The Beguiling Books & Art

First and Second Appearance of

The Amazing Spider-Man

up for Auction on April 30th @ Toronto’s The Beguiling!

Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1,
to be auctioned in-store. 

www.beguilingbooksandart.com

TORONTO: Comic fans in-the-know are eagerly anticipating the return of Peter Parker after a year-long absence in the all-new Amazing Spider-Man #1 next Wednesday, April 30^th… but Toronto-area comic book shop The Beguiling is going all the way back to Spider-Man’s creation in 1963, and auctioning copies of the wall-crawler’s first appearances!

On Wednesday April 30^th at 7pm, The Beguiling will auction off Amazing Fantasy #15 (1963) and Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1963) published by Marvel Comics and created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, in honour of the character’s 2014 rebirth!

“Are we going to have Amazing Spider-Man #1? Why, yes, we are,” says The Beguiling’s owner Peter Birkemoe. “We’ll have the new first issue by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, and their team, but we’ll also have a copy of the original, by Ditko and Lee, and his first appearance too!

“These two books are what you might call ‘Holy Grail’ books for comic book collectors,” continued Birkemoe. “They’re two of the most valuable and sought-after issues from the ‘silver age’ of comics, and we’ve had tons of interest already from fans looking to add them to their collections.”

The Beguiling has recently had these books professionally “graded” to ensure their condition. They will be auctioning Amazing Fantasy #15 (CGC Graded 2.0 Good) and Amazing Spider-man #1 (CGC Graded 3.0 Good/Very Good) in-store on Wednesday, April 30^th.   Starting bids are $5000 CDN for Amazing Fantasy #15, and $2500 CDN for Amazing Spider-Man #1.

But those aren’t the only books to be auctioned! To commemorate the release of the new Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014), the issue will be released in multiple, sometimes rare and expensive editions, each with unique cover artwork. Three of the rarest and most highly sought-after editions of the new issue will ALSO be auctioned off to benefit The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)! The covers feature exclusive artwork by comics superstars Marcos Martin, Jerome Opena, and Alex Ross.

“The Beguiling is internationally well-known for its support of comics authors and works that fall outside of the mainstream,” said Peter Birkemoe. “We want to spread the joy (and money) around a little bit with this superhero-centric event to support the next generation of comics creators, and supporting TCAF is a great way to do that.”

The additional books to be auctioned are: two copies of “Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014) Marcos Martin Variant”, 1 copy of “Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014) Jerome Opena Sketch Variant”, and 1 copy of “Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014) Alex Ross Sketch Variant.” All proceeds from the auction of these four comic books will be donated to The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2014, Canada’s premier comic book festival. The next Toronto Comic Arts Festival takes place May 10^th and 11^th, 2014, visit www.torontocomics.com for more info.

Fans and collectors interested in owning a piece of comic book history are requested to show up to The Beguiling to register for the auction no later than Wednesday, April 30^th, at 6:00pm. Auction will begin promptly at 7pm. For more information on how to register and how to bid, visit www.beguilingbooksandart.com.

–

ABOUT The Beguiling

Founded in 1987, The Beguiling has set a new standard in Canada for comics and graphic novel retail. Showcasing the largest selection of alternative, underground and avant-garde graphic story telling in the country, The Beguiling has a worldwide reputation for excellence. Among the many accolades afforded the store, the most prestigious was the first-ever Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award for excellence in retailing.

In its long history The Beguiling sponsored many book launches, author signings, readings, and other comics events with legendary creators including Robert Crumb, Harlan Ellison, Jamie & Gilbert Hernandez, Neil Gaiman, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and literally hundreds more. In 2003 The Beguiling founded The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, bringing alternative and independent comics creators from around the world to Toronto to celebrate the best of comic art. It remains the Festival’s premiere sponsor. The next Toronto Comic Arts Festival will be held May 10^th and 11^th at Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street.

www.beguilingbooksandart.com

–

ABOUT The Auction

The following books will be auctioned at the event:

Amazing Fantasy #15 (1963) (CGC Graded 2.0  Good), reserve price $5000 CDN.

Amazing Spider-man #1 (1963) (CGC Graded 3.0 Good/Very Good), reserve price $2500 CDN.

Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014) Marcos Martin Variant, no reserve, proceeds to TCAF (2 copies). 1 in 50 rareness ratio.*

Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014) Jerome Opena Sketch Variant, no reserve, proceeds to TCAF. 1 in 200 rareness ratio. *

Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014) Alex Ross Sketch Variant, no reserve, proceeds to TCAF. 1 in 300 rareness ratio.*

- Sealed reserve bids will be accepted up until Apri 29th 6PM for those who cannot bid in person and will be opened at the beginning of the auction. Send sealed reserve bids to mail@beguiling.com.

- All bidders must register in-store on April 30th. All bidders must register before 6pm.

- All sales subject to 13% HST, there is no buyers premium, auction fees, or any additional charges.

- Final bid price is subject to a 2% rebate for payment by cash, cheque or debit.

*: The “1 in XXX” rareness ratio refers to the number of regular editions of a comic that a retailer most purchase to be able to order 1 copy of the special, variant cover edition. Total rarity is not guaranteed.

–

ABOUT Amazing Spider-Man #1 Release Date Event

The Beguiling will be holding a special release event for Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014) on Wednesday, April 30^th, 2014. The Beguiling will have multiple versions of the comic available for sale.

Amazing Spider-Man #1: Standard Edition, Blank-Sketch-Cover Edition, J. Scott Campbell Connecting Edition, Skottie Young “Baby” Edition will all be on hand and available for the U.S. Cover price of $5.99, with a limit of one non-Standard Edition cover per customer.

–

The Beguiling and The Toronto Comic Arts Festival are proud to join with French film festival CINEFRANCO to present a screening of Quai d’Orsay,  based on the graphic novel by TCAF Featured Guests Abel Lanzac and Christophe Blain. The film, about the fast-baced, coniving, and hilarious world of international diplomacy, is adapted from the bestselling French graphic albums, which will be released in North America at TCAF under the title Weapons of Mass Diplomacy. We are of course thrilled to present this very special screening, and we encourage all of our customers and friends to encourage this screening ahead of Blain and Lanzac’s rare North American appearance at TCAF, May 10th and 11th. The Cinefranco website is http://cinefranco.com

About Quai d’Orsay:

Arthur Vlaminck, a young graduate from the prestigious National School of Administration, thinks he has hit the jackpot with his new job as the speechwriter of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, the exuberant Alexandre Taillard de Worms. Little does he know that he is stepping into the hellish maze of diplomacy filled with armies of advisors, assistants, a well-attuned to power Chief of staff … and all of them pulling dirty tricks on each other.

Bertrand Tavernier delivers a crazy, fast-paced comedy deriving its rhythm from the script lines, the theatrical gestures and the nervous way he shoots the film in split screens and tracking shots. We never get tired of watching Thierry Lhermitte flail around, slam doors and make everybody’s life miserable. Raphaël Personnaz and Niels Arestrup, to name a few actors, follow his brilliant footsteps.

Screening Saturday, April 5, at 6:15pm at The Royal Cinema, 608 College Street. Tickets available at cinefranco.com.

Contest: Win Passes to see Quai d’Orsay and a rare advance copy of the English-language Weapons of Mass Diplomacy graphic novel!

To enter to win one of two prize packages, which include two tickets to the April 5th screening of Quai d’Orsay and one advance copy of Weapons of Mass Diplomacy, all you have to do is make sure you’re subscribed to The Beguiling mailing list (sign-up is in the upper-right corner of this site), and send an email with your name, phone number, and “ISAACTHEPIRATE” to beguilingcontests@gmail.com before Monday, March 31st, at 11:00am. We’ll draw and e-mail the winners by noon on that day. Film screens Saturday, April 5th, at 6:15pm.

RULES & REGULATIONS:

1. Subject line MUST contain entrant’s name, phone number, and “ISAACTHEPIRATE”, and must be sent to beguilingcontests@gmail.com.
2. Entries must be made from an e-mail address subscribed to The Beguiling’s mailing list. Signup on the front page of http://www.beguilingbooksandart.com. (Seriously, we check and we disqualify people not subscribed to the mailing list.)
3. Entries must be received before Monday, March 31st, 2014, at 11:00am.
4. Employees and family members of The Beguiling are not eligible to win.
5. One entry per person/phone number.
6. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, no cash value, odds of winning depend on total number of entries received, etc.

Good luck!

- Chris @ The Beguiling