What is the worst period of the Spider-Man comics?

[Mister Mets]

Saw this question elsewhere, and I'm curious what you guys think. What is the worst period of the Spider-Man comics?

The nominees (and I'm just listing stuff I've read fans complain about/ I do actually like much of it)...

Spectacular Spider-Man Year One-ish: This would be the second half of Wein's Amazing Spider-Man, along with a Mantlo fill-in (Amazing Spider-Man #162-181), Marvel Team Up #52-70, and the first 19 issues of Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man. It's marked by a lack of change for Peter Parker, and a split in his adventures into two titles, which are meant to focus on different facets of his identity, even if Spectacular is marred by multiple creative changes and the Brother Sun/ Sister Moon arc.

Dennis O'Neil's Amazing Spider-Man: Denny O'Neil wrote and/ or edited Amazing Spider-Man from #205 (cover date June 1980) to #223 (December 1981). Around the same time, Roger Stern kicked off his run of Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man, and we saw the publication of Marvel Team Up # 94-112, with an assortment of writers and artists.

Pre-Clone Saga: Let's say of the year of the comics that started with Maximum Carnage and ended just before "Power & Responsibility."

The Clone Saga: The two years from Power & Responsibility to "Revelations"

The Mackie/ Byrne Relaunch: Chapter One, Mackie/ Byrne's Amazing Spider-Man and Mackie/ Romita's Peter Parker Spider-Man Volume 2. Also includes Webspinners.

The New Avengers Era: This kicked off with Sins Past, Millar's Marvel Knights Spider-Man and the Disassembled Tie-In of Jenkins/ Ramos' Peter Parker Spider-Man. It ends with One More Day. Other runs include Hudlin's Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Sacasa's Sensational Spider-Man and Peter David's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It's an era marked by Spider-Man's bigger role in the wider Marvel Universe.

Brand New Day: This was the 101 issue run by two different writing teams, where the satellite books were replaced by more issues of Amazing Spider-Man.

Superior Spider-Man: The period when Doctor Octopus swapped bodies with Peter Parker. This would also include Yost's run of the team-up titles.

Parker Industries: This would include Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man Volumes 3 and 4, as Peter Parker gets name recognition as a CEO. Other runs include Joe Kelly's Spider-Man/ Deadpool.

I'm also including an option for those who really dislike some other era.

Note: While some of these options focus on one title, the period would refer to the other main Spider-Man titles as well.

[Celgress]

Both The Mackie/Byrne Relaunch and BND were pretty bad. I'll go with BND, just barely, due to the mess initially caused by the convoluted reboot which immediately proceeded it.

[Pav]

I would take Brand New Day over Byrne any day.

-Pav, who only quit comics once...

[Lee]

Sins Past, The Other, Marvel Knights, Civil War, Back in Black, One More Day etc. made for a rather miserable, joyless stretch of Spider-Man stories. The day to day life soap opera element was largely missing too, and had been for some time.

[Mike]

Sins Past and beyond!

[bob.schoonover]

I have a soft spot for the first half of the Clone Saga, but the back half is just a mess. It averages out to okay as a unit, but if we broke down the eras much more finely, I'd be voting for that abomination in a hot minute. The relaunch gets my vote

[boots]

i stuck around through a few of these bad periods, but byrne was what made me leave, so i guess that's a good indication of my opinion

[Rob London]

Mackie/Byrne reboot, no question. I was on the verge of quitting until Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham took over Peter Parker: Spider-Man.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Went with Parker Industries which made me drop TASM title.

[Miles To Go]

A decade ago it would have been Mackie and Byrne, but Parker Industries was the low point for me. I thought at that point Spider-Man was destined never to be fixed. Slott had been on the book too long and was spent, his Peter/MJ interactions were extremely unpleasant, he ruined Ben Reily, and the potential of Peter running his own business in a competent and professional manner was squandered

[Hypestyle]

The clone saga. I didn't like the "revelation" that the Peter I had been reading since childhood was not the "real" spider-man. I didn't appreciate that at all. I also am not in the camp of thinking that Ben Reilly was an equal spider-hero and deserved to be more than a temporary character. I'm not a fan of all the clone versions. Kaine, Ben, Spider-Cide, and of course now the EVIL Otto Octavius aka "superior", whoever else is out there, I'm not a fan of it, of characters who have the "Same" memories and emotional connections but who did not actually EARN any of them. Clones aren't the same thing as a twin sibling- not remotely. I'd be fine if all the clone characters disappeared forever. At minimum, at this point, they could be sent off to other dimensions to be the spider-hero of those worlds. Creatively, the clone-fever has diluted the appeal of Spider-Man severely for me. It's like now all you have to do every year is hatch another unknown clone to cause mayhem, and tie it back to the Jackal, or Otto, or some other puppet master, it's very much worn out its welcome with me like the Weapon X program and Wolverine, I am so much not a fan of "Wolver-Hulk", good lord. the experiments from the past couple of years, "scarlet spider in houston", "scarlet spider in Vegas", etc, I'm just not on board with any of that. It's a pass for me. I'm only interested in Peter and Miles.

[Mister Mets]

I was conflicted between the Clone Saga, and the Mackie/ Byrne relaunch.

The Clone Saga had lower periods, but it did also have some solid material. And it did also coincide with the very solid Untold Tales.

The Mackie/ Byrne relaunch didn't have anything on the level of ASM 400, and while Webspinners was solid, it wasn't on par with Untold Tales. Plus, there was also Chapter One, one of the most fatally flawed Spider-Man comics ever.

[ngroove]

One period I've highly disliked, was the Peter Parker / Mary Jane separation period, that began with MJ's "death" (Amazing Spider-Man Vol.2 #13) then brief comeback / immediate separation that lasted until Volume 2, issue 50.

[boots]

The clone saga. I didn't like the "revelation" that the Peter I had been reading since childhood was not the "real" spider-man. I didn't appreciate that at all.

i was definitely in the minority that liked that revelation. but i'm weird that way...i like having the rug pulled out from under me

[Daniel22]

i was definitely in the minority that liked that revelation. but i'm weird that way...i like having the rug pulled out from under me

I was upset at the time, but I was like twelve. In hindsight I think my reaction was childish (which makes sense). If I read the same thing now I think I'd really like it. My tastes have changed quite a bit. I also have decades of experience that tells me that the original would surely return, and I'd be able to just enjoy the ride until that happened.