Amazing Fantasy

Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 (Dec. 1961). First issue following title change from Amazing Adventures. Cover art by Steve Ditko
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
Publication date	Amazing Adventures #1–6 (June 1961-Nov. 1961) Amazing Adult Fantasy #7–14 (Dec. 1961 – July 1962) Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962) Amazing Fantasy #16–18 (Dec. 1995-Mar. 1996) Amazing Fantasy (vol 2) (Aug. 2004-Apr. 2006)
Main character(s)	Spider-Man debuted in AF #15 (Aug. 1962)
Creative team
Writer(s)	(1961–62): Stan Lee, et al. (1995): Kurt Busiek (2004): Fiona Avery, Fred Van Lente, Simon Furman, et al.
Artist(s)	(1961–62): Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Paul Reinman, et al. (1995):Paul Lee (2004): Various.
Inker(s)	(1961–62): Dick Ayers, et al.

Amazing Adult Fantasy and its retitled final issue, Amazing Fantasy, is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, with the latter title revived with superhero features in 1995 and in the 2000s. The final 1960s issue, Amazing Fantasy #15 (cover-dated Aug. 1962), is the title that introduced the popular superhero character Spider-Man. Amazing Adult Fantasy premiered with issue #7, taking over the numbering from Amazing Adventures.

The science fiction-fantasy anthology Amazing Adult Fantasy began with issue #7 (cover-dated Dec. 1961), having taken over the number of the similar anthology Amazing Adventures. The earlier issues before the title change featured stories drawn by a number of artists including Jack Kirby, Don Heck and Steve Ditko. Amazing Adult Fantasy featured exclusively the quick, quirky, twist-ending tales of artist Ditko and writer-editor Stan Lee that had appeared in Amazing Adventures and sister titles primarily featuring rampaging monsters. The cover of the comic carried the motto "The magazine that respects your intelligence."

Lee in 2009 described these "short, five-page filler strips that Steve and I did together", originally "placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill", as "odd fantasy tales that I'd dream up with O. Henry-type [twist] endings." Giving an early example of what would later be known as the "Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration, Lee said, "All I had to do was give Steve a one-line description of the plot and he'd be off and running. He'd take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect."

With issue #15 (Aug. 1962) Amazing Adult Fantasy was retitled Amazing Fantasy. This issue's lead feature introduced the superhero Spider-Man, written by Lee and drawn by Ditko, although Lee rejected Ditko's cover art and commissioned Jack Kirby to pencil a cover that Ditko inked. As Lee explained in 2010, "I think I had Jack sketch out a cover for it because I always had a lot of confidence in Jack's covers." In numerous interviews Lee has recalled how the title had been slated for cancellation, and so with nothing to lose, publisher Martin Goodman reluctantly agreed to allow him to introduce Spider-Man, a new kind of superhero – one who would be a teenager, but not a sidekick, and one who would have everyman doubts, neuroses and money problems. However, while this was indeed the final issue, its editorial page anticipated the comic continuing and that "The Spiderman [sic] ... will appear every month in Amazing."