Must Read Contemporary Spider-Man Runs?

[movieclub]

Hi all, I have recently returned to comics and looking to read some stellar Spider-Man runs, any recommendations?

I am very familiar with the character and spider-verse. Grew up in 90s with comics, tv show and my dads 60s comics. Last run I read was beginning of Ultimate Spiderman.

Picked up Life story and liked it a bunch. What should I read next? Looking for stuff from the last 15 years.

Should I just start with Amazing Spiderman 1 and Friendly Neighbor of the most recent or are there better runs to jump into?

[Inversed]

Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man and Tom Taylor's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are good places to start out if you're looking to get into more recent Spider-Man stories. I'd also recommend Chip Zdarsky's Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, that one's fairly recent and worth checking out.

I would also recommend going back and reading the rest of Ultimate Spider-Man, since that whole series is fantastic.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Hi all, I have recently returned to comics and looking to read some stellar Spider-Man runs, any recommendations?

I am very familiar with the character and spider-verse. Grew up in 90s with comics, tv show and my dads 60s comics. Last run I read was beginning of Ultimate Spiderman.

Picked up Life story and liked it a bunch. What should I read next? Looking for stuff from the last 15 years.

Should I just start with Amazing Spiderman 1 and Friendly Neighbor of the most recent or are there better runs to jump into?

The current run on Amazing Spider-Man is definitely pretty fun and exciting. So yeah start from Issue #1.

My recs:

1) Superior Foes of Spider-Man: This is a hilarious miniseries written by Nick Spencer and it's brilliant. It's out in two volume TPB. Spider-Man doesn't show up itself but it shines a spotlight on the villains and it's amazing.

2) Amazing Spider-Man:Spiral: This is a small gem of a miniseries by Gerry Conway that sees Spider-Man going back to fighting street crime and gangsters and it's another great title and series.

3) Chip Zdarsky's Spectacular Spider-Man series: If you liked Life Story you should read Zdarsky's Spectacular run. Especially Issue #5 which is the instant classic issue of "My Dinner with Jonah".

4) Renew Your Vows: A little AU but read this for something more light-hearted but still interesting. There's two versions so it's confusing. There's the 2015 series by Dan Slott, and then the ongoing volume launched by Gerry Conway and Jody Houser. This is a series that gets better with each new writer.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Superior Foes of Spider-Man. Probably the funniest comic book series I read. Best Spider-Man story this decade.

Superior Spider-Man divides opinion. You'll find out what you side you fit in.

Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer. Spencer balances the writing with the humour.

Amazing Spider-Man: Sprial. Gerry Conway's return to Spidey. Feel this is underrated.

Spectacular Spider-Man by Chip Zdarsky with two classics in My Dinner With Jonan and Finale. Finale is wonderful.

Renew Your Vows though I preferred first time round by Dan Slott.

[Mister Mets]

If you have an Ipad, it's pretty easy to binge-read recent Spider-Man comics at a really cheap price (ten bucks a month for as many comics as you want; as long as it's been published more than six months ago.) In that case, you don't have to be very selective.

There was a new Amazing Spider-Man #1 about an year ago, which kicked off a new run, so that is a pretty good place to start.

But there have been some good comics before then.

The Spider-Man comics can be split into different eras. The last fifteen years of the main books...

2004-2007) The screenwriter J. Michael Straczysnki and John Romita Jr had a solid run that ended with Amazing Spider-Man #506-508.
Mark Millar (Kick Ass, Civil War) and Terry Dodson had a twelve issue run of Marvel Knights Spider-Man that was accessible and solid.
The mini-series Spider-Man/ Human Torch covered that partnership over the course of a decade.

In late 2007, the books were rebooted, as some recent developments were erased from the character's history.)

The Brand New Day era (Amazing Spider-Man #546-647) featured a back to basics approach and rotating writers. The highlights include Unscheduled Stop (Amazing Spider-Man #578-579) a memorable clash with the Shocker in a dangerous location, The Gauntlet: Rhino (Amazing Spider-Man #617, 625) which featured a dark take on the Rhino, and Shed (Amazing Spider-Man #630-633) which featured a nasty take on that bad guy.

Dan Slott then became the main writer with Amazing Spider-Man #648, which kicked off the Big Time era, as Peter found success as a scientist. The essentials include the first ten issues (648-657), the Spider Island saga (666-673) as everyone in New York got super-powers and an important clash with Doctor Octopus (698-700.)

This led to the Superior Spider-Man era, which might be the highlight of the last fifteen years. The basic pitch is that Doctor Octopus has taken over as Spider-Man, and tried to be the Superior Spider-Man. It's a 31 issue saga, all of which is worth checking out.

Highlights from later in Slott's run are Spider-Verse (Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2 #9-15) which features interdimensional team-ups, Renew Your Vows (Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1-5) showing a world where Peter becomes a family man, and the finale (Amazing Spider-Man #792-801) in which Norman Osborn gets his hands on the Carnage symbiote.

Notable comics outside the main run are...
Astonishing Spider-Man/ Wolverine- A time-travelling team-up by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert.
Superior Foes of Spider-Man- Funny series by Nick Spencer that's important for his main run, showing the perspective of B-list supervillains.
Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #310- A self-contained issue by Chip Zdarsky about what Spider-Man means to different people.
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6- The highlight of Tom Taylor's run, and a self-contained issue that just went into a second printing.

[movieclub]

If you have an Ipad, it's pretty easy to binge-read recent Spider-Man comics at a really cheap price (ten bucks a month for as many comics as you want; as long as it's been published more than six months ago.) In that case, you don't have to be very selective.

There was a new Amazing Spider-Man #1 about an year ago, which kicked off a new run, so that is a pretty good place to start.

But there have been some good comics before then.

.

Thank you all for the recommendations! I am reading on an iPad but have been buying in the apple store, will look into a subscription!

Read the first few issues of the current Amazing Spiderman and found it a bit too goofy and sitcom like for my tastes, especially coming from Life Story. Will check out the rest

[LifeIsILL]

Spider-Girl, the depiction of Peter in that series is awesome.