Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2024): Key Issue Guide

Buying a first issue released only recently changes the question put to the collector. It is no longer about recognizing a rare printing among decades of reprints, but about deciding whether an issue still available at most comic shops deserves a place in a binder, and under what conditions it might one day be sought after.

As always in this guide, only verified information (creators, issues, dates) is stated as fact; the analysis is our own, with no reproduction of protected pages or dialogue.

The issue: Hickman, Checchetto, an adult Peter Parker

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 comes out in January 2024 at Marvel, with Jonathan Hickman on script and Marco Checchetto on art and the main cover. The title reuses that of the 2000 series, but it does not continue it: it belongs to a rebuilt universe, where the characters start again from zero and where Peter Parker is found well past high school age.

This Peter Parker is not the teenager of the original series. He is an adult, married to Mary Jane Watson, settled into a life unlike the one the character has known elsewhere, and he has never been Spider-Man. The first issue sets up this situation and leaves the question of the spider open: it is this offset, a hero whom the story has made wait, that carries the series.

For the collector, the formula "first issue, top-tier writer, well-known artist" is enough to explain the interest. It says nothing, however, about scarcity, and that is the point that separates this issue from its great elders.

The editorial context: the return of the Ultimate universe

The Ultimate line, born in 2000, had been closed in the 2010s; Marvel reopened the door in 2023 with Ultimate Invasion, a four-issue miniseries written by Hickman and drawn by Bryan Hitch. That story acts as a passage: it changes the world on which a new range of series then rests. The history article on the Ultimate line and its influence recalls how the first version came about.

In 2024, this range opens with first issues staggered over a few months: Ultimate Spider-Man in January, then Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate X-Men and, in June, The Ultimates. Spider-Man is the most visible title, which explains why Hickman, the coordinating writer of the relaunch, took charge of this series personally.

This grouped launch has a consequence for market value: demand is spread across five first issues, and each is compared with the others. A buyer looking for "the" number one of this relaunch will find several candidates, and the choice comes down to the appeal of the character.

Why this issue already attracts collectors

Three elements add up. First, the name Spider-Man: no other Marvel character draws as many regular readers, and a first issue of the title always gets followed. Next, Hickman's signature, whose work on the X-Men (the writer's reading guide) gathered an audience of readers ready to follow elsewhere. Finally, Checchetto's art, already familiar to readers of Greg Rucka's Punisher (2011-2013): a precise, dark line that gives the series a tone far from the Spider-Man of the main series.

There is also a reading effect: this issue 1 lays out on its own the principle of the series, an adult Peter Parker without a costume. The following issues develop it, but this is the one people cite when they talk about the relaunch.

Our caution stems from the fact that interest is not market value. Recent first issues of closely followed series sell well in the first month, then fall back into the normal flow. What sustains them is the length of the series and its role in the publisher's history, two things that only time establishes.

What will make the market value move

The market value of a 2024 issue is not established. We give no figure: for a recent issue, the median of current listings, cross-checked against completed sales, is the only method, and it shifts from week to week.

Four factors can move it. The first is the length of the series: if it runs well beyond the first arcs and becomes the flagship title of the range, the first issues gain. The second is the character's place in an adaptation: we know of no announced adaptation of this version, and we assume none. The third is the number of successive printings: the more there are, the more the original copy loses scarcity. The fourth is the scarcity of the alternate covers, which depends on the retailer order ratio, for which we cite no figure for lack of certainty.

These four factors do not simply add up. A single printing with no adaptation can keep a modest market value for years; multiple printings with an adaptation pull it upward, but on the graded copy, not on the whole.

Telling one edition from another

For a recent issue, the difficulty is not spotting a fake, it is distinguishing the original printing from its reprints. A reprint most often carries its printing number on the banner or on the credits page, and its cover may differ in tint or by an added banner. Check this mention before paying first-printing price for a copy.

The alternate cover is the other trap. An alternate cover is an edition in its own right, often credited to another artist, sometimes on an order ratio. It must not be confused with Checchetto's main cover, and its price is judged separately. Read the listing description: a seller who writes "variant" without naming the artist or the ratio leaves a doubt you will have to clear up.

Finally, bookstore or convention editions may carry a special cover. The only reliable safeguard is to compare the barcode and the cover with the catalog entry, which lists the known editions of the issue.

Buying pitfalls

The first pitfall comes from impatience. When a recent issue is billed as a "key" on a sales page, it is most often a promise about the future, not a finding. A seller who presents Ultimate Spider-Man #1 as an investment is talking about an event nobody has yet seen.

The second pitfall is condition. A copy bought on day one and stored in a bag has every chance of being near mint; the price gap between a raw copy and a slabbed copy is justified only if the grade is high and the market recognizes it. For an issue still in circulation, grading a copy amounts to paying for an expert opinion on an object you can buy again identically.

The third is title confusion. The catalog holds several series with similar titles: the 2000 one, its follow-ups published under the title Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, and the 2024 one. A listing that does not give the year leaves room for error. Read the cover date and the creative team's name before adding to the cart.

Neighboring issues that also matter

The first neighbor to consider is Ultimate Fallout #4 (2011), the first appearance of Miles Morales, which remains one of the milestones of the old Ultimate line. The 2024 relaunch does not change its place, but it revives the attention paid to the imprint.

Next come Ultimate Invasion #1, the starting point of the relaunch, and the other first issues of the range: Ultimate Black Panther #1, Ultimate X-Men #1 and The Ultimates #1. None has Spider-Man's weight on the market, but each has its audience, and a set of five first issues can be put together at lower cost if you look for them as a block.

Finally, Ultimate Spider-Man #1 from 2000, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, is the subject of our guide to the key issues of the series. The two issues number 1 do not compete: one is a piece from the era when the imprint was created, the other is a relaunch in progress.

What grading changes

For a 2024 issue, the grade matters little as long as the market stays abundant. A recent copy that comes out of the printing well is near mint by construction, so the difference between two slabs comes down to a few points. In this context, the scarcity of a high grade depends on the number of issues submitted, not on the difficulty of obtaining them.

What can change the game is the combination of the grade and a rare cover. An alternate cover printed at a low ratio and graded high is a rarer object than a main-cover copy of the same grade. We cite no ratio, but the method is useful: look, for your copy, at how many similar issues have been graded and at what level.

If you keep your issues in bags, have only one of each edition graded, and only if the relaunch as a whole gains value.

How to track it in a collection

The most useful thing is to note, for each copy, the series year, the issue number, the cover artist's name and the printing mention. These four pieces of information are enough to find the catalog entry and compare it with the one for completed sales.

A relaunch that lasts also calls for follow-up over time: when the tenth issue comes out, when the arc ends, when the artist changes. Each change of team is a landmark. If Checchetto leaves the series, the issues drawn by Checchetto form a closed set, and that is often what people remember later. To place all these recent releases, the guide comics 2024-2026: priorities for the collector offers sorting criteria.

Finally, keep the "reading" lot and the "collection" lot separate: a read and folded copy does not have the same place in your inventory as a bagged copy, and the value of one does not apply to the other.

Conclusion

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2024) is an excellent first issue to read, a plausible piece to keep and a poor candidate for short-term speculation. Its strength comes from three solid elements: a top-tier character, a major writer, a well-known artist. Its weakness is that time has not yet settled anything.

Our advice is to buy it for what it is, the start of a series whose fate depends on what follows, and to pay no premium in the name of promises about the future. The day the market value moves, the method will be the same as today: median of listings, completed sales, the printing mention read off the copy itself.

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