The Avengers #5 for Sale - First Appearance of Molto - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: The Avengers (Marvel, 1963 series)
Issue: #5
Publication date: May 1964
Key date: 1964-05-00
On-sale date: 1964-03-03
Indicia publisher: Vista Publications Inc.
Price: $0.12
Pages: 36
Rating: Approved by the Comics Code Authority

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of Molto - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Jinku - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character. An independent public reference records the same first appearance.

First appearance of Basallo - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	The Invasion of the Lava Men!	cover	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Sol Brodsky, Vince Colletta; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Sam Rosen	Bruce Banner, Captain America, Giant-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Rick Jones, Thor Odinson, Hank Pym, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor, Janet Van Dyne, Wasp, Basallo First
2	The Invasion of the Lava Men!	comic story	23	script: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Paul Reinman; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: S. Rosen	Bruce Banner, Captain America, Jane Foster, Giant-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Rick Jones, Thor Odinson, Hank Pym, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Tony Stark, Thor
9	-	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Bill Everett, Sol Brodsky; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Artie Simek, Sam Rosen	Iron Man; Black Widow; Daredevil; Fixer; Foggy Nelson; Karen Page; Spider-Man; Fantastic Four [Mr. Fantastic; Invisible Girl; The Thing; The Human Torch]
11	All about the.... Avengers	letters page	1	script: Stan Lee

Plus 10 pages of advertisements and other matter across 12 sequences, as published.

Printings and variants

Edition	How to tell
British	price 9d [0-0-9 GBP]

Where to read it

Collection	Year
The Avengers Annual #4	1971	On eBay ›
Marvel Masterworks #4 ISBN 0-87135-479-9	1988	On eBay ›
Essential Avengers #1 ISBN 0-7851-0701-0	1999	On eBay ›
The Marvel Saga the Official History of the Marvel Universe #13	1986	On eBay ›
Avengers Masterworks #1 ISBN 0-87135-983-9	1993	On eBay ›
Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers #1 ISBN 0-7851-0883-1	2003	On eBay ›
Avengers Classic #5	2007	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Check spine ticks and cover gloss in the photos; silver-age Marvels chip at the edges easily.
Look for tanning at the page edges and transfer stains on the inside covers.
Confirm the cover price against the plate; higher prices can mean a later or foreign printing.

Series context

‹ #45 of 402#6 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Wikidata, Q115568322 (Jinku), first-appearance property (CC0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com