Creepiest Spider-Man stories according to you?

[federicodettofred]

Hey guys, today I wanted to ask you about the creepiest Spider-Man stories you read during these 60 years. Many people think that the wallcrawler storylines are all fun and jokes, but it's really not. I will list three stories that, for different reasons, creeped me out.
1) Darkness Calling/Trick of The Light (Amazing Spider-Man 25/Peter Parker: Spider-Man 25 - 2001 - by Paul Jenkins). Norman Osborn kidnaps Peter and locks him up in the old Osborn Manor, psychologically torturing him and trying to convince him to join the dark side. The story is particularly creepy as we can see part of Norman's childhood and Peter hallucinating about being buried alive and about dead people, like Uncle Ben. It's a really good story, so check it out.
2) Here There Be Monsters (Spectacular Spider-Man 14 - 2004 - by Paul Jenkins). The story is not well known, but it really terrified me as a kid. A guy stuck on a wheelchair on a rooftop is the witness of a fight between Spidey and Morbius. The thing that makes this story particularly unsettling is the style of drawing by Paolo Rivera that puts everything in a dark and heavy atmosphere, showing Morbius as a literal monster with blood eyes. It's also very saddening because of the protagonist's condition who has cerebral palsy and can't speak or move. Very underrated story.
3) Shed (Amazing Spider-Man 630 - 2010 - by Zeb Wells). What can we say? Lizard eats his own son alive. I think that sums it up.

Do you agree with these choices? What are yours?

[wleakr]

I have to go with the low hanging fruit: for me Kraven's Last Hunt and the Mad Dog arc that followed both creeped me out It creeped me out for both the manner in which the stories were told and that it was jarring the way they were just forcibly inserted into the books. The Spider-man titles were all going in their own direction and then they just sorta took a pause, told these stories for 3 months, and resumed their narratives. It was basically like those stories didn't happen.

If not for the internet gassing up Kraven's Last Hunt, I'm not so sure I would've remembered they ever told the story.

[Spidey_62]

Those are great picks!

That Green Goblin story is for sure one of the best uses of the two's relationship and offers some rare insight into Norman's head. I always thought the concept of Norman failing to beat Peter over and over leading to him realizing he admires him more and more as a worthy heir to be a great evolution of their conflict. Seeing Peter with the beard going through all that mental and physical torture was something that stuck with me visually, definitely agree. The Paolo Rivera painted story definitely is one that pulls at the emotions, I think Paolo's art there is much more ethereal than later work, especially with the heavy red and purple palette throughout. It helps give it a sense of the fantastic while Jenkins script is really human all the while. Top notch comic bookery.

Shed is a pretty creepy story, not really a fan of it but it does fit the bill.

I'd have to add The Thousand for sure from Tangled Web #1-3. I read that one when I was a kid and it was freaky, still is. It's fun seeing Garth Ennis with his notorious dislike for superheroes writing a good Spider-Man and creating like the most horrifying villain ever for him.

I'd also add Todd McFarlane's Torment. Just the whole visuals and atmosphere of the whole thing is steeped in the kinds of things Todd loves to draw so it becomes a really unique Spidey story in that regard.

[Riv86672]

Going w. The Clone Saga if only because not knowing if you are really you?
That’s creepy in and of itself.

[Spidey_62]

The Other is a terrible story to me and the visuals of Spidey getting his ass beat to death and his eyeball eaten by Morlun was disturbing for a 10 year old to read. Y'all scarred the hell out of me, thx.

Sins Past also scarred me as a kid, great fun stuff to think about.

Why the hell am I still here

[Alan2099]

I've always been partial to issue 88 of What if?



We get a very monstrous Peter done in a Ditko-ish style who's just trying to take care of his hideously deformed "mutant" son. I really wouldn't mind seeing this Spider Boy again at some point.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

One of your picks is in my list
-- "Revenge of the Green Goblin" by Roger Stern and Paul Jenkins. One of the darkest, creepiest, and most brutal stories in Spider-Man's history. No other story has quite made Norman as scary and frightening and disturbing as he is here. A creepy gaslighter and lunatic par excellence with an endless appetite for spite and hatred. Norman doesn't want to simply kill Peter, he wants to destroy his hope.
-- "Kraven's Last Hunt" which is really nightmarish in its gothic imagery.
-- "The Book of Ezekiel", the final story in JMS/JRJR's collaboration is full of creepy and dark imagery, such as an entire army of spiders, and the true reveal of Ezekiel's duplicity. Peter gets entombed again and he comes very close to dying.
-- "The Best of Enemies" by JMD/Sal Buscema, the parts where Harry stalks Peter but never does anything is quite a dark and creepy moment, which seems to have informed James Franco's whole performance in the Raimi movies.
-- David Michelinie and Todd MacFarlane's introduction of Venom is one of the greatest, darkest and creepiest moments, all the moreso for being featured in an anniversary milestone issue like ASM#300.

[federicodettofred]

The Other is a terrible story to me and the visuals of Spidey getting his ass beat to death and his eyeball eaten by Morlun was disturbing for a 10 year old to read. Y'all scarred the hell out of me, thx.

Sins Past also scarred me as a kid, great fun stuff to think about.

Why the hell am I still here

The Other is a pretty disturbing one, but I never loved it so much so I didn't include it.
Sins Past is very unsettling narratively, but I hate that story so much that I can't see a good thing in it. I find it to be the worst Spider-Man story ever.

[federicodettofred]

One of your picks is in my list
-- "Revenge of the Green Goblin" by Roger Stern and Paul Jenkins. One of the darkest, creepiest, and most brutal stories in Spider-Man's history. No other story has quite made Norman as scary and frightening and disturbing as he is here. A creepy gaslighter and lunatic par excellence with an endless appetite for spite and hatred. Norman doesn't want to simply kill Peter, he wants to destroy his hope.
-- "Kraven's Last Hunt" which is really nightmarish in its gothic imagery.
-- "The Book of Ezekiel", the final story in JMS/JRJR's collaboration is full of creepy and dark imagery, such as an entire army of spiders, and the true reveal of Ezekiel's duplicity. Peter gets entombed again and he comes very close to dying.
-- "The Best of Enemies" by JMD/Sal Buscema, the parts where Harry stalks Peter but never does anything is quite a dark and creepy moment, which seems to have informed James Franco's whole performance in the Raimi movies.
-- David Michelinie and Todd MacFarlane's introduction of Venom is one of the greatest, darkest and creepiest moments, all the moreso for being featured in an anniversary milestone issue like ASM#300.

"The Best of Enemies" is a great one, I remember it now. You're right: the whole Harry Osborn stalker storyline is fantastic and I remember him going crazy with his wife and looking like a total psycho. I wouldn't say it's one of the creepiest ever, but it's a very good issue.

[ngroove]

The creepiest moment on Spider-Man page I can think of, was that part(s) in Amazing Spider-Man #293, in which a lone woman, walking in the streets, was pulled into the sewer, wakes, and greeted by Vermin, with a "Yum" thought box on him as he faced her horrified face.

The very next Vermin panel, was him, eating a bloody raw slab of meat, very subtly creepy and obviously the former woman.

[K7P5V]

Personally, anytime MJ has to deal with a new suitor/stalker fits this category...

[Mister Mets]

Good suggestions with Shed, Kraven's Last Hunt, Darkness Calling, Torment and Here There Be Monsters.

I've always been partial to issue 88 of What if?



We get a very monstrous Peter done in a Ditko-ish style who's just trying to take care of his hideously deformed "mutant" son. I really wouldn't mind seeing this Spider Boy again at some point.

I was going to respond with this one, figuring it was too obscure for anyone else to know. I'm a big fan of it.

[Displaying_Model_Behaviour]

EWYihVyX0AA5T4E.jpg
I surprised no one has mentioned the two light hearted feel good family romps from the 90's, Carnage: Mind-Bomb and It's a Wonderful life.

[Displaying_Model_Behaviour]

728629.jpg Anything drawn by Kyle Hotz has an instant creep factor of 10.

[Scott Taylor]

Sins Remembered creeped me out more than Sins Past, because Peter and Gwen's Norman-daughter were close to having an affair. Thats Miles Warren level creepiness!