Amazing Spider-Man #129

A hired gun for the Jackal

The Amazing Spider-Man #129 went on sale October 30, 1973, with a February 1974 cover date. It cost 20 cents for 36 pages. The 19-page story, "The Punisher Strikes Twice!", opens on a firing range with the line "Magnificent! You demolished the plaster statue on your first shot!"

The plot is simple. A new villain, the Jackal, convinces the Punisher that Spider-Man is a killer and hires him to take out the hero. After several fights Spider-Man persuades the Punisher that he has been played. When the Punisher learns that the Jackal killed his gun supplier, he turns his anger on the Jackal instead.

Both characters debuted here. The Jackal later became central to Spider-Man's Clone Saga in the 1990s. The Punisher, who would be named Frank Castle and given a Marine background in later stories, got his tragic origin in Marvel Preview #2 in 1975.

What set him apart was his method. A costumed character who killed with ordinary guns was unusual in superhero comics of the time, and the Punisher was drawn as sympathetic from the start, with a strict code that separated him from Spider-Man's usual villains.

A 21-year-old writer and a pulp idea

Gerry Conway was born September 10, 1952, in Brooklyn. He took over The Amazing Spider-Man at 19 with issue #111 in August 1972, and in issue #121, cover-dated June 1973, he wrote the death of Gwen Stacy, one of the most famous stories in the character's history. The Punisher came eight issues into his run.

Conway drew on Don Pendleton's Executioner novels about the vigilante Mack Bolan, and on the pulp hero the Shadow. "I was fascinated by the Don Pendleton Executioner character, which was fairly popular at the time," he said. His first costume sketches put a small skull on one side of the chest. John Romita Sr. enlarged it until the skull took up most of the chest, citing the 1940s hero the Black Terror as his inspiration.

The name was not Conway's first choice. Stan Lee recalled that Conway proposed "the Assassin," which Lee rejected for its connotations, and that he suggested "the Punisher" instead, a name a minor earlier character had used.

Ross Andru, born June 15, 1927, in Highland Park, Michigan, drew the story. He was the title's regular penciler from 1973 to 1978 and later drew the 1976 crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. He died on Long Island on November 9, 1993. Conway went on to a long television career that included Law & Order; he died April 26, 2026.

Fall 1973

The issue reached stands in one of the most turbulent months in modern American politics. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to tax evasion. Ten days later came the Saturday Night Massacre, when President Nixon ordered the firing of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox and the attorney general and his deputy resigned rather than carry it out.

Ten days after that, on October 30, the Punisher's first appearance went on sale.

The same fall, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes on September 20, the Oakland A's won the World Series on October 21, and NASA launched Mariner 10 toward Mercury on November 3.

From villain of the month to Marvel mainstay

The Punisher kept returning, and the character's appeal as a hero rather than a villain grew. The 1986 Circle of Blood miniseries set his modern form. He has been played on film by Dolph Lundgren in 1989, Thomas Jane in 2004 and Ray Stevenson in Punisher: War Zone in 2008, and by Jon Bernthal in a television series that premiered in 2017.

The cover has been homaged many times, including by Archie Meets the Punisher and What If? #58 in 1994, a Star Wars variant featuring Boba Fett in 2014 and a Deadpool cover in 2017. In the 2000 film Coyote Ugly, a character calls this issue "the Holy Grail of comics." In January 2025 CGC introduced a custom grading label using the Punisher image from this issue.

On the market, the issue's top grade peaked in 2022. A CGC 9.8 sold at auction in New York on March 15, 2022, for $57,000, and another brought $43,200 at auction on June 19, 2022. A dealer's 2022 market report said that copies at 9.8 had broken $30,000 that year, with one sale above $40,000, after several years of 9.8 sales in the $10,000 to $14,400 range. The same report, updated in 2024, said there had been no positive sales of the book all year.

On February 18, 2025, a CGC 9.8 sold at auction for $15,860, against a presale estimate of $12,000 to $18,000.

What to look for

The cover is penciled by Gil Kane and inked by John Romita, lettered by Gaspar Saladino. The interior credits read Conway, Andru, F. Giacoia and D. Hunt, with Dave Hunt also coloring and J. Costanza lettering. A one-page Charles Atlas ad, "The Insult That Made a Man Out of 'Mac'," sits between the cover and the story.

Watch for later printings. The issue has been reprinted many times, including in Marvel Tales #106 (1979), a 2002 edition with a remade cover, a theatrical edition tied to the 2004 film and a True Believers reprint in November 2018. These are not the 1974 original.

Copies are common in absolute terms: one count in March 2016 found 6,956 graded copies, with 91 at 9.8. By February 2025 a sale listing counted 205 copies at 9.8 and none higher. A 2022 sale listing said no 9.9 or 10.0 existed on the census, so 9.8 remains the ceiling.

The numbers

Cover price

20 cents

Pages

36; the story runs 19

Print run of #129

No verified figure found

Title's average paid circulation

273,204 an issue over 12 months; 313,028 for the issue nearest filing (statement of ownership printed in #132, indexed as dated September 25, 1972)

Census, March 2016

6,956 graded; 91 at CGC 9.8

Census, February 2025

205 at CGC 9.8; none higher (per a sale listing)

Highest grade

CGC 9.8; no 9.9 or 10.0 reported (2022 and 2025 sale listings)

Timeline

1. Aug 1972

   Gerry Conway, 19, takes over The Amazing Spider-Man with issue #111.

2. Jun 1973

   Issue #121 features the death of Gwen Stacy.

3. Oct 30, 1973

   The Amazing Spider-Man #129 goes on sale, cover-dated February 1974.

4. 1975

   Marvel Preview #2 gives the Punisher his origin.

5. 1986

   The Circle of Blood miniseries establishes the modern Punisher.

6. 1989

   Dolph Lundgren plays the Punisher in the first film adaptation.

7. 2004

   Thomas Jane stars in The Punisher.

8. Mar 2016

   A census count finds 6,956 graded copies, 91 at CGC 9.8.

9. 2017

   A Punisher television series starring Jon Bernthal premieres.

10. Mar 15, 2022

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction in New York for $57,000.

11. Jun 19, 2022

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction for $43,200.

12. Jan 28, 2025

    CGC begins offering a custom label with the Punisher image from this issue.

13. Feb 18, 2025

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction for $15,860; the census then shows 205 at 9.8 and none higher.

14. Apr 26, 2026

    Gerry Conway dies in Thousand Oaks, California.

The world in 1973

• Sep 20, 1973

  Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes.

• Oct 10, 1973

  Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns.

• Oct 20, 1973

  The Saturday Night Massacre: Nixon orders Archibald Cox fired.

• Oct 21, 1973

  The Oakland A's win the World Series over the Mets.

• Nov 1, 1973

  Leon Jaworski is named the new Watergate special prosecutor.

• Nov 3, 1973

  NASA launches Mariner 10 toward Mercury.

• Nov 7, 1973

  Congress overrides Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Amazing Spider-Man #129 is number 40 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (19 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Gerry Conway first wanted to call the character 'the Assassin.' Stan Lee said he talked him out of it.
• Conway drew a small skull on the chest; John Romita Sr. made it fill nearly the whole shirt.
• The same issue introduced the Jackal, who became the engine of Spider-Man's 1990s Clone Saga.
• A character in the 2000 film Coyote Ugly calls this comic 'the Holy Grail of comics.'
• The issue went on sale ten days after the Saturday Night Massacre.
• No copy has graded higher than 9.8.