The Most Important Spider-Man Stories

[Celgress]

....Importance isn't something affected by the temporary sentiments of fandom or passing fads.

Whatever you say. I disagree as I feel importance and relevancy are closely tied. But hey, you make your list using what criteria you wish to employ I'll make mine using what criteria I wish to employ.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Whatever you say. I disagree as I feel importance and relevancy are closely tied.

If by relevancy, you mean how many writers draw inspiration from stories written during the marriage, and if the idea of a Spider-Man growing up still has purchase, then look at stories like Renew Your Vows, Spider-Man: Life Story, Into the Spider-Verse. Stories from the marriage era remain an inspiration as in Nick Spencer's run, with To Have and to Hold, and KLH.

We shouldn't confuse editorial policy with relevancy. Editorial policy is astroturfing, trying to manipulate fans and enforcing something on them. It has absolutely nothing to do with the weight and value of those stories. Under the (now ended) regime of Dan DiDio, characters like Wally West were shortchanged in DC Comics but that doesn't mean he isn't important or influential, or relevant. Wally West, especially under Mark Waid's run, was the defining run on any Flash character including concepts like the Speed Force and so on, and the version of Wally in that story remains an inspiration for updated takes on Barry Allen.

[Prof. Warren]

My own Top Ten List -

1.) Amazing Fantasy #15.

2.) The Night Gwen Stacy Died

3.) The Sinister Six (formation)

4.) The Saga of the Symbiote (up to Amazing #300)

5.) Kraven's Last Hunt

6.) The Clone Saga (both original and 1990s' Era)

7.) One More Day (even though I hate it the event is essential reading to understand modern Spidey)

8.) Spiderverse

9.) Death of Jean DeWolff

10.) Superior Spider-Man

Honorable mention The Wedding. If not for OMD The Wedding would be in my top ten. Sadly, OMD has rendered its continued relevancy moot, IMO.

I think the wedding is still relevant. It may have been a publicity stunt to drive sales but that's what pretty much every big event in comics is so that's nothing to hold against it. The introduction of the black costume was the same - an eye-catching, headline grabbing event first and foremost - but yet, as with the on-going legacy of the black costume, the wedding is still important. Not quite as robustly important as the black costume proved to be in which a whole subset to the MU sprang from it as well as a feature film franchise (back in 1984, who could've guessed?!) but yet it's still a major component of the Spidey mythos.

If anything, taking it out of continuity has actually kept it relevant in a way it might not otherwise have been. Taking the wedding out of 616 continuity turned it into a perpetually hanging thread that writers continually threaten to pull on. The whole mystery of Kindred right now is fascinating largely because it has teased the possibility of revisiting the OMD deal and thereby re-introducing the marriage into continuity - not necessarily that it will be restored but that characters, for the first time in over ten years, might become openly aware of the fact that it once existed.

But no matter how that story plays out, the wedding clearly continues to play a part in Spider-Man's mythology.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

If anything, taking it out of continuity has actually kept it relevant...

Agreed.

Spider-Girl is out of continuity too, but she's Marvel's longest running female character in a single ongoing, the first to reach 100 issues (which like all "firsts" is a milestone that will be hers forever). So she is important and relevant as well. And of course Spider-Girl exists because of the wedding, well to be precise because of Clone Saga II which exists because of the wedding...if we want to be causal about this.

[Prof. Warren]

It must be nice always being right. I'll leave you to enjoy your perfection in this thread where free thought is not allowed.

Hey Celgress, for the record I like your list - particularly the inclusion of Spider-verse, which I feel is indisputably important - even if I feel that the wedding is still relevant (although it might not necessarily make my own Top Ten either).

[Mister Mets]

A few posts were deleted. Discuss the topic, not one another.

[twenty2]

Agreed.

Spider-Girl is out of continuity too, but she's Marvel's longest running female character in a single ongoing, the first to reach 100 issues (which like all "firsts" is a milestone that will be hers forever). So she is important and relevant as well. And of course Spider-Girl exists because of the wedding, well to be precise because of Clone Saga II which exists because of the wedding...if we want to be causal about this.

Actually I feel that spider girl is the only continuity that makes sense and is coherent after the 90s

[Huntsman Spider]

Actually I feel that spider girl is the only continuity that makes sense and is coherent after the 90s

That's likely because it diverges from the post-Clone Saga 90s, with the differing outcome being that the May Peter found (technically Kaine retrieved her for him, but still) really was his baby daughter, Aunt May really did die, and Norman Osborn died for good, more or less, freeing Peter and Mary Jane to raise baby May in relative peace and happiness. Also, MC2 is the superior Marvel continuity because it allowed for actual, meaningful growth, change, and improvement, as opposed to things just stagnating into a morass of misery or even getting worse and worse with no end in sight.

[Celgress]

That's likely because it diverges from the post-Clone Saga 90s, with the differing outcome being that the May Peter found (technically Kaine retrieved her for him, but still) really was his baby daughter, Aunt May really did die, and Norman Osborn died for good, more or less, freeing Peter and Mary Jane to raise baby May in relative peace and happiness. Also, MC2 is the superior Marvel continuity because it allowed for actual, meaningful growth, change, and improvement, as opposed to things just stagnating into a morass of misery or even getting worse and worse with no end in sight.

I couldn't possible agree more than I do with your statement.

[PCN24454]

I couldn't possible agree more than I do with your statement.

I second this statement.

Static timelines are so annoying.

[Mister Mets]

Actually I feel that spider girl is the only continuity that makes sense and is coherent after the 90s

It was primarily one creative voice.