Little did a young George Toman know when he bought an Amazing Fantasy comic book for about a dime in the late '60s that it would end up being worth over $10,000.

Toman was cleaning out his attic on a recent weekend at his home in Willow Springs when we rediscovered a box of old comic books that had previously been stored at his mom's house.

Toman, who works as a software analyst at Xerox, said he was in disbelief when the owners of Chimera's Comics, located in downtown La Grange, told him what it was worth.

"It was quite a surprise," Toman said. "I was in disbelief."

He wasn't the only one.

"People bring in comic books all the time," said Carmelo Chimera, owner of Chimera's Comics. "Rarely do we get to give someone as good of news as that."

Chimera's business partner Steve Brown was in the store the day that Toman brought in over 70 comics including Amazing Fantasy #15 (originally published in August of 1962), which features the very first appearance of Spider-Man.

Brown said he thought the comic was a reprint when he first saw it.

"I was blown away," he said. "I've worked in comic book stores for seven years and I've never seen one as great as this come in."

Chimera agreed and said he thought his partner was pulling his leg until he came in and saw it himself.

According to Chimera and Brown, last year a mint condition copy of the same comic sold at auction for $1.2 million dollars. Toman's comic isn't worth nearly that much—the store has it currently priced at $12,000—due to its condition. After all, the book was stored in an attic without plastic or cardboard backing for over 40 years.

"It's in remarkably good condition for how it's been store all these years," Chimera said. "George [Toman] had a couple of other good ones too—not as good as this one—but pretty good."

Think over a million dollars is a little much to spend on a comic originally worth just over a dime?

"Very few comics are in this league," Chimera said. "The reason why they're so collectable is that people bought them when they were kids and not very many have survived."

Chimera said that in this case, the price is so high particularly because it's the very first appearance of Spider-Man—a character who has gone on to become one of the most popular of all time.

So what will Toman do with his share of the money once the comic has sold?

"I don't know, I'll probably just reinvest it or something," he laughed.

One thing he's sure of is that he's glad he brought it to Chimera's Comics.

"I was happy they were honest about it," he said.

"Sure, Steve could have offered him $20 for it and then kept it for himself and not even told me!" Chimera laughed at the suggestion of swindling Toman. "But that's not the kind of shop we want to run here. Comic books are all about self-sacrifice and doing the right thing."

Maybe the now famous last line of Amazing Fantasy #15 still holds a lot of truth: "With great power comes great responsibilty."