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...

[WebLurker]

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.

Only Bendis thing I read (but I follow characters, not authors, so it's not really a knock on him).

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.

The video game was released in 2005/2006. It was written to be canonical, but, despite Bendis writing both, his later work in the comics contradicted and invalidated the game to the point that it was eventually re-told in the comics as the War of the Symbiotes story arc, with adjustments to fit the different path the comics took (kind of a weak story arc, IMHO).

Bagley's last regular issue of USM was #111, published in 2007 (although he did return for Spider-Man: Requiem, Death of Spider-Man, Ultimate Falloutand Ultimate Spider-Man #200, either as the main artist or one of many contributing artists).

[phantom1592]

Only Bendis thing I read (but I follow characters, not authors, so it's not really a knock on him).

Yep, that's how I do it too. I loved him on Ultimate Spider-man, but I was also a fan of the Avengers and Daredevil and a couple others that I felt he was just TERRIBLE on. I've gotten to the point where I don't follow an author I like... I still follow the characters, but there are a few author's I'll avoid!

The video game was released in 2005/2006. It was written to be canonical, but, despite Bendis writing both, his later work in the comics contradicted and invalidated the game to the point that it was eventually re-told in the comics as the War of the Symbiotes story arc, with adjustments to fit the different path the comics took (kind of a weak story arc, IMHO).

Bagley's last regular issue of USM was #111, published in 2007 (although he did return for Spider-Man: Requiem, Death of Spider-Man, Ultimate Falloutand Ultimate Spider-Man #200, either as the main artist or one of many contributing artists).

Yeah, it looks like that War of Symbiotes was #123-128 and published in 2008/9

So this looks like my order.... I HATED the idea of a video game that was in continuity. I didn't have 'the newest system' whichever one that was... so after buying 100+ issues I was cut out of part of the story... and that sucked.

Bagley leaves in #111 and by now the stories are getting a little stale, the new artist did not appeal to me at all but out of habit and loyalty I kept reading...

Somewhere around that time frame I played the video game... and found it to be 'okay'.

#123 comes out and spends 6 issues/6 months telling a poorer version of the 'Okay' story I already knew....

I wasn't with Ultimate Spider-man for much longer than that.

[JTait]

Lee and Ditko's run.
Needs no explanation. As others have said, it has dated, but is still essential reading and introduces so much of the mythos.

Lee and Romita's run up till issue #56. Classic story after classic story. It was a brave move to overhaul the tone of the book after Ditko left, but it worked incredibly well.

The Roger Stern Hobgoblin saga. Stern was the best Spider-Man writer since Stan Lee, and this is his strongest work on the character.

J.M Dematteis' Harry Osborn saga. Dematteis' did something that had never been done before in a Spider-Man story, delving into the psyche of, up that a point, a fairly underused villain. Buscema's art is extremely strong, and in my view an underrated part of what makes this such a celebrated run of stories.

JMD's second run on Spectacular Spider-Man, just before the reboot. Not as good as his first run, but he writes one of the best renditions of Norman Osborn and provided welcome character development for a number of supporting characters.

The first 50 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man. Genuinely innovative, exciting storytelling. Bendis did what many others have tried, and failed to do, updating the Spider-Man origin story for the 21st century in spectacular style. Not all of the redesigned villains work, but his dialogue and characterisation are among the best to ever grace the character. The series was great for its entire run, but never reached these heights again for me.

Paul Jenkins' run on Peter Parker: Spider-Man: Possibly a controversial one, but his run mixed high stakes, conventional superhero stories with more off beat ones. He nailed Peter Parker's voice, and told some really interesting stories during a dark period for the character.

[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.