What was your introduction to Spider-Man...?

[Vegan]

I saw the ‘94 cartoon first and watched the Raimi movies religiously, but what caused the switch to flip from “casual fan” to “I am going to spend every free dollar I can earn on this for probably the rest of my life” was Adam Troy-Castro’s Sinister Six trilogy of prose novels. Those still crack my top 10 favorite Spidey stories ever, and I reread them almost yearly

[MisterTorgo]

I'm old as dirt so mine was Marvel Team-up #16 (where he and Mar-Vell fight the Basilisk). Saw it on a spinner rack at a 7/11 when I was pretty little. Not only my first Spider-Man intro but my first comic ever.

I'm right there with you. I didn't expect to have a flashback from reading the phrase "spinner rack at a 7/11".

Buying comics somewhere other than a comics shop...the memories...

[Hurricane Billy]

My general introduction to the character was definitely through the 90's Animated Series, followed by the 2000 Neversoft game and the first Raimi film. From there, I got Tom DeFalco's Ultimate Guide to Spider-Man and the first several paperback volumes of the silverback Marvel Masterwork reprints of the Lee/Ditko run. I'd also look up pictures of various suit variants and all the different issue covers over the years on early Internet fan sites that archived the character's history. I also started picking up issues of the JMS/JRJR run on ASM that was coming out at the time too.

That said, I think the first ever exposure I ever had to Spider-Man as a kid was probably from an Animated Series tie-in picture book that covered an episode with Felicia and Doc Ock. For some reason, I just have this very old memory of reading that book over and over as a kid.

[Pav]

It feels like I've known about Spider-Man since I was born! Honestly, I'm not exactly sure when I became aware of Spidey.

The animated series of my youth didn't start until '94, when I was already 10 years old. Even before then, I had been asking my mom to buy me Spidey comics whenever we'd go grocery shopping. Actually, I can remember the first issues I ever owned: Spider-Man Classics #s 8 and 9, a reprint series that started in '93. My first mainstream issue was Web of Spider-Man #117, the beginning of the Clone Saga, and I believe that issue was released in 1994.

However, when my family got a Sega Genesis for Christmas one year, one of the three games we were gifted was Spider-Man vs Kingpin, which came out in '91. I also owned Maximum Carnage on the Genesis, and that ALSO came out in 1994.

So Spider-Man vs Kingpin MAY have been my first introduction to the character, but 1994 was clearly a huge year for me as a Spidey fan

-Pav, who was so obsessed with the Clone Saga as a kid that a childhood friend bought a reprint of ASM 149 for a birthday present...

[phonogram12]

Like others here, the '60s cartoon in reruns along with the Electric Company.

[Astroman]

I'm right there with you. I didn't expect to have a flashback from reading the phrase "spinner rack at a 7/11".

Buying comics somewhere other than a comics shop...the memories...

I don't know how old I would have been when I discovered comics if not for newsstands, spinner racks, etc. Plus one-stop-shopping for that issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, Starlog, new comics, a Slurpee, and candy.

[MisterTorgo]

I don't know how old I would have been when I discovered comics if not for newsstands, spinner racks, etc. Plus one-stop-shopping for that issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, Starlog, new comics, a Slurpee, and candy.

Oh boy, picking up a Whatchamacallit and a comic from the spinner and playing Rastan after school at 7-11. Good stuff.

[Frontier]

The 90's cartoon.

[Xix25]

90's Cartoon, Raimi's Trilogy, MTV Spidey and the PS2 Spider-Man 2.

[berserkerclaw]

My introduction was a cover first the silver armor to battle Electro Web of Spider-man #100 but more specifically Spider-man the Animated series. I loved it. For comics i got into Venom alot more with his seriesnof mini series in the 1990's

[Kaitou D. Kid]

I would say my overall order goes something like this:

Spider-Man TAS (90s)

Raimi Spider-Man (early 2000s)
Spider-Man 2000 PS1 game (early 2000s)
MTV Spider-Man (early 2000s)
Spider-Man Unlimited (early 2000s)

Ultimate Spider-Man comic (late 2000s)
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man comic (late 2000s)
616 comics (late 2000s)
Spider-Girl comic (late 2000s)
Spectacular Spider-Man show (late 2000s)

[Daibhidh]

As with Pav, Spider-man is one of those things that I feel I've known since before I remember.
First actual memories are I think the Nicholas Hammond Live Action series, followed by Spider-man and his Amazing Friends and the early 80s cartoon. I think my first encounter with Mary Jane (under the name Mary Jane rather than Angelica Jones) may have been in the TSR Marvel Role Playing Game.
As to how that affects how I view the franchise: well, those were aimed at young adults and children, but not particularly targeted at teenagers. I think of Peter as the most competent character in his story, and as the moral centre of his story. I think he faces serious problems - sometimes financial - but he resolves them at the end of the story. He doesn't deal with angst for the sake of angst or with misery for the sake of misery.
In case it's not obvious I am absolutely in favour of the marriage despite it not being a part of my early Spider-man experience. That is in part because I think Spider-man should, after much effort and ingenuity, win - and in part because it seems to me that successful relationships are harder and therefore more interesting than unsuccessful relationships.

I only really started following Spider-man comics, rather than reading odd issues here and there, with Spencer's run, and then read back on Marvel Unlimited.

[JTait]

When I started school, aged 4, it felt like lots of the other children wore branded t-shirts featuring cartoon characters. All my clothes were pretty plain,so I asked my parents to get me a t-shirt with a character. I knew nothing about Spider-Man, but my parents chose a t-shirt with an image of Spider-Man and a speech bubble saying 'web it dude!'.

Once I started wearing the t-shirt I suppose I must have felt duty bound to seek out Spider-Man content. I started with the 90s animated series, specifically the episode Day of the Chameleon. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was hooked. The next episode was the first installment of the Insidious Six two parter, which was a great introduction to some of the classic baddies.

After avidly watching the cartoon for a little while I started to show an interest in the comics. At that time, my local newsagent sold US floppies as well as the UK reprints. I think my first ever issue was Sensational Spider-Man #1, with Ben Reilly as Spider-Man. It was the first part of the Media Blizzard story arc featuring Mysterio in a funky new costume. I knew nothing about Ben Reilly or the clone saga at the time but oddly I can't remember feeling particularly confused by it.

A week or two later I picked up the eighteenth issue of Astonishing Spider-Man, a UK reprint series. It included Web of Spider-Man #125 (Peter in the Scarlet Spider costume up against the Phil Urich Green Goblin and a rogue Miles Warren clone), as well as - in a brilliant piece of timing - reprints of Amazing Fantasy #15 and the second part of 'The Night Gwen Stacy Died'. I do actually remember finding the Web of Spider-Man issue quite hard to follow, but it clearly did little to put me off as I continued buying ASM every month from that point on!

[Kevinroc]

[SturdyMike89]

As a kid I remember watching at least one episode of the NBC 1980s Spider-Man cartoon. the character really did not really stick to me until I spent my summer at a college program and played the 1991 arcade game at a local bowling alley. It's stupid I know, but seeing him fight all his villains in an otherwise forgettable beat em up was a gateway drug to 14 year old me.