Black Widow Silver Age Key Issues — Tales of Suspense #52 and #57

Tales of Suspense was Marvel's Iron Man anthology title, running since 1959. In April 1964, issue #52 introduced Natasha Romanova, a Soviet spy dispatched by Moscow to eliminate Tony Stark. Stan Lee handled the plot, Don Rico wrote the script/dialogue for the Black Widow segment (under the pseudonym "N. Korok"), and Don Heck handled interior art — Jack Kirby drew the cover with Paul Reinman on inks. The character was immediately popular: she returned across several subsequent issues, recruited Hawkeye in #57, and gradually evolved from antagonist to hero.

This guide cites only the verifiable: values documented by Heritage Auctions, sellmycomicbooks.com, GoCollect, and Metropolis Comics. Our eBay estimator does not cover the Tales of Suspense series — it returns an error for that title. It does, however, cover Amazing Spider-Man and Daredevil, two Bronze Age series tied to Black Widow, and their data serve as comparison points in this guide. Where no precise public record exists, we stay qualitative.

Black Widow Silver Age key issue ranking (real documented data)

All records below come from public sources. Our eBay estimator does not cover Tales of Suspense; all figures for this series are sourced from the web.

Sources: sellmycomicbooks.com, Metropolis Comics, GoCollect. Our eBay estimator does not cover this series.

Tales of Suspense #52 (1964): the first appearance, the Silver Age masterkey

Published with an April 1964 cover date, Tales of Suspense #52 is the foundational piece of any serious Black Widow collection. The story — with Stan Lee (plot) and Don Rico (script/dialogue, under the pseudonym "N. Korok"), drawn by Don Heck — introduces Natasha Romanova as a sophisticated Soviet antagonist without a signature costume: her identity as a glamorous spy and her intelligence already define the character. This is a pure Silver Age comic, published the same year as X-Men #1 and Daredevil #1, and high-grade copies are exceptionally scarce after six decades. The absolute documented record is a Pacific Coast pedigree CGC 9.6 copy that sold for $15,000 in 2014; a CGC 9.4 trades below this record (no major public 9.4 sale documented). Sellmycomicbooks.com also lists a CGC 9.0 at $9,000, a CGC 8.5 at $9,000, a CGC 7.5 at $1,850, and a raw VF copy around $900. Even a Good-grade copy trades around $370, reflecting the premium that attaches to a first appearance regardless of condition.

Tales of Suspense #57 (1964): the first appearance of Hawkeye

Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964) is a double key: it is the first appearance of Clint Barton — the future Hawkeye — and a pivotal issue for Black Widow as well, with her playing a central recruiting and mentoring role. Stan Lee scripted; Don Heck drew. Clint Barton is presented as a carnival sharpshooter inspired by Iron Man to become a masked archer; Black Widow enlists him as a Soviet agent before he ultimately turns against her. That dual status — first appearance of a major Avenger AND a key Black Widow issue — explains the records: in December 2024, Metropolis Comics sold a Curator collection copy in CGC 9.8 for $210,000, more than double the price paid for that same copy in June 2022 ($102,000). For more accessible grades, sellmycomicbooks.com lists a CGC 9.6 at $20,400, a CGC 9.0 at $4,000, and a CGC 6.0 around $1,000.

Black Widow beyond the Silver Age: Bronze Age reference points

For collectors whose budget does not reach Silver Age prices, two Bronze Age issues offer documented entry points into the character. Amazing Spider-Man #86 (1970) is the first comic in which Black Widow wears her iconic full-body black costume: our eBay estimator records 30 recent listings, with a blended median of €13 and a high end of €93 — a very accessible entry for a historically significant issue. Daredevil #81 (1971) marks the beginning of Black Widow's co-starring run alongside Daredevil in that title: our estimator records 47 listings, with a median of €9 and a high end of €19. Both issues confirm that Black Widow has a liquid, affordable Bronze Age catalog running in parallel with her out-of-reach Silver Age keys.

The MCU effect on Silver Age values

Scarlett Johansson has portrayed Natasha Romanoff from Iron Man 2 (2010) through the Black Widow solo film (2021), which grossed $379.8 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo. That sustained MCU presence has kept steady demand on first-appearance keys, without triggering the sharp single-event spikes seen for other characters: values for Tales of Suspense #52 and #57 have risen structurally rather than speculatively. High-grade copies remain genuinely scarce — sixty years of natural attrition — and buyers operating in CGC 9.4 or above are entering a low-liquidity market where each sale sets a new reference point.