When was the last time Spider-man was good?

[Alan2099]

Obviously there are a lot of people unhappy since OMD.

But before that, there were a lot of people unhappy that Spidey was living with the AVengers and had a fancy high-tech suit.

Before that, there was mystic totem weirdness, an almost non existent supporting cast, and that one time Spider-man grew claws and ate a guys head.

Before that, were the days of Al Kraven, Chapter One, Mattie Franklin Spider-man.

Before that, the clone saga ...

Right before the clone saga was his "I AM THE SPIDER!" period and the robot parents...

[Spiderx3000]

I thought the Big Time stuff was cool and interesting. Seeing Peter meaningfully pursue a career in science at Horizon was a lot of fun. I actually enjoyed the majority of Slott’s stuff in the post-BND era, even if I think JMS had the better voice for the character.

[Garlador]

Good? Plenty of times. Even after OMD, there were good moments, good issues. Spencer’s run has its moments.

But to ask “when was the last time 616 Spider-Man was GREAT?!”

Before Editorial made it their life mission to mess with the marriage, and insist Peter can’t grow like other heroes. The last 616 “Must-Read” story fans can agree on is likely “Kraven’s Last Hunt”.

[clonegeek]

Good? Plenty of times. Even after OMD, there were good moments, good issues. Spencer’s run has its moments.

But to ask “when was the last time 616 Spider-Man was GREAT?!”

Before Editorial made it their life mission to mess with the marriage, and insist Peter can’t grow like other heroes. The last 616 “Must-Read” story fans can agree on is likely “Kraven’s Last Hunt”.

Make Spider-Man Great Again, is what we all want for Marvel to do in the comics.

[Lee]

I think Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz being fired off of Amazing Spider-Man immediately hurt the quality and consistency of the book. Once Michelinie and McFarlane were together the consistency was there, and the sales were absolutely there, but it felt like a different book. Eventually even more off-kilter stuff became a big presence, like Maximum Carnage, robot parents, endless clones, magic totems, living with the Avengers, no secret identity...

Brand New Day was a return to form.

[clonegeek]

Yeah, I don't think BND really worked in the long run

[Shifter]

I just want Marvel to make a Mephisto interferes in Peter's life directly story so that the side deal that Mary Jane made with Mephisto to have the marriage restored takes effect because that will erase everything that has been done since One More Day and then Spider-Man comics can be good once again.

[clonegeek]

I just want Marvel to make a Mephisto interferes in Peter's life directly story so that the side deal that Mary Jane made with Mephisto to have the marriage restored takes effect because that will erase everything that has been done since One More Day and then Spider-Man comics can be good once again.

Give Peter and MJ back all the time they lost together in-universe

[Chubistian]

I think there're some good moments in this run. The MJ subplot was always cheap drama, but when it was in the sideways, I could tolerate it and have fun with the main plot: Tombstone, Vulture, Hobgoblin, etcetera. I thought Dark Web was dumb, though, and this story-arc has been pretty bad.

Superior Spider-Man was the last time the regular series was constantly fun, good quality and excitement month to month. Once Peter came back along ASM as the main series, it became more of a mixed bag, with some high points such as Spider-Verse and Go Down Swinging. Nick Spencer started fine, did a great job in Hunted, but his run fell apart midway and I haven't gotten myself to give a try to the 2nd half of it

[Spider-Tiger]

Good? Plenty of times. Even after OMD, there were good moments, good issues. Spencer’s run has its moments.

But to ask “when was the last time 616 Spider-Man was GREAT?!”

Before Editorial made it their life mission to mess with the marriage, and insist Peter can’t grow like other heroes. The last 616 “Must-Read” story fans can agree on is likely “Kraven’s Last Hunt”.

I'd have to agree with this unfortunately. Spider-man was of a consistently okay to good to great quality until the numerous attempts to undo the marriage. Since then, it's been a mix of good periods, meh periods, and some of the lowest of lows. And those lows always seem to stem from attempts to interfere with the marriage and/or the Peter-MJ relationship with retcons, magic, clones, death, etc. and just generally awful inconsistent character writing.

And I say this as someone who wasn't even alive in the 80s and read most of this in retrospect. I have no nostalgia for that era.

[Xenon]

Well, ther are always little nitpicks, of course.

It depends on how strict you want to go.

if We're being a little generous, then like, late 2021? When Spencer was on the book. There were flaws, but it crossed into "good" territory for me. Sins Rising was interesting, the split body story was interesting. I liked Hunted, I liked the whole Boomerang arc which was surprising to me because I thought I'd hate it. Good.

If we're being VERY generous then Brand New Day was "good". The caveat being the whole romance subplot was terrible and forced. But if you just ignore that part the election saga is good, New Ways to Die is mostly good, 24/7 is good, Shed is...ok. But as long as you ignored the worthless romance subplots it was fine.

If we want no compromises then it's ASM 500. The back half of JMS' run is not great, but upt hrough 500 it's fantastic. No OMD, no Sins Past, no Dying Wish. Just a man trying to live his life while being a superhero. It's really only the past fifteen years that have been "bad", and really most of that can be pinned on Slott and the rest on OMD.

Honestly the book is fantastic for about the first 45 years, with only the rare stinker. It's only when they come up with schemes to get rid of the marriage that things start to tank. First the Clone saga, then killing her in the reboot, then OMD. It's funny how when you stop focusing on writing the characters and start trying to get to a specific place come hell or high water the story suffers.

[Lukmendes]

Spider-Man is only good when I can relate to him, and I can only relate to him when he stalks his ex-girlfriend, who's now dating the perfect being, can't do anything right, and has his best friend's father as his sugar daddy, so right now Spidey is the only time he's ever been good .

[Jman27]

I think there're some good moments in this run. The MJ subplot was always cheap drama, but when it was in the sideways, I could tolerate it and have fun with the main plot: Tombstone, Vulture, Hobgoblin, etcetera. I thought Dark Web was dumb, though, and this story-arc has been pretty bad.

Superior Spider-Man was the last time the regular series was constantly fun, good quality and excitement month to month. Once Peter came back along ASM as the main series, it became more of a mixed bag, with some high points such as Spider-Verse and Go Down Swinging. Nick Spencer started fine, did a great job in Hunted, but his run fell apart midway and I haven't gotten myself to give a try to the 2nd half of it

pretty much this for me if I can ignore all of the MJ drama I'm good.

[Spidey_Legend]

I think first we need to define good.

[vhm74]

Chip Zdarsky's work was pretty good to me, I love his Peter's depiction