What Older Spidey Comics Are You Reading Right Now?

[Astroman]

Just reread "Kraven's Last Hunt" - such a good arc.

[Venomsaurus]

Finished the Nick Spencer omnibus last week, really loved it overall. Though I will say that Spider-man: The Circle was a fun idea but easily the weakest portion of the book. Visually stunning with some top tier mega-talent, but storywise just kind of a goofy mess. I really like a lot of what Spencer introduces. His way of getting rid of the OG Kraven to make a new, even more brutal version of the character was brilliant. I also love Ryan Ottley's art, just a perfect fit for Spidey.

Right now I'm making my way through the Spider-Verse/Spider-Geddon omnibus. I'm a decent way through Spider-Verse and have some serious mixed feelings. Didn't really care at all for the lead-in stories Slott wrote. It was my first time reading anything of Superior Spider-Man and boy howdy, I do not like that Doc Ock Spideys Man. The whole shtick of "I'm an *******!" wears painfully thin very fast. The ASM issues leading into it were also pretty mediocre. Not a fan of early Silk. Feels like Slott wanted her more as a love interest than interesting hero on her own.

I will say getting to Spider-Verse proper, between the fun AU's introduced and teamups, it's pretty good so far.

Shout out to the Spidey in the black suit saying "Oh god, hope I'm not racist Spider-man"

Coipel art is gorgeous as to be expected. The Iheritors are a solid batch of bastard villains who are a good antithesis to Spider-Man.

My biggest complaint is killing off MC2 Peter and seemingly killing off that version of MJ (I looked it up, she survives.) was just a bummer man. That's the one AU where he gets truly happy ending. Leave MC2 alone, please.

Also not a fan of how easily Cap Universe Pete gets jobbed. Usually that's supposed to make the villains scarier, but for me it just feels like a waste of the character. At least have a little bit of a fight. Solus just one-shots him like it's nothing, and it's pretty lame.

I'm enjoying Spider-Verse overall, but I'm definitely looking forward to wrapping this book up and moving onto Renew Your Vows soon here.

Edit: Finished Spider-Verse tonight, actually pretty good all around. I'd say one of Slott's better Spidey stories. I will say I was bummed Cap Universe never came back. I thought he was going to come back and help out but I guess not. It was nice to finally read the story that helped inspire one of my favorite movies, and it was a pretty wild fun crossover on its own.

[Mister Mets]

I've been reading the later Stan lee stories (Tablet of Time, The Prowler) and it's interesting how Spider-Man is consistently stumbling into other people's stories, like Silvermane's conflict with the Maggia, or even Hobie Brown trying to make some money in the Marvel Universe.

[hbomb450]

I've been reading the later Stan lee stories (Tablet of Time, The Prowler) and it's interesting how Spider-Man is consistently stumbling into other people's stories, like Silvermane's conflict with the Maggia, or even Hobie Brown trying to make some money in the Marvel Universe.

Have you read Spider-Man Lifeline? Its a mini from the early 2000s that acts as a sequel to the Lee/Romita Tablet story. It's fun stuff with Steve Rude on art.

I've been reading some late Web of Spider-Man, why doesn't anybody follow up on some of the villains that were in the secondary titles? I wouldn't mind seeing Knight & Fogg again or Sandstorm again and when is Jack O'Lantern (any existing version) gonna come back to antagonize Spidey?

[CrimsonEchidna]

Actually doing a little experiment and re-reading through Amazing starting with Brand New Day. I know of wanted to do a "From then til now" type of retrospective. Admittedly a lot of the BND stuff was hazy and I know at the time both it and Slott's run especially got plagued with being the follow up to OMD, so I wanted to see what a fresh pair of eyes reading back on it would change my perspective.

I'm halfway through the Gauntlet now so I think when I actually wrap up that era I'll actually post my thoughts in full.

[Venomsaurus]

Just finished Spider-Geddon. I don't have a ton to say, but overall I really loved it. I think it was honestly a lot better than Spider-Verse. Had a much more satisfying conclusion for sure. That ending where Miles, with the Cosmic Force, uses Leopardon's sword was pure tokusatsu madness and I loved it.

I especially loved the Spider-Girls mini-series. Was so much fun seeing more of RYV-verse but then add Mayday and Arana in and it's a perfect combo. Plus we get a little more development for this version of Pete and MJ which is great. Getting to see both of them was a rea treat in general. Loved how that version of Peter apparently kept getting asked how him and MJ made it work. Very cute.

Speaking of Renew Your Vows, I'm finally getting to that now as my current reading material. I've got all 4 volumes in TPB and the Secret Wars mini as well. Very excited to jump back into this series and finally read the last few issues. Now someone just needs to release an omnibus so I can own that too.

[babyblob]

I am reading the 160s and 170s. I just read the first appearance of Will O The Wisp as Spiderman is fighting yet another Spider Slayer. I really dig the old 60s and 70s Spiderman.

I am also reading the old Peter Parker Spiderman. And THe newer Hunter Story line. So I am kind of all over the place with my reading.

[Venomsaurus]

Wrapped up my Renew Your Vows read, overall lots of thoughts on the mini and ongoing. TLDR: Easily my favorite Spidey comics of the last 10, maybe even 20 years. Very tough call, still lots I need to catch up on. But RYV really feels like something special, and it's not just because I love seeing Peter and MJ happily married. That's just frosting on a very tasty cake.

The initial mini-series, I would say, is the weakest story in the entire saga. Even then it's not bad at all. It's just that everything that followed was so great, and this is still a pretty good story on it's own. I'd argue it's easily the best Spidey Dan Slott ever read. Though I never did read the latter half of his run. (You can't pay me to read Superior Spider-man) This really plays to some of his strengths, getting to set up his own AU and play around in it. I like the set up where Peter kills Venom at the start, the big reason, besides Regnt, he quit. Then at the end, he restates his vows of being a hero again. Works nicely. Adam Kubert art is gorgeous but you don't need me to tell you that. MJ gets in some great moments here and overall, it's a strong start to this new take on Spider-man and Family.

Now for me, the ongoing is where the real good stuff is at. That mini was nice, very sweet and fun with some memorable moments. But the ongoing is where RYV went from a cute little AU to something really special. I remember when the series was announced, I was both very excited and a little confused. Excited for the story to continue, super excited Ryan Stegman was on art, but confused Gerry Conway was writing. I knew he was an older writer and had a long history with Spidey but I'd never read any of his modern stuff, so I was a tad concerned. I was a total idiot though, because Conway is one of the rare masters who's still got it and can tell fantastic stories with great character work. Making it look effortless. Stegman was a perfect fit for the story in every way. He's easily my favorite modern Spider-man artist, even if he's more affiliated with Venom nowadays. (Also go read Vanish with him and Donny Cates, it's awesome)

I really love the first arc as it's a perfect summation of the entire Spider-family and their great dynamic. Conway has a perfect voice for all 3 characters and I love how each of the 3 issues focuses on a different member and their side of the story, before it wraps up in issue 4. It's a great debut for Annie as Spiderling and I seriously forgot how much I love MJ as Spinerette. If you gotta go the super power route, the badass mom of the Spider-family is my preferred route. Tying her powers to Peter's via Regent tech was a nice touch. It was interesting seeing the negative pull it could have on Peter's powers.

The 2nd arc is a fun little two-parter and is a cool show of an AU X-men, very 90's Animated series inspired. Not a lot to say about this arc but I really dig how they meld Spider-man and X-men into this series so well.

My favorite story, by far, is the 3rd arc where MJ gets the Venom symbiote and Normie Osborn goes all Neon Goblin Evangelion. Theres a lot to love about this one. MJ mentally overcoming a corrupted symbiote. Normie Osborn being developed as just a really sad, lonely kid lashing out at things he doesn't understand. Annie getting her big hero moment. Just fantastic stuff all around and really where I think the series hit it's peak. Volumes 3 and 4 are still great too, but for me this was it's absolute best point. Part of me really wishes MJ had kept the symbiote though. Would have been an interesting way to differentiate her from Peter power wise.

Then we have the big 8 year jump. This is what caused me to kinda lose interest back when I was reading monthly. I just found aging up Annie really killed the magic of what made those first 12 issues special. With the 2nd half, Annie really becomes the main character. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I love Annie, she's a great character, but at the time it felt like I was just getting MC2 Spider-Girl all over again but with super powered parents still around. I stuck around for a few issues but it just didn't really do it for me back then. Nowadays, I can say I was an idiot back then because I think Houser did an excellent job keeping the series going and adding a lot of cool wrinkles and beautiful character moments. I really like both stories in volume 3, Annie learning you can't always punch your problems away and dealing with a pair of young supers on her own. Houser really does a great job of putting Annie through her paces.

Having never read any of the issues in volume 4, that was what I was most excited to check out. I have to say, I am seriously kicking myself for dropping this series. I loved the one-shot where we saw a cruise vacation Peter and MJ went on that went badly. Very fun. What was really great was seeing the culmination of her plans for Mr. Sinister that she'd built up from her first story. I was really happy to see that pay off and it was an excellent story. Again blending X-men and Spider-man very well. Peter really gets to shine in this arc with moments like thinking Annie and Normie are going out. Overall I feel Houser got to close her roun out on a high note, but I seriously regret not sticking around and would have loved to see her write a lot more of this series. Maybe if we ever get a reboot, she could come back.

I will say that while I really liked the 2nd half of RYV, I do still wish they'd kept Annie a kid. I feel that really gave the series a more unique overall dynamic. But regardless of which have you read of RYV it's great stuff that no Spidey fan should miss out on.

So yeah, I adore RYV and I'd say my love for it has only grown. I really respect and appreciate what this series did for me at a time when I'd really fallen out of love with Spidey comics, and now that I'm rediscovering that love again it's been one of the best comics I've read on this Spidey Binge.

Next I'm gonna be finally reading the original Miles Morales comics, got both Omnibi of the entire Bendis run so I'm super excited to see how that goes. We are SO close to Across the Spider-Verse so it's gonna be great to finally read Miles' comic roots.

[Garlador]

Just reread "Kraven's Last Hunt" - such a good arc.

For such a legendary story, I was surprised re-reading it just how everyone on that story was firing on all cylinders.

It almost makes me angry, because I would absolutely love some more definitive runs like that with other Spidey villains, and there really isn’t anything quite at this caliber.

[babyblob]

I have gotten up to the Amazing Spiderman with Bart Hamilton as Green Goblin

[Mister Mets]

Have you read Spider-Man Lifeline? Its a mini from the early 2000s that acts as a sequel to the Lee/Romita Tablet story. It's fun stuff with Steve Rude on art.

I've been reading some late Web of Spider-Man, why doesn't anybody follow up on some of the villains that were in the secondary titles? I wouldn't mind seeing Knight & Fogg again or Sandstorm again and when is Jack O'Lantern (any existing version) gonna come back to antagonize Spidey?

It's rare for writers to do that.

They tend to be interested in their own new villains, or in making their stamp on A-listers.

For such a legendary story, I was surprised re-reading it just how everyone on that story was firing on all cylinders.

It almost makes me angry, because I would absolutely love some more definitive runs like that with other Spidey villains, and there really isn’t anything quite at this caliber.

Legendary stories tend to be those where writers are firing on all cylinders.

It's a good question about what stories really get into a villain's head as much as Kraven's Last Hunt.

Kraven's Last Hunt remains the best in the category but there's other stuff worth recommending, like JM Dematteis (KLH Writer) & Sal Buscema's Harry Osborn saga, Dan Slott's work on Doctor Octopus in Dying Wish/ Superior Spider-Man and the Revenge of the Green Goblin (the mini-series by Roger Stern & Ron Frenz, and the accompanying crossover by Howard Mackie, Paul Jenkins, John Romita Jr and Mark Buckingham.

[Jekyll]

Wrapped up my Renew Your Vows read, overall lots of thoughts on the mini and ongoing. TLDR: Easily my favorite Spidey comics of the last 10, maybe even 20 years. Very tough call, still lots I need to catch up on. But RYV really feels like something special, and it's not just because I love seeing Peter and MJ happily married. That's just frosting on a very tasty cake.

The initial mini-series, I would say, is the weakest story in the entire saga. Even then it's not bad at all. It's just that everything that followed was so great, and this is still a pretty good story on it's own. I'd argue it's easily the best Spidey Dan Slott ever read. Though I never did read the latter half of his run. (You can't pay me to read Superior Spider-man) This really plays to some of his strengths, getting to set up his own AU and play around in it. I like the set up where Peter kills Venom at the start, the big reason, besides Regnt, he quit. Then at the end, he restates his vows of being a hero again. Works nicely. Adam Kubert art is gorgeous but you don't need me to tell you that. MJ gets in some great moments here and overall, it's a strong start to this new take on Spider-man and Family.

Now for me, the ongoing is where the real good stuff is at. That mini was nice, very sweet and fun with some memorable moments. But the ongoing is where RYV went from a cute little AU to something really special. I remember when the series was announced, I was both very excited and a little confused. Excited for the story to continue, super excited Ryan Stegman was on art, but confused Gerry Conway was writing. I knew he was an older writer and had a long history with Spidey but I'd never read any of his modern stuff, so I was a tad concerned. I was a total idiot though, because Conway is one of the rare masters who's still got it and can tell fantastic stories with great character work. Making it look effortless. Stegman was a perfect fit for the story in every way. He's easily my favorite modern Spider-man artist, even if he's more affiliated with Venom nowadays. (Also go read Vanish with him and Donny Cates, it's awesome)

I really love the first arc as it's a perfect summation of the entire Spider-family and their great dynamic. Conway has a perfect voice for all 3 characters and I love how each of the 3 issues focuses on a different member and their side of the story, before it wraps up in issue 4. It's a great debut for Annie as Spiderling and I seriously forgot how much I love MJ as Spinerette. If you gotta go the super power route, the badass mom of the Spider-family is my preferred route. Tying her powers to Peter's via Regent tech was a nice touch. It was interesting seeing the negative pull it could have on Peter's powers.

The 2nd arc is a fun little two-parter and is a cool show of an AU X-men, very 90's Animated series inspired. Not a lot to say about this arc but I really dig how they meld Spider-man and X-men into this series so well.

My favorite story, by far, is the 3rd arc where MJ gets the Venom symbiote and Normie Osborn goes all Neon Goblin Evangelion. Theres a lot to love about this one. MJ mentally overcoming a corrupted symbiote. Normie Osborn being developed as just a really sad, lonely kid lashing out at things he doesn't understand. Annie getting her big hero moment. Just fantastic stuff all around and really where I think the series hit it's peak. Volumes 3 and 4 are still great too, but for me this was it's absolute best point. Part of me really wishes MJ had kept the symbiote though. Would have been an interesting way to differentiate her from Peter power wise.

Then we have the big 8 year jump. This is what caused me to kinda lose interest back when I was reading monthly. I just found aging up Annie really killed the magic of what made those first 12 issues special. With the 2nd half, Annie really becomes the main character. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I love Annie, she's a great character, but at the time it felt like I was just getting MC2 Spider-Girl all over again but with super powered parents still around. I stuck around for a few issues but it just didn't really do it for me back then. Nowadays, I can say I was an idiot back then because I think Houser did an excellent job keeping the series going and adding a lot of cool wrinkles and beautiful character moments. I really like both stories in volume 3, Annie learning you can't always punch your problems away and dealing with a pair of young supers on her own. Houser really does a great job of putting Annie through her paces.

Having never read any of the issues in volume 4, that was what I was most excited to check out. I have to say, I am seriously kicking myself for dropping this series. I loved the one-shot where we saw a cruise vacation Peter and MJ went on that went badly. Very fun. What was really great was seeing the culmination of her plans for Mr. Sinister that she'd built up from her first story. I was really happy to see that pay off and it was an excellent story. Again blending X-men and Spider-man very well. Peter really gets to shine in this arc with moments like thinking Annie and Normie are going out. Overall I feel Houser got to close her roun out on a high note, but I seriously regret not sticking around and would have loved to see her write a lot more of this series. Maybe if we ever get a reboot, she could come back.

I will say that while I really liked the 2nd half of RYV, I do still wish they'd kept Annie a kid. I feel that really gave the series a more unique overall dynamic. But regardless of which have you read of RYV it's great stuff that no Spidey fan should miss out on.

So yeah, I adore RYV and I'd say my love for it has only grown. I really respect and appreciate what this series did for me at a time when I'd really fallen out of love with Spidey comics, and now that I'm rediscovering that love again it's been one of the best comics I've read on this Spidey Binge.

Next I'm gonna be finally reading the original Miles Morales comics, got both Omnibi of the entire Bendis run so I'm super excited to see how that goes. We are SO close to Across the Spider-Verse so it's gonna be great to finally read Miles' comic roots.

We must be connected because I am doing the same The intial mini-series by Slott is probably my favorite Spidey story of all time. It had been awhile since I had read the on-going and it is still so much fun to read. I hate that Conway got pulled from the book but I thought that Houser did a great job with the title. I also greatly prefer Annie May over Mayday, I don't know how many times I've tried to read Spider-girl and it's just not for me. Maybe after the Spider-Verse film we can get another family book since Marvel has decided that ASM will forever be a man child.

[Venomsaurus]

We must be connected because I am doing the same The intial mini-series by Slott is probably my favorite Spidey story of all time. It had been awhile since I had read the on-going and it is still so much fun to read. I hate that Conway got pulled from the book but I thought that Houser did a great job with the title. I also greatly prefer Annie May over Mayday, I don't know how many times I've tried to read Spider-girl and it's just not for me. Maybe after the Spider-Verse film we can get another family book since Marvel has decided that ASM will forever be a man child.

I really wish we could find out why Conway got pulled from it. If he left by his own choice (doesn't feel like it, there were things he set up and didn't really get to pay off) or if Marvel kicked him from the title for some reason. I've never heard why he stopped writing it. I would have read 100 issues of his stuff.

Personally I love Annie AND Mayday, they both bring something different to the table. Mayday's adventures are more in a world with a retired Spidey, whereas Annie gets the Spider-Fam experience. Both are great in their own ways.

Fingers crossed for another Spider-Family book because I think the hunger for it post-ATSV is gonna be big.

[Venomsaurus]

In anticipation of Across the Spider-Verse I've been reading more AU Spider-man comics, mainly the entire Bendis run of Miles Morales for the first time and now I'm about halfway through Spider-man 2099's original run as well.

I have a lot of thoughts about the Miles Morales comics, but I'll try and not ramble too much. Overall, I really loved the earlier years of Miles when he was figuring out being Spider-man and how to handle taking on such a big legacy. Stuff like seeing his uncle try and extort him, his father's disapproval of heroics, trying to live up to a dead hero. It's all super compelling stuff. With so much gorgeous artwork by Pichelli and Marquez. I blazed through the Miles comics in less than a week, both his Ultimate and 616 adventures penned by Bendis.

One thing that does occur to me is that Bendis' writing kind of leans to this binge-reading style a lot better than other comics I've read during this Spidey Read-A-Thon that will seemingly never end as I find more omnibi I need to buy. Bendis definitely 'writes for the trade' as people used to say all the time. I do wish I'd read this stuff monthly just to see Miles from his very start, but at the same time, it reads really well in collected form and was a blast to read all of his stories in one go.

My favorite thing about Miles is how he's a kid in over his head, just figuring everything out as he goes. That's Spider-man to a T right there. Watching this confused kid make sense of a big scary world of heroes, villains and super-spies.

Finally getting to read Spider-Men was a blast. I've been wanting to read that for years and it was so great. A fantastic celebration of what makes both Spiders so great. I was surprised to see it felt way more influential to Into the Spider-Verse than the actual Spider-verse comic book.

I really loved the Ultimate years, from Miles proving himself to Cap, fighting Hydra, Venom, coming back to heroics after a tragic loss, it was all great stuff.

Now, his 616 early years are a bit of a mixed bag for me. It starts out strong, but kinda fizzles near the end for me. I also couldn't help but feel like 616 Miles regressed a little, maturity wise. Maybe getting his mom back gave him some of his kid-side back but he just felt a little more immature from when he was last in the Ultimate U. Still really good comics, I loved seeing the Marvel U react to Miles like Luke Cage telling him how important he is. Great stuff.

It's still pretty solid stuff. Goldballs was a fun addition. It was nice to see Bombshell survived Secret Wars. Great art for most of it. But stuff like tying into Civil War II kind of derails certain parts and overall it doesn't feel quite as special as it was when he was in the Ultimate U. Then the final arc is just kinda okay. A really strong run that's all outta steam by the end. But still, I'm really glad I read it and it was super worthwhile finally experiencing his OG comics before seeing him again on the big screen.

I'm halfway through Spidey 2099. Plenty of thoughts on that one, but I'll save it for another post down the line. I will say, his origin is the most 90's silly origin you could give a Spider-man.

[Spidey_Legend]

I read Spider-Man: Blue. Always enjoy the book.