The Amazing Spider-Man #252

A sequel that came before the story

The Amazing Spider-Man #252 went on sale January 31, 1984, with a May 1984 cover date and a 60-cent price. Its 22-page story, "Homecoming," picks up with Spider-Man returning from the events of Secret Wars, the 12-issue Marvel crossover that began with the same May 1984 cover date. He comes back in a new black-and-white costume and tries to get used to it.

Readers had not yet been told where the suit came from. The scene in which Spider-Man finds it, on an alien planet called Battleworld, ran in Secret Wars #8, cover-dated December 1984, seven months after this issue. In that story Spider-Man's costume is in tatters; Thor and the Hulk point him to a machine that can make any clothing, and a black sphere spreads over his body to form the new suit, which can mimic street clothes and seems to have an endless supply of webbing.

Two other comics featured the black costume within weeks. Marvel Team-Up #141 and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #90 came out two weeks after #252 and are tied for the costume's second appearance, which makes #252 its first appearance in a regular title.

A $220 idea and four sets of hands

The idea for a new costume came from a reader, Randy Schueller of Norridge, Illinois. In a letter dated August 3, 1982, Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter told Schueller that Marvel was interested, and the company bought the idea from him for $220. Shooter came up with switching Spider-Man to black and white, and artists Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi designed the costume.

John Byrne has said he had imagined a self-repairing biological costume while drawing Iron Fist, and that Roger Stern asked to use the idea for Spider-Man. Stern, born September 17, 1950, plotted the issue in which the costume first appeared and then left the title. Tom DeFalco, born June 26, 1950, had been editing Shooter's Secret Wars and the Spider-Man books; the two writers shared issues #251 and #252, the Secret Wars crossover issues, before DeFalco took over fully with #253.

Ron Frenz, born February 1, 1960, became the regular artist on the title in 1984. He later said he was hired for only six issues while John Romita Jr. launched a run on X-Men, and that Romita Jr. told the editor to keep the new team. With DeFalco, Frenz revealed in issue #258, cover-dated November 1984, that the black suit was a living alien creature trying to bond permanently with Peter Parker.

David Michelinie turned the rejected costume into a villain. Looking for an enemy who could slip past Spider-Man's spider-sense, he bonded the symbiote to reporter Eddie Brock, and with Todd McFarlane drawing, the character appeared in full as Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300, cover-dated May 1988.

Winter 1984

The issue went on sale a month after the breakup of the Bell System on January 1, 1984. Six days before it reached stands, President Reagan announced in his State of the Union address that the United States would build a permanently crewed space station.

The space shuttle Challenger launched on February 3 and made the first shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center on February 11. At the end of the month U.S. Marines pulled out of Beirut, and Michael Jackson won a record eight Grammy Awards.

In comics, the period belonged to Secret Wars. Marvel built the series with the toy maker Mattel, which tested names with children; the original title, Cosmic Champions, was dropped because focus groups responded to the words "secret" and "wars." It became a best-seller, outselling any other comic of the previous 25 years.

From black suit to blockbuster villain

Sales of the title rose with the new costume. Circulation records for The Amazing Spider-Man show paid sales peaking in 1985, the year after #252, at an average of 326,695 copies an issue, up from 261,064 the year before.

Venom became a star in his own right, and the costume's first moment became valuable in its own right: an original page of Secret Wars showing Spider-Man in the black suit for the first time sold at auction in January 2022 for more than $3 million, at the time the highest price paid for a single comic-book page at auction.

Copies of #252 trade often. At CGC 9.8, recent completed sales have mostly fallen between about $1,000 and $1,700, with one copy reaching $2,425 in August 2026. Higher grades are scarce and priced in another range entirely: a newsstand-edition copy graded CGC 9.9 sold at auction for $73,200 on September 26, 2026, the highest price for the issue at the auction house that sold it.

What to look for

The cover is the giveaway: Spider-Man in the black costume, bursting through a frame in the same layout as Amazing Fantasy #15, with the blurb "The Rumors Are True. Introducing... the New Spider-Man!" Ron Frenz signed the cover.

Three editions were printed: a direct edition sold through comic shops, a newsstand edition and a Canadian edition with a 75-cent price. Graded copies of the newsstand edition are labeled as such. The cover has since been reprinted on collected editions, including Spider-Man: The Complete Black Costume Saga Omnibus in 2024 and a 2025 Marvel Archive Edition; those are books, not the 1984 comic.

The statement of ownership printed in this issue reported an average of 470,527 copies printed per issue over the preceding 12 months, and 472,133 for the issue nearest the filing date. A March 2026 sale listing counted 2,010 copies at CGC 9.8 and eight graded higher.

The numbers

Cover price

60 cents (25p in Britain, 75 cents in Canada)

Pages

36; the story runs 22

Print run of #252

No verified issue-level figure found

Title's print run (statement in #252)

470,527 copies printed per issue on average over 12 months; 472,133 for the issue nearest filing

Title's average paid circulation

261,064 an issue in the 1984 statement year; 326,695 in 1985

Census, March 2026

2,010 at CGC 9.8; 8 higher (per a sale listing)

Highest grade sold

CGC 9.9 newsstand edition, $73,200 (September 26, 2026)

Timeline

1. Aug 3, 1982

   Jim Shooter writes to Randy Schueller that Marvel is interested in his costume idea; Marvel pays $220 for it.

2. Jan 31, 1984

   The Amazing Spider-Man #252 goes on sale, cover-dated May 1984.

3. Feb 1984

   Marvel Team-Up #141 and Spectacular Spider-Man #90 follow about two weeks later with the black costume.

4. May 1984

   Secret Wars #1 carries the same May 1984 cover date.

5. Nov 1984

   Issue #258 reveals the costume is a living alien.

6. Dec 1984

   Secret Wars #8 finally shows where the black costume came from.

7. 1985

   The title's average paid circulation peaks at 326,695 an issue.

8. May 1988

   Venom appears in full in The Amazing Spider-Man #300.

9. Jan 2022

   An original Secret Wars page showing the black suit's first appearance sells for more than $3 million.

10. Mar 2026

    A sale listing counts 2,010 copies at CGC 9.8 and 8 higher.

11. May 14, 2026

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction for $1,647.

12. Sep 26, 2026

    A newsstand CGC 9.9 copy sells at auction for $73,200.

The world in 1984

• Jan 1, 1984

  The Bell System is broken up.

• Jan 25, 1984

  Reagan announces plans for a permanently crewed space station.

• Feb 3, 1984

  Space shuttle Challenger launches on the tenth shuttle mission.

• Feb 11, 1984

  Challenger makes the first shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center.

• Feb 26, 1984

  U.S. Marines pull out of Beirut.

• Feb 28, 1984

  Michael Jackson wins a record eight Grammy Awards.

• Apr 23, 1984

  Federal health officials announce HTLV-III as the virus that causes AIDS.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, The Amazing Spider-Man #252 is number 71 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 (46 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The black costume began as a reader's idea; Marvel bought it from Randy Schueller of Norridge, Illinois, for $220.
• This issue shows Spider-Man back from Secret Wars seven months before Secret Wars #8 showed him getting the suit.
• The cover copies the layout of Amazing Fantasy #15, Spider-Man's first appearance.
• The original series title Secret Wars replaced was Cosmic Champions; a toy company's focus groups liked the words "secret" and "wars."
• The letters page in this issue opens: "If any of you are having this comic read to you over the phone, you may not have noticed that Spidey is sporting a brand new costume!"
• Ron Frenz was originally hired to draw only six issues.