First Appearance of Gwen Stacy: Amazing Spider-Man #31

Gwen Stacy first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31, cover-dated December 1965, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (Wikipedia). She was introduced as Peter Parker's classmate at Empire State University; the same issue shows Peter's first college classes and is also the first appearance of Harry Osborn (firstappearanceof.com; PriceCharting lists it as the first appearance of both Gwen and Harry).

This is the original Gwen of the main Marvel universe. The Spider-Gwen or Ghost-Spider version from the Spider-Verse films is a different character from Earth-65, who debuted in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (September 17, 2014); see our Spider-Gwen first appearance page.

PriceCharting values, retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $178.50
• CGC 4.0: $337.04
• CGC 6.0: $570.42
• CGC 8.0: $1,342.00
• CGC 9.2: $3,171.23
• CGC 9.8: $47,580.00

Recent sales on the same page include an ungraded copy at $150.00 (September 23, 2026), a CGC 8.0 at $1,342.00 and a CGC 9.8 at $47,580.00 (both Heritage Auctions, May 14, 2026), and a CGC 9.2 at $4,800.00 (Heritage Auctions, January 15, 2025). Raw copies sell about once a day; the top grades trade about once a year, so a single sale can move those figures.

Gwen was killed by the Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973): she falls from a bridge and the whiplash when Spider-Man's web catches her breaks her neck; #122 (July 1973) finishes the story (Wikipedia). PriceCharting values for #121, retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $281.00
• CGC 4.0: $240.00
• CGC 6.0: $306.20
• CGC 8.0: $587.50
• CGC 9.2: $947.61
• CGC 9.8: $3,500.00

The two books swap places depending on condition. As raw copies, the 1973 death issue ($281.00) sells for more than her 1965 debut ($178.50). From CGC 6.0 up, the debut is worth more, and at 9.2 it is more than three times the price of #121 ($3,171.23 against $947.61). So if you have a raw #31 in high grade, grading it matters more than it does for #121.

• The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965): first appearance.
• The Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122 (June and July 1973): death.
• The Amazing Spider-Man #144 (May 1975): a clone of Gwen first appears.
• Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy (2016 to 2017): a revived Gwen with her soul intact, who dies again from clone degeneration.
• Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (2014): the separate Earth-65 Gwen who becomes a spider-hero instead of Peter.

All dates and events above are from Wikipedia's Gwen Stacy article.

It depends on what you count. Mary Jane Watson was mentioned first, in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 (August 1964), and appeared first with her face hidden behind a plant in #25 (June 1965). Gwen debuted, face shown, in #31 (December 1965). Mary Jane's face was not shown until #42 (November 1966) (Wikipedia, Mary Jane Watson). So readers saw Gwen first, and Gwen was written as Peter's main love interest; readers later came to prefer Mary Jane. Values for all three Mary Jane issues are on our Mary Jane first appearance page.

The comics version is not described as LGBTQ in Wikipedia's article. The question comes from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and its Earth-65 Gwen: her bedroom has a "Protect Trans Kids" poster over the trans pride flag, her Earth-65 scenes use the flag's pastel blue, pink and white, and a trans flag badge appears on her father's police uniform. PinkNews (December 24, 2025) notes that no filmmaker, actor or Sony statement confirms she is trans, so it remains a fan reading of the film's imagery.

None of the sources we checked gives an age gap. In the comics they are presented as classmates: both are undergraduates at Empire State University, and Gwen's first issue is the one in which Peter starts college (Wikipedia; firstappearanceof.com).

Northstar is the answer usually given. He first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979), but an editorial policy against openly gay characters kept his orientation implied for years; in Alpha Flight #106 (1992) he said on the page that he is gay, making him the first openly gay character to come out in a Marvel comic. He married Kyle Jinadu in Astonishing X-Men #51 (June 2012), the first same-sex wedding in mainstream comics (Wikipedia, Northstar).

Bryce Dallas Howard played Gwen in Spider-Man 3 (2007), and Emma Stone played her in The Amazing Spider-Man films (2012 to 2014). Hailee Steinfeld voices the Earth-65 Spider-Gwen in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its sequels (Wikipedia).

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the title, issue number, date and publisher; reprints and facsimiles say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode that did not exist in the cover year means a later edition.
• Paper: decades-old newsprint tans at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and replaced covers are common on expensive keys; a grading service such as CGC can detect them. See spot a fake or restored comic.

Shoot the front cover flat and straight on in even light, then the indicia and the back cover. On #31, the indicia should name The Amazing Spider-Man and issue 31; Gwen and Harry are introduced inside the story, so the interior pages matter as much as the cover. ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover art from the photo and shows a reference price range that moves with the grade you pick; there are free scans every day.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market.