Newsarama's Top Ten Spider-Man Stories

[Kevinroc]

winning formula! quick...enter it into the marvel writers algorithm.

There's a reason Homecoming ends the way it does.

[WebSlinger1997]

Nice to see the Master Planner Saga being No.1 as it should be; That will always be the best Spider-Man story

[TheCape]

Aside from "The Gauntlet" (i would put the Harry Osborn saga in that place), i generally agreed with this list.

[Mister Mets]

This is a Top Ten list involving a character that has stories going over 50 years. Not really surprising that the classics would occupy the greater majority of it. The "heart and soul of the franchise" is always going to be chiefly with those fundamental stories that defined the character. It doesn't discount the modern stories to say so.

But really, can you even take seriously a list of Greatest Spider-Man stories that doesn't include "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man?"

I don't think so.

Stern's in with the Hobgoblin saga.

If they wanted to be bold they'd have combined the two (ASM 248 also had a story which kicked off when Spidey was hunting the Hobgoblin.)

[WebLurker]

I suppose what made the first series work more for some people, is that it was the first real sincere stab at the marriage for a long time (not counting the daily strip), and because it was also the lead Spider-Man story by the lead a-list writer during Secret Wars, Dan also promised that elements would find their way into his master plan afterwards (even if it turned out to just be Regent and a deja vu sensation), so it felt more important than the ongoing. With the ongoing, you know what you're getting is an AU, so you can't help but feel invested slightly less in it...

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. I mean, people at the time seemed very willing to overlook the plot and pacing problems it had (heck, I still am), possibly because of finding the story emotionally satisfying or what other reason. Not entirely sure about the AU part (given that the MCU and Ultimate universes are/were quite popular in their day). Maybe that has something to do with unique circumstances under which it was released (an event built on the idea of reliving beloved stories and eras from the past, being the first marriage story in years to get a lot of publicity and to make the case that it was a viable story-telling opportunity, not an albatross to be relieved had been lost, etc.).

I also kind of wonder if a lot of marriage fans were hoping that the RYV mini and the ongoing (when it was announced), would be the death-knell for OMD. Given that the fan perception had created a narrative that Marvel wanted to forget that the marriage ever happened and only brought it up to "prove" and remind us that it was a mistake and things were better for it being gone, RYV did feel a bit like blood in the water, esp. when it did so well financially and critically (even people who preferred the post-OMD ASM stuff generally liked it). So, when the only effect was an AU series, I wonder if there was something of a letdown. Now, I'm just thinking out loud here, but Marvel doesn't seem to have the same attitude that those fans had. It feels like Marvel's message to the marriage fans with RYV more or less boils down to:

last-ride-youre.jpg

Now, I'm not sure if that's true (heck, I don't know if this theory about people wanting RYV to be more than it was is true), but I do find it interesting that the series has been less of a big deal than the mini and I can't help but wonder if some of us were expecting more from it than we should've. (Me personally, while having RYV "prove" that OMD was wrong would feel somewhat vindicating, I was always more interested in the series just going on, so I don't really need it to be more than it is, just be as good as it can be.)

...that, and there's still so much of the world that we're alien to, we don't know what fits in the timeline and what doesn't, and the time skips don't help that.

Not to mention that the continuity between the ongoing and the original is pretty messy too (the circumstances of Regents rise to power have to be totally different, given that he couldn't have captured the X-Men, but the fight with Venom still happened, despite being tied to the events of the original takeover, etc.). I think you can rationalize most of it away by assuming that Secret Wars created an altered timeline where stuff happened slightly differently and we were never shown the "real" version when things were fixed (since the broad strokes in the mini were close enough).

I'd think it's a given that anything pre-marriage in 616 ASM is fair game. I recall a suggested data point that Annie was born two years after the wedding, so that would be a very obvious divergence point. Besides that and the obvious fact that it had to have diverged before the Clone Saga, I think it's a bit of a case-by-case what still counts and what doesn't (for example, Kraven's Last Hunt didn't happen in the Secret Wars version of the RYV timeline, but other post-marriage events, like MJ asking Peter to stop using black costumes and Harry's death did happen, in some fashion, at least).

Out of curiosity, do we know what the age difference between Normie and Annie is? That would help considerably in pegging a more accurate divergence.

[reinnemann2]

Wow, very heavy on the Romitas. Half these stories (The Gift, The Death of Captain Stacy, The Conversation, Spider-Man No More and The Hobgoblin arc) had art by either father or son in them. Interesting.

[RD!]

The Gauntlet being included was laughable. It was hit and miss, mostly miss, and it’s inclusion hurt the credibility of the article. I’ve never heard that story thrown around in any top lists, let alone a top ten.

Apart from that a solid list though, I might make a few changes here and there but that’s 9 definite contenders

[RD!]

I think Annie is 2 years younger than Normie. He’s 10, she’s 8.

[RD!]

Aside from "The Gauntlet" (i would put the Harry Osborn saga in that place), i generally agreed with this list.

Agreed. A much more deserving run. Even if they were going for ‘Amazing’ only, surely there are better runs than the Gauntlet. Even including all those stories as one Saga is questionable as the Gauntlet was lots of smaller arcs

[TheCape]

@RD!
If they were going for Amazing only, "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man" would have been a better choice, hell even "Carnage" would have been better and i'm not a big fan of him. Also, they are hits in "The Gauntlet"?