Originally Posted by
Revolutionary_Jack
Between fictional characters in serial publications, that are ongoing, rate of appearances is an objective measure in terms of reader-engagement, popularity, editorial direction.
It sounds like bean-counting, looks like it, and feels like it, but bean-counting can be useful you know. Knowing how many panels, how many ballons, words, and so on used in the comic tells you a lot about the craft side of things.
Rate of appearances tells you likewise about what editors/writers/readers/fans collectively would have understood in a broad, unwritten, consensus as the baseline of Spider-Man and his character.
It does show that Spider-Man/Johnny Storm weren't a consistent ongoing buddy comedy duo for ages.
To the extent people think that's a case, it's down to the Slott/Templeton series, and the fact that after BND, Slott became the main ASM writer so that meant he was able to elevate that into a big deal.
But for the longest time, Spider-Man and Daredevil were the closest between two superheroes. That changed when the Affleck Daredevil movie failed and the comic lost some prestige as a result of that.