Two debuts, one year apart
Collectors tend to treat these as the same purchase. They are not. The Spider-Man figure is Marvel's genesis piece, the first time the company put any character on the blockchain as an official collectible. Amazing Fantasy #15 is the source material, the actual issue where Peter Parker gets bitten, and it did not arrive until a year later.
The ordering is backwards from how the character exists in print, and it produced a supply gap that still separates the two. Both releases used a five-tier ladder, so they line up cleanly variant for variant, which is where the real differences show.
The issue that invented him
Amazing Fantasy was on its way out. The title had been running as Amazing Adult Fantasy, sales were soft, and issue 15 was slated to be the last one. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko used that dead-end slot for a short story about a bookish high-schooler bitten by a radioactive spider at a science demonstration. No cape, no fortune, no army rank. Just a teenager who first tries to make money off his powers on television.
Then the story lands its point. Peter lets a burglar run past him because catching thieves is not his job, and that same burglar later kills his Uncle Ben. The closing caption, "With great power there must also come great responsibility," became the spine of the character and a large part of how Marvel wrote heroes from then on.
Ditko designed the whole package: the costume, the web-shooters, and the full-face mask that lets any reader picture themselves underneath. Jack Kirby drew the published cover. The issue sold well enough that Marvel reversed the cancellation and gave Peter his own book a few months later.
The character arrives first
VeVe had been running about ten months on DC characters when Marvel showed up. The drop went live at 8AM PT on August 7, 2021 as part of Modern Marvel Series 1, and all 60,500 editions moved in under 24 hours.
Five poses, each pulled at longer odds as the tier climbs. The crouch was the easy get. The two animated sculpts were the chase, and they are the only pieces in the set that move.
The five covers of Amazing Fantasy #15
The comic ran its own five-tier ladder, and unlike the figure, VeVe commissioned art for it that exists nowhere in print. The Classic Cover reproduces the published Kirby front. The Rare and Ultra Rare are new work by Alex Saviuk, who drew Spider-Man in print for years, colored by Laura Martin.
One edition has since been burned, so 9,999 circulate. Nothing was withheld, and the first available edition was #186.
The numbers, side by side
Lining the two ladders up tier for tier shows they are not equivalent at any level, and the gap is not even consistent as you climb.
| Tier | Spider-Man figure | Amazing Fantasy #15 | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 32,000 | 6,000 | 5.3x |
| Uncommon | 16,000 | 2,250 | 7.1x |
| Rare | 9,000 | 1,000 | 9.0x |
| Ultra Rare | 2,500 | 500 | 5.0x |
| Secret Rare | 1,000 | 250 | 4.0x |
| Total | 60,500 | 10,000 | 6.1x |
The True Believer cover sits at 250 editions. The Ultimate Animated figure sits at 1,000. The issue that created Spider-Man is four times scarcer than the character at the top of each ladder.
The figure was priced in tiers at drop and the comic was flat, but those were 2021 and 2022 list prices and neither tells you much now. Both have traded between collectors for years since, and where any given tier sits today depends on the variant, the serial number, and what is listed that week.
Why the comic is the harder physical get
A high-grade printed copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 ranks among the most expensive comics ever sold at auction. The 1962 newsprint was cheap and was never meant to survive, which is exactly why surviving copies command what they do. For almost everyone the physical version is off the table entirely.
The digital edition sidesteps that. The art stays pristine, it self-custodies on the Collect blockchain after VeVe's January 2026 migration, and it carries the two Saviuk covers the original never had.
Which one should you own?
If you want the historical marker: the Spider-Man figure. It is Marvel's first character on-chain, and that position cannot be occupied twice. Everything Marvel released afterward, from Captain America to Miles Morales, sits downstream of it.
If you want the scarcer piece: Amazing Fantasy #15, at a sixth of the supply. Specifically the True Believer at 250 editions, or the Vibranium at 500 if the Saviuk art is the draw.
If you want the most accessible way in: the Amazing Spider-Man Common. At 32,000 editions it has the deepest supply of anything across both releases, which keeps it the easiest to find, and it is still the genuine first.
If you want the piece that moves: the Animated at 2,500 or Ultimate Animated at 1,000. They are the only two sculpts in either release with motion.
If you want both: that is the actual argument here. One is the character, the other is the issue that invented him, and holding the pair tells a story neither does alone.
Both trade between collectors on the VeVe secondary market, sometimes below what they originally listed at. New to VeVe? Grab $10 off your first purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions
The character. The Spider-Man figure dropped August 7, 2021 as Marvel's first NFT of any character. Amazing Fantasy #15, the 1962 issue where he debuted, followed on August 8, 2022 as the opening title of VeVe's Marvel Comics line.
Amazing Fantasy #15, by roughly six to one. The comic has 10,000 total editions against the figure's 60,500. The gap is widest at the Rare tier, 1,000 against 9,000, and narrowest at Secret Rare, 250 against 1,000.
Amazing Spider-Man (Common, 32,000), Hangin' Out (Uncommon, 16,000), Jump into Action (Rare, 9,000), Animated (Ultra Rare, 2,500) and Ultimate Animated (Secret Rare, 1,000). The last two are animated sculpts; the first three are static poses.
Classic Cover (Common, 6,000), Vintage Variant (Uncommon, 2,250), Hero Variant (Rare, 1,000), Vibranium Variant (Ultra Rare, 500) and True Believer Variant (Secret Rare, 250). The Hero and Vibranium covers use exclusive Alex Saviuk art colored by Laura Martin.
Access and preservation. A high-grade 1962 copy is one of the most expensive books in the hobby. The digital edition stays pristine, lives on the Collect blockchain following VeVe's January 2026 migration, and includes the two exclusive Saviuk covers no printed copy carries.
Yes. Both drops are fully distributed, but collectors list copies on the VeVe secondary market, with what you pay depending on the variant, the tier and the serial number.
