Blowing up on the internet today…
Turns out that Publisher La Prensa in Mexico published 45 unique/new Spider-Man comics in the 1970s that ignored Gwen Stacy’s death and documented a parallel Spider-Verse where Gwen not only lived, but she & Peter got married!
There is a good Reddit thread that talks about this, and I’ll summarize the info I found with the relevant links.
La Prensa published 185 issues of El Sorprendente Hombre Araña plus 6 annuals and 3 specials. A full list noting what US issues were reprinted and which were new “made in Mexico” (Cómic hecho en Mexico) can be found on the Kingdom Comics website. The key bits of info are that the following issues were totally new and according to various accounts NOT authorized by Marvel Comics, and have never been reprinted:
- [3] Issues 123, 124, 125
- [2] Issues 128 (Gwen/Peter wedding) and 129
- [5] Issues 135-139 (Gallery of unique covers 123-139)
- [15] Issues 145-159 (there is a question on whether #145 is a reprint, see below)
- [11] Issues 163-173
- [10] Issues 176-185 (last issue) (Gallery of unique covers 145-185)
That’s 46 (or maybe 45) unauthorized stories that are new to most fans outside of Latin America (and those who do not read Spanish). I will note that the Kingdom Comics site says that issue #144 of El Sorprendente Hombre Araña reprints Amazing Spider-Man #114 and sports the cover to #114. Kingdom Comics then notes that issue #145 of El Sorprendente Hombre Araña is “Made in Mexico”, but it features the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #115. Since it’s a continuation of the story in ASM #114, it may be the case that El Sorprendente Hombre Araña #145 is a reprint.
The wonderful site “The Amazing Spider-Mex” has covers of all the La Prensa issues. In particular, though, I was keen to see the covers of these new issue, that started with #123. Some appear to be homages of existing covers with some new imagery added, others look entirely new.
There are also some pretty interesting covers that are clearly targeting the “likes sexy women” demographic.
In any event, this is a fascinating topic and given the interest, I suspect that the value of these Mexican issues are SKYROCKETING. They are apparently very difficult to find and the increased awareness and interest with the US audience as of today should equate to some hefty price tags on any issues that surface.
I’d love to see Marvel Comics get ahold of these and issue an “official” reprint to satisfy the curiosity of Spider-Man fans everywhere.
Bob Bretall: bob@comicspectrum.com
http://comicspectrum.com/ By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics
ComicSpectrum - Bob's Blog 
I would like to see a reprint too!
Hi, Jake from Gutternaut.net.
Are you aware of the YouTube channel Comic Tropes, the host Chris goes into detail about the issue in focus. Here’s the link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-CJwX2VRQ8.
I was not aware….there are tens of 1000s of people talking about comics on YouTube. I’m not personally a fan of watching videos of people talking about comics, too much of a time sink.
On the other hand…I checked out http://gutternaut.net/ which is much more my speed. Some very cool articles on there, Jake!
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Right now, there’s a bidding of this issue in a mexican comic group!https://www.facebook.com/groups/gaticuevacorpsLCM/permalink/3460081884019402/