Grand Auction in May of 2021! I was ecstatic when I was notified as the winning bidder and I’m proud to showcase this immaculate copy in the Professor Pecora Collection!
Happy Collecting & Enjoy the Hunt!
-Professor Pecora
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