Rare comics: man's rare Marvel Comics books collection expected to fetch £20,000 at auction

• A graphic novel collector hopes to sell his signed 1961 Fantastic Four comic for £20,000
• His collection includes other rare items, such as a first UK edition of The Amazing Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk No. 181
• The collection has grown to 4,000 comics, many from the 1960s and 1970s
• He began collecting Marvel comics as a child in the 1960s, becoming hooked on their adventure stories
• The auction is expected to attract strong interest from comic fans

A graphic novel collector is aiming for a big payday, with one of his vintage Marvel comics expected to fetch £20,000 at auction.

Peter Judge, in his sixties, hopes his original November 1961 issue of Fantastic Four, signed by Marvel legend Stan Lee, will reach its top estimate at the auction on Thursday 3 October.

The valuable comic is just one of several rare items from his collection, dating back to the late 1960s and 1970s, that could bring in thousands of pounds.

Other notable pieces include a first UK edition of The Amazing Spider-Man from March 1963, which could sell for up to £4,000, and a 1974 issue of The Incredible Hulk No. 181, featuring Wolverine's first appearance, expected to go for up to £2,000.

Peter, whose collection has grown to around 4,000 comics, says he’s ready to pass his prized items on to passionate new owners.

He said: “These are comics that have been read and enjoyed. I like to think new owners will enjoy them too. There are gems here. Few of them are in top grades – we were more interested in completing the stories.

“That makes this a rare opportunity for a new generation of fans to get hold of relatively affordable runs of British and American marvel comics.”

Peter lived in Catford, south-east London, when his curiosity was piqued by the adventure tales contained in the graphic novels. He began avidly collecting the comics when they appeared in British stores after becoming “instantly hooked” on the stories.

He said: “I remember my first Marvel comic. I saw Fantastic #42 at the Post Office in Hither Green, South London, and persuaded my dad I wanted that comic, not a Teddy Bear comic.

“At the age of six, I was introduced to the X-men, Iron Man, Thor, and a cast of villains including the Absorbing Man, Count Nefaria, Eel, Plant-Man, Unicorn, Porcupine, and Scarecrow. I was instantly hooked, and so were my brother, and my friends at school.”

Peter and his friends soon found the original full-colour US comics and spent their pocket money seeking out new and old Marvel editions.

He went on: “There were four of us from school. One friend would collect Spider-Man and another would collect Avengers. We discovered artists like Kirby, Ditko, Severin, Steranko, Kane, Colan, Adams and more, and drew our own efforts.”

By 1972, Peter and his brother had organised themselves into a search party - riding London buses to seek out newsstands and second-hand bookshops for issues.

He said: “We were allowed a comic a week. My brother and I would pool our pocket money, birthday money and Christmas money to buy comics. The American ones used to come to the newsagents, but it was very unreliable.

“You didn’t know when they would come, which issues would arrive and whether you would be able to get hold of them. It meant that you could see issue 75 but never see 76.”

Eventually, Peter and his brother built up a collection of 3,000 to 4,000 comics. But arguably the most memorable encounter came in 1975, when Peter met Stan Lee live at the Roundhouse in Camden.

He remembered: “I said hello to the man, and he signed Fantastic Four #1 for me, which is on sale at Ewbank’s now.”

That same year, the first Marvel Mastermind contest began, which Peter later went on to win.

He said: “I beat other entrants with correct answers to a host of trivia questions, and a final tiebreaker challenge: Write a sentence using the letters of the word Mastermind as an acronym.

“My answer was: Marvel Art Successfully Takes Every Readers’ Minds Into New Dimensions. Definitely the proudest moment of my childhood and it won the day.”

A telegram from new UK editor Neil Tennant, later of The Pet Shop Boys, told Peter he had won. But it was some months before the prize-giving ceremony at Marvel’s London office.

There Stan Lee presented Peter with a signed first issue of Captain Britain, the latest Marvel character, a certificate and copies of Stan Lee’s Origins of Marvel Comics, signed by Stan and Hulk artist Herb Trimpe.

Peter said: “I followed Marvel till around 1979, when I gradually stopped buying them, except for series that interested me, like X-Men, and the Frank Miller Daredevils.

“Since then, I’ve kept my eye on graphic novels and interesting artists, like Mike Mignola, Dave Chadwick, and series like Transmetropolitan, Ex Machina and Paper Girls. Comics really are a transcendent and important medium.

“It was a great way of spending time with friends as a boy. The comic marts are still going on and fifty years later you will find the same individuals attending them.”

Ewbank's Auction House's head of comics, Thomas Francis-Duma, where the pieces will be sold, expected fans to be “queuing up” to bid on them on Thursday 3 October.

He said: "Peter Judge’s collection is an incredible find for us – rarities with a wonderful backstory that have been carefully preserved for decades before seeing the light of day once more here. Comics fans will be queuing up to bid.”

What do you think about Peter's incredible comic book collection? Do you have any rare finds or memorable stories about meeting your favourite comic creators? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.