Best stretches of Spider-Man comics

[Mister Mets]

What are the best stretches of Spider-Man comics? These would be periods of ten or more issues when the book is consistently firing on all cylinders. It doesn't necessarily mean every issue is great, but that there's a lot of great stuff in quick succession.

One that comes to mind, and that inspired this thread, is the build-up to Amazing Spider-Man 200, when you had the Death of Spencer Smythe, followed by the Return of the Burglar saga, with the first appearance of the Black Cat, the Kingpin retiring, the return of Mysterio, and the showdown with Uncle Ben's killer.

Roger Stern's entire run of Amazing Spider-Man might also count. You had a key Black Cat story followed by "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut" followed by a great Cobra/ Hyde story, followed by the mutated Tarantula epic, followed by the debut of the Hobgoblin, followed by the origin of Vulture, followed by the return of Mary Jane, followed by the return of the Hobgoblin, followed by "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" followed by a Hobgoblin showdown.

With Slott likely leaving, it's worth noting the first eleven issues of The Big Time, with the original arc, the death of Marla Madison, "No One Dies" and Torchsong.

[One]

Really loved the Gauntlet to Grim Hunt phase. The plot threads all seemed to build up extremely well. It does help that I read it all in one sitting, compared to issue by issue as of late. It changed the status quo of many villains, for better or worse...

[Spidey5640]

Never beat the first 35-40 issues by Stan Lee and Ditko/Romitia 1-40 will always be the best straight run.

[Matt Parker]

I'd say a majority of Ultimate Spider-Man 1-100 ish. Some stories are much better than others for sure, but as a whole the series is very damn good. I'd say that Untold Tales 1-25 are also on the same level of quality. Those are the two that come to mind, though I think Roger Stern and Bill Mantlo also produced runs that more for less always fired on all cylinders.

[comicscollector]

The Stan Lee/Steve Dikto run in Amazing Spider-Man is a perfect run.
Dikto art imo in the last issues is somehow worst that in the majority of that run,still it was a perfect run of Spider-Man stories i would say.

[Mister Mets]

Never beat the first 35-40 issues by Stan Lee and Ditko/Romitia 1-40 will always be the best straight run.

Oh yeah. But what's the best stretch from the whole run?

Is there any 10 issue or so segment better than the rest?

And I know this is a bit like asking about the prettiest square foot on the Mona Lisa.

[WebLurker]

I'd say that Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 deserves a spot on the "Best runs" list (after the two part Ultimatum: Requiem, USM was never anywhere near as good).

[phantom1592]

I'd say that Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 deserves a spot on the "Best runs" list (after the two part Ultimatum: Requiem, USM was never anywhere near as good).

yeah, I would agree with that. As much as I love 616 Spider-man, that was a great reimagining Bendis did and reallythe only Bendis thing I ever liked. I looked forward to that up until either Bagley left or the Venom story that crossed over with the video game... I'm drawing a blank which came first. Either way, it was a long glorious run.

Lee/Ditko? I'll always love it for what it was.. but I really don't think it holds up anymore. Peter was serious JERK (Someday they'll pay for mocking me...) (If I dont' rescue Flash a lot of my problems will disappear!!) in those issues and I think it took some time to really iron out who they wanted him to be. There were a lot of things that if they presented them today... people would have rioted.

Once he got to college I think it really took off, but those first dozen or two issues... ehhhh...

[JTait]

Really loved the Gauntlet to Grim Hunt phase. The plot threads all seemed to build up extremely well. It does help that I read it all in one sitting, compared to issue by issue as of late. It changed the status quo of many villains, for better or worse...

This would be on my reserve list. I don't think it really works as a complete story, in the way that it was intended to, but it is a great run of entertaining stories featuring some terrific, varied artwork. I didn't enjoy Grim Hunt though.

[oldschool]

The stretch from ASM #141-150 (roughly the first Clone Saga) by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru is pretty terrific. It falls just short of 10 issues, though they had plenty of good issues earlier in their run together simply because #140 was a pretty weak issue featuring The Grizzly but that's just a technicality. It's easy to forget just how powerful the original Clone saga was when it was first published in the 1970's just because it has been revisited/diluted so much since then but I can tell you, as one of the few on these boards old enough to have read the original issues as a kid when they first came out, it was a thrill and so unexpected even by comic book standards! And Ross Andru's art never gets enough credit IMO.

[Mister Mets]

The stretch from ASM #141-150 (roughly the first Clone Saga) by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru is pretty terrific. It falls just short of 10 issues, though they had plenty of good issues earlier in their run together simply because #140 was a pretty weak issue featuring The Grizzly but that's just a technicality. It's easy to forget just how powerful the original Clone saga was when it was first published in the 1970's just because it has been revisited/diluted so much since then but I can tell you, as one of the few on these boards old enough to have read the original issues as a kid when they first came out, it was a thrill and so unexpected even by comic book standards! And Ross Andru's art never gets enough credit IMO.

You could add the first three issues of Wein's run as well. That started pretty nicely.