Flashback issue(s) for Spidey???

[Spidey5640]

Way back before most of the people on this board were born, I picked up Amazing Spiderman 177 off the newsstand, starting my 40 year kinship with Peter Parker and his alter-ego. Although 177 was my first Spidey comic looking back what really cemented me in the character and launched me into comic collecting was Amazing Spiderman 181, which was a “Flashback” issue that covered the entire history of Pete/Spidey up until that point. It opened up an entirely unknown but fascinating world to me regarding Pete, his friends, his enemies and the tragedy in his life. I had no idea about all those things and here was an issue that summarized them all, to include the editors notes with back issue numbers! From then on Spidey wasn’t a one-dimensional cartoon character to me but something far more and I just had to go back and read those back issues for the full story!
I’d honestly like to see another issue like that. Given the immense history since that time, I know it would have to be either an Annual issue or a miniseries but I think either would be very cool and serve a couple of purposes:

1. Like it did for me, it would provide the ultimate “jumping on” point for new readers who might not be all that familiar with everything that has occurred to shape Pete into what he is today.

2. It could give Marvel the opportunity to clarify the continuity and exactly what it considers canon for Spidey. There’s been a lot of controversial storylines (OMD, Sins Past, totemic origins) where it seems Marvel has backed off or left open for interpretation that could be cleared up with such an issue. Whether it ends up you agree with Marvel or not, having an issue that highlights what Marvel sees as canon would be helpful going forward.

3. With editors notes included, it can serve as a guide for those seeking back issues on specific events or storylines and give them a glimpse of perhaps villains or supporting cast that at one time were central to Spidey but have since fallen by the wayside for one reason or another. (Jean DeWolf, Deb Whitman, Captain Stacy etc..)

Yes, I know a lot of this is covered in the Spiderman Saga issues but to me that’s too textbook. Comics is a visual medium and telling the story like it was in ASM 181 is far superior and more engrossing that just by written word.

So, any thoughts? Am I longing for something that was appropriate in the past but is no longer needed because of Wikipedia or is it something long overdue and far better than another relaunch campaign noting the new #1 is the “perfect jumping on point” for new readers?

[Lukmendes]

A recap issue would be more fitting as an extra issue than a main issue about it (Like the .x issues, which can either be flashbacks with retcons or side stories, could be made as a recap too), I honestly feel like making one "main" issue as a recap issue is a waste, though it could be used as a breather issue at least.

There's also another way to do it, while I think X-Men Gold is boring, they had a nice idea to explain more or less what happened since the beginning, the first issue has 6 pages of recaps, my X-Men knowledge is seriously lacking though, so I can't say how accurate it is, just saying that the idea is interesting:

https://i.imgur.com/lcMIdgu.png

https://i.imgur.com/paS4Kn1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fe7yUKc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/6ITVFLj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/INCZxRd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/SAqZj1n.jpg

The thing ASM 181 has over this is that it's much more personal, with Peter saying how he felt and whatnot, while this recap from Gold is just telling what happened, so both styles can work, again, I just think if a recap issue were to be done then it'd be better as an extra issue, the idea is good enough to still be used.

[Mister Mets]

The market might not support these kinds of titles now, since new readers have many other ways to learn about what happened to their favorite characters. Veteran readers would not be happy paying for a recap that new readers could just as easily get for free online.

In the old days, the majority of readers would have been unaware of some of the key events highlighted in the flashback issue. Nowadays, anyone with a Digital Unlimited subscription can breeze through the back issues.

[Lukmendes]

The market might not support these kinds of titles now, since new readers have many other ways to learn about what happened to their favorite characters. Veteran readers would not be happy paying for a recap that new readers could just as easily get for free online.

In the old days, the majority of readers would have been unaware of some of the key events highlighted in the flashback issue. Nowadays, anyone with a Digital Unlimited subscription can breeze through the back issues.

Problem with reading **** online is that it's mostly made by fans and may get some info wrong (Though official **** can make mistakes too), or outdated, something like what X-Men Gold did to basicaly tell what happened in the past would be helpful to see what's official at the moment, inless they made dumb mistakes on the recaps of course lol.