What Spider-Man Comics have you been reading lately!? Version 3.0

[Mike]

Essential Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1
Some good reading here.
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[Metamorphosis]

Just read Grim Hunt and tbh I wish I hadn't it was crap.

I thought there were some good moments--the first two issues in particular were good stuff IMO. The ending wasn't great and I don't think they should've actually brought Kraven back.

[Mauled]

I thought there were some good moments--the first two issues in particular were good stuff IMO. The ending wasn't great and I don't think they should've actually brought Kraven back.

I thought that Kaine was the best thing about it. His scenes were fun to read.

I just didn't buy the Kravinoffs as a threat. 1 person with Spider strength and speed should be enough to take that whole family. There were also long passages were I was being told how scary they were but not shown. The Kravinoffs were just total non fun cartoons. Also the crappy prophecy rhyming did nothing for me either.

Kravens last Hunt showed a very messed up individual who was just desperate to prove himself better than Spider-man but clearly wasn't either morally or physically It's why he refused to fight Spider-man when he came back because he wanted his victory (as he saw it) untarnished.
It turned what was a crappy villain and joke character into a really messed up but interesting individual.
This otoh didn't really show us anything about why the Kravinoffs were doing what they were doing at all. While there characterisation was non existant.

[Metamorphosis]

I thought that Kaine was the best thing about it. His scenes were fun to read.

I just didn't buy the Kravinoffs as a threat. 1 person with Spider strength and speed should be enough to take that whole family. There were also long passages were I was being told how scary they were but not shown. The Kravinoffs were just total non fun cartoons. Also the crappy prophecy rhyming did nothing for me either.

Kravens last Hunt showed a very messed up individual who was just desperate to prove himself better than Spider-man but clearly wasn't either morally or physically It's why he refused to fight Spider-man when he came back because he wanted his victory (as he saw it) untarnished.
It turned what was a crappy villain and joke character into a really messed up but interesting individual.
This otoh didn't really show us anything about why the Kravinoffs were doing what they were doing at all. While there characterisation was non existant.

Well, I don't know if you read the issues preceding this story, but they did build up what the Kravinoffs were doing for about 30 issues beforehand. So it's not like it was out of the blue.

The stuff with Kaine was good, and I really liked the zombie-Ezekiel fake out by Chameleon, which shows what a threat he can really be as a villain when the writers put some thought into it. The story did also have Peter sick with the flu or something in the beginning. But he was still able to beat the crap out of the Kraven kids pretty easily if I remember. He tossed Aloysha onto a spire which impaled him at one point. He also ripped off part of Sasha's face with his clinging ability, which I really disliked.

But I did always like Ana Kraven--she would've been enough of a Kraven for the comics, they could've killed off the rest permanently and developed her far more.

[Turlast]

Been reading lots of Spider-Man lately.

Web of Spider-Man #84-89: "The Name Of The Rose". This saga is really funny because it's just all over the place. You have Macendale separating with the demon to create Demogoblin, Peter and his family being hunted for a photo printed in the Daily Bugle that he had nothing to do with, Triad Brothers who can create energy by putting their swords together, Richard Fisk shaving off his hair and looking exactly like Wilson despite being much smaller. Also, the amount of people portraying the "Rose" identity confused the hell outta me. There's Fisk, Sgt. Blume, and Alfredo, but then you have the Blood Rose. Just an odd saga all-around. Oh, and does anyone hate this Nick Katzenberg guy as much as myself? Despite the strange things in this story, I thought it was a good read.

Spider-Man #46-49 - "Beware the Rage of a Desperate Man". Macendale is tired of avoiding Demogoblin and Spider-Man because of his lack of power. He comes across some guy with Kraven's journal and gives the guy a razor bat for his troubles. He wants the power Kraven has and decides to travel to Russia to seek it. He finds Kraven's son, Vladimir, and after a brief fight, Vlad decides to give Macendale the power he seeks. He's placed inside of a machine begins to feel lots of pain before breaking out of it and realizing he's acquired new power. After knocking around Vlad's guards, he puts his Hobgoblin guise on and leaves for the US. Spider-Man confronts Demogoblin in prison and is attacked by Alfredo. When Demogoblin is ready to finish Alfredo, Spidey stops him--with Demogoblin telling him that the world would be better without someone who's going to inevitably harm innocents. Spider-Man convinces him to let him go, but Demogoblin is annoyed and tells Spidey he's going to regret it.

When Hobgoblin encounters Demogoblin again in a church, the fight is completely one-sided in Macendale's favor. Spider-Man intervenes and notes that the new Hobgoblin is about as powerful as the original Green Goblin. Demogoblin is totally outmatched, but he's more focused on protecting a child and her mom, believing the child should not suffer from the darkness in the world. Macendale doesn't care about what he has to say, but Demogoblin is able to knock him away and save the child before being crushed. Spider-Man gets the child and her mother out of the ruined church, but Spider-Man is really pissed at Hobgoblin. He doesn't intend to hold-back next time he finds him.

The next thing on Macendale's mind is to get his son. He goes to his ex-wife's house and takes his son, with Spider-Man intervening before deciding it's not his business. Meanwhile, a new character with revenge on her mind is shown accessing a top secret place and putting on a special costume. She's named Coldheart and costumes are her targets. When she see's the action taking place where Hobgoblin is at, she goes there and attacks Spider-Man. She then decides to go after Hobgoblin to save the kid. Macendale is annoyed that his son wants nothing to do with him and nearly knocks him off of a roof before Spider-Man saves him. When Coldheart is ready to attack Spider-Man again, Macendale's son convinces her not to and she leaves.

Overall, I really liked this story. Haven't heard many talk about it, but it's one of the best Macendale stories.

Amazing Spider-Man #16.1-20.1: "Spiral". Great story. Had a Gang War feel to it.

[oldschool]

I read a lot of Marvel Team-Up back issues.

Marvel Team-Up #48-51: A four part saga that introduced Jean Dewolfe. It's rare to have a new supporting character have that kind of impact, although her story is interesting enough. There are some clever twists in it, and the way other superheroes are ensnared in it is pretty effective.
B+

Marvel Team-Up #56: A Daredevil team-up by Mantlo ends up being one of the best issues in the run's history. The main story is satisfying with appearances by an A-list spiderfoe (Electro) and another name Marvel baddie (Blizzard.) And the main complication (a hostage crisis at the Daily Bugle) makes for some tense sequences that fit Spidey's character.
A

Marvel Team-Up #57: This Black Widow team-up by Claremont has weird payoff later with the SNL team-up and a four parter later. Spider-Man struggling to keep a building from collapsing while Black Widow has to fight the bad guys makes for a great sequence.
B+

Marvel Team-Up #58: Solid story where Spider-Man and MJ stumble onto a crisis at a movie set, and he realizes that Ghost Rider is a very different type of hero. Trapster's the main bad guy, but the main thing with him is what happens after he gets his ass kicked.
B

Marvel Team-Up #76-77: Some memorable sequences in a kinda generic Dr Strange story, although Claremont has a decent handle on Ms Marvel (logical, since he wrote the book for a while) and the end is dark.
B

Marvel Team-Up #80-81: I like the idea of Dr Strange suffering from the consequences of his previous team-up with Spidey. Bonus points for the attack on a friend of Peter Parker's, and the fact that one of the heroes spotlighted on the cover doesn't come out alive.
B+

Marvel Team-Up #82-85: A four part saga Claremont's been building to for some time. The mystery of what happened to the Black Widow is compelling, and brings MTU 57 full circle. The stakes are both high (ending with a presidential assassination attempt), and personal. This may be the favorite story of one poster here, given the romance between Spider-Man and the Black Widow, although it's a story beat that makes sense and ends with a hint of tragedy. Shang Chi seems shoehorned him, but leads to some excellent fight scenes.
A

And then I went with some inventory stories published around the time of the ASM Gang War story.

Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #124: Generic Spider-Man/ Doctor Octopus story that does have some decent sequences.
B-

Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #125-126: This Fingeroth/ Mooney/ Kuperberg team-up with Spider-Woman II isn't the best-told story, but it has enough good ideas. Julia Carpenter's relationship with her daughter is a unique problem for a superhero, and it's compelling enough that I don't mind her essentially being a co-lead. The conflicts between the Wrecking Crew (which tie to a previous ASM appearance) and one guy's relationship with his mother also make for some rather well-realized villains.
B

Web of Spider-Man #25: Stan Lee's brother (also the artist of two early ASM annuals) writes and draws a story where Spidey stumbles onto a conflict between some aliens. Tonally more than a little bit weird, but the ending works.
B-

Web of Spider-Man #26: Spidey screws up when he's too nice to a criminal, who then needs his help. There's a complication when exposure to a chemical gives Spidey horrific migraines. Definition of filler.
B-

Web of Spider-Man #27: A story about corporate malfeasance in which a villain called Headhunter collects the heads of corrupt one percenters. Mostly in the POV of one of his targets. Has potential, but just not all that well-told.
C

That era of MTU ranks among the best runs of any creative team on any Spidey title ever. Just great, great stuff and it amazes me how many people haven't read those issues and how little they are discussed these days. AFAIK, they are still available quite affordably through the Marvel Essentials series; I could not recommend them more highly!

[Mister Mets]

Continuing my 80s reread...

Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #127: This was always one of my favorite comics from the era, an excellent one-shot with the Lizard. Reading it in the context of other comics from the period I do get a sense of how it was essentially an inventory story, with barely any attention paid to Peter's life. But it's still excellent. There have been some interesting developments with the Lizard in the aftermath of his last appearance back in Secret Wars, and I like Spider-Man's detective work/ desire to save everyone he can, even the hoodlums targetted by one of his enemies.
A

Spider-Man VS. Wolverine: Holds the odd distinction of possibly being the best comic book written by an African-American author. Major success on every level, with great smaller moments punctuating a dramatic plot (A photo assignment sends Spider-Man to Germany during the Cold War at the same time Wolverine's there chasing an old trigger-happy friend) in a story that's actually about something (the differences between Spidey and the much more brutal Wolverine) and that has a major impact on the franchise (bye bye Ned Leeds.)
A+

Amazing Spider-Man #289: It's a weird issue to grade in that it's a deeply unsatisfying resolution to the Hobgoblin mystery, but not entirely unrealistic (the audience doesn't get what it wants, but that's not necessarily out of character) and with some good character moments. Still a mess.
D+

Web of Spider-Man #29: Some more loose ends with the Death of Ned Leeds/ the Hobgoblin, with an unnecessary appearance by Wolverine. Still interesting to see Spider-Man in a tough place.
C

Web of Spider-Man #30: It's a story built on a relationship that I just don't buy, with new motives or the Ned Leeds Hobgoblin, and a friendship with the Rose.
D

Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #128-129: Peter David ties up some loose ends with Mary Jane, the Foreigner, the Black Cat and the death of the Hobgoblin. Shines in comparison to other efforts at deck-clearing at the time, with some interesting answers (the mystery of a strange cop is resolved in a satisfying way) and some tough conflicts for Peter Parker.
B

Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #130: There's potential in the basic story of Spider-Man being blackmailed to get an antidote for a poisoned Harry Osborn. But this is a flashback with the Hobgoblin, a villain who had been killed off a few months earlier, which takes away any drama, from a story that wasn't as good as it could have been.
C-

And doing a Spider-Verse reread:

Superior Spider-Man #32-33: Solid prelude introducing more Alt-U Spideys, while linking SpOCk to the events of Spider-Verse.
B+

Spider-Man 2099 #5: Another solid Spider-Verse prelude as Morlun's buddies target the alternate Miguel O'Haras.
B

Edge of Spider-Verse #1: I liked the Spider-Man Noir minis, so it's nice to see a return of the character, with a new version of Mysterio (and an MJ traumatized by Franco's Spain.)
B

Edge of Spider-Verse #2: The intro of Spider-Gwen is a masterpiece in worldbuilding, and one of the finest comics pilots ever.
A

[Turlast]

Web of Spider-Man #97-100 - "My Enemy's Enemy". Alright, Blood Rose is out hunting the remnants of the Fisk movement and eventually turns his sights to the Foreigner. Uh, Betty is sneaking around with Robbie, which really comes off as an affair. Richard Fisk is being trained on an island by some guy named Trench and eventually gets away with his boat and power glove. The New Enforcers attack Spider-Man and get embarrassed, Mary Jane is still smoking cigs, Peters parents are still learning more about Peter's friends. The Blood Rose is surrounded by a bunch or roses, takes off his mask, and says he's going to reclaim the name of Richard Fisk. S

So, Richard Fisk isn't being trained on the island. It's later shown to be Alfred, now known as Gauntlet because of the intense training he was put through by Trench. He apparently got surgery to resemble Richard Fisk. The same Trench has an alter-ego named Nightwatch, who looks like...Spawn. Peter creates the Spider-Armor and uses it in his fight against the New Enforcers. Some more confusing stuff, but yeah.

I really don't know who the Rose is anymore. Richard Fisk was the original Rose, then the 2nd Rose who was pretending to be Alfred was shown to be Blume after Fisk shoots him. Upon that taking place, another guy dressed in the Rose's attire takes the mask from Blume, puts it on, and swears revenge on Richard Fisk for what he's done. In the following book, this new Rose becomes the Blood Rose and shoots the new Kingpin looking Richard Fisk, knocking him into a river.

Since the Fisk who fell into the water was shown to be a surgically modified Alfred, then that means the mysterious guy that swore Revenge on Richard Fisk....was Richard Fisk himself. This feels like a huge plothole. Not that anyone cares, but I just thought it was funny.

[JGC]

Spider-Man #46-49 - "Beware the Rage of a Desperate Man"...

...Overall, I really liked this story. Haven't heard many talk about it, but it's one of the best Macendale stories.

That's funny, I just reread this arc and enjoyed it very much like you did. I brought these issues to NYCC last week to get them signed by Tom Lyle. At his table, Howard Mackie was sitting next to him as a surprise guest! The two of them were hilarious with Howard poking Tom about their time on the Spidey books in the 90's. Interesting tidbit: Howard told me that the names 'Grim Hunter' and 'Demogoblin' were never meant to be the real names of those characters, they were just place holders in his script. But the editor (Danny Fingeroth) loved them so he made them stick.

[Mister Mets]

Been reading lots of Spider-Man lately.

Web of Spider-Man #84-89: "The Name Of The Rose". This saga is really funny because it's just all over the place. You have Macendale separating with the demon to create Demogoblin, Peter and his family being hunted for a photo printed in the Daily Bugle that he had nothing to do with, Triad Brothers who can create energy by putting their swords together, Richard Fisk shaving off his hair and looking exactly like Wilson despite being much smaller. Also, the amount of people portraying the "Rose" identity confused the hell outta me. There's Fisk, Sgt. Blume, and Alfredo, but then you have the Blood Rose. Just an odd saga all-around. Oh, and does anyone hate this Nick Katzenberg guy as much as myself? Despite the strange things in this story, I thought it was a good read.

Spider-Man #46-49 - "Beware the Rage of a Desperate Man". Macendale is tired of avoiding Demogoblin and Spider-Man because of his lack of power. He comes across some guy with Kraven's journal and gives the guy a razor bat for his troubles. He wants the power Kraven has and decides to travel to Russia to seek it. He finds Kraven's son, Vladimir, and after a brief fight, Vlad decides to give Macendale the power he seeks. He's placed inside of a machine begins to feel lots of pain before breaking out of it and realizing he's acquired new power. After knocking around Vlad's guards, he puts his Hobgoblin guise on and leaves for the US. Spider-Man confronts Demogoblin in prison and is attacked by Alfredo. When Demogoblin is ready to finish Alfredo, Spidey stops him--with Demogoblin telling him that the world would be better without someone who's going to inevitably harm innocents. Spider-Man convinces him to let him go, but Demogoblin is annoyed and tells Spidey he's going to regret it.

When Hobgoblin encounters Demogoblin again in a church, the fight is completely one-sided in Macendale's favor. Spider-Man intervenes and notes that the new Hobgoblin is about as powerful as the original Green Goblin. Demogoblin is totally outmatched, but he's more focused on protecting a child and her mom, believing the child should not suffer from the darkness in the world. Macendale doesn't care about what he has to say, but Demogoblin is able to knock him away and save the child before being crushed. Spider-Man gets the child and her mother out of the ruined church, but Spider-Man is really pissed at Hobgoblin. He doesn't intend to hold-back next time he finds him.

The next thing on Macendale's mind is to get his son. He goes to his ex-wife's house and takes his son, with Spider-Man intervening before deciding it's not his business. Meanwhile, a new character with revenge on her mind is shown accessing a top secret place and putting on a special costume. She's named Coldheart and costumes are her targets. When she see's the action taking place where Hobgoblin is at, she goes there and attacks Spider-Man. She then decides to go after Hobgoblin to save the kid. Macendale is annoyed that his son wants nothing to do with him and nearly knocks him off of a roof before Spider-Man saves him. When Coldheart is ready to attack Spider-Man again, Macendale's son convinces her not to and she leaves.

Overall, I really liked this story. Haven't heard many talk about it, but it's one of the best Macendale stories.

Amazing Spider-Man #16.1-20.1: "Spiral". Great story. Had a Gang War feel to it.

Beware the Rage of a Desperate Man included some of the first Spider-Man comics I ever read. I did end up buying it mostly out of order.

I bought Part 1 from a street vendor, and Part 3 at a comics store a few months later, before finding Part 4 at some book store several years later. At which point I had lost Part 1.

It's not that good, but it holds sentimental value.

[Turlast]

That's funny, I just reread this arc and enjoyed it very much like you did. I brought these issues to NYCC last week to get them signed by Tom Lyle. At his table, Howard Mackie was sitting next to him as a surprise guest! The two of them were hilarious with Howard poking Tom about their time on the Spidey books in the 90's. Interesting tidbit: Howard told me that the names 'Grim Hunter' and 'Demogoblin' were never meant to be the real names of those characters, they were just place holders in his script. But the editor (Danny Fingeroth) loved them so he made them stick.

That's pretty awesome. I know Mackie is considered one of Spider-Man's worst writers, but he had quite a few enjoyable stories. I also thought the bad stories were more hilarious than bad.

Beware the Rage of a Desperate Man included some of the first Spider-Man comics I ever read. I did end up buying it mostly out of order.

I bought Part 1 from a street vendor, and Part 3 at a comics store a few months later, before finding Part 4 at some book store several years later. At which point I had lost Part 1.

It's not that good, but it holds sentimental value.

Speaking of that, Outside of the McFarlane stories, a lot of the Spider-Man stories are not collected. Any reason why?

[Mister Mets]

That's pretty awesome. I know Mackie is considered one of Spider-Man's worst writers, but he had quite a few enjoyable stories. I also thought the bad stories were more hilarious than bad.



Speaking of that, Outside of the McFarlane stories, a lot of the Spider-Man stories are not collected. Any reason why?

A good amount of it is collected. The McFarlane issues. Larsen's Revenge of the Sinister Six. Maximum Carnage. The Clone Saga.

As for the rest, there are a few explanations. Some of it's not very good. There are also some stories that don't fit any TPB and/ or aren't by name creative teams. By the time Marvel printed enough TPBs to get to the point where they'd consider reprinting Mackie's Hobgoblin saga, some of the earlier better-known TPBs started going out of print, and Marvel also started shifting to digital collections. Adjectiveless Spider-Man is poorly served in that category as well, but it makes sense that Marvel will go with stories that are better-known first.

[Mister Mets]

Marvel Team-Up #86: Probably the weakest Claremont MTU issue I've read. Technically an epilogue to one of the best Marvel Comics (The Korvac Saga) it's a generic team-up with the original Guardians of the Galaxy.
C

Marvel Team-Up #87: The conspiracy against Black Panther gets to a similar take on the character as Priest's run, which would come out over a decade later, so this one-off's a head of its time. And mixing Spider-Man into that world when a superhero he's not very familiar with gets framed works on a few levels.
B+

Marvel Team-Up #88: The kidnapping of Franklin Richards leads to a tense one-off with the Invisible Woman.
B+

Amazing Spider-Man (Volume 3) #7-8: A solid team-up with Ms. Marvel and some memorable set-up for Spider-Verse.
B+

Amazing Spider-Man (Volume 3) #9-15: Reading these issues in isolation I do have a deeper understanding of how much of the key scenes occur in the spinoff titles. The villains aren't that memorable, but it is still a lot of fun to see all these Spider-Men together.
B+

Spider-Verse #1-2: Solid as far as the peripheral tie-ins go.
B

Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3: Another solid tie-in taking the main appeal of Spider-Verse (weird team-up between alt U Spider-Man) into six ten page stories.
B+

Amazing Spider-Man #290: Reading this in the context of comics that came out at the time, I buy the sense of Peter trying to figure out what to do with his life now that he's recommitted to being Spidey (although that event occurred in ASM 289 which wasn't that good.) The A-plot fits Peter's reflective mood, even if it's built on a continuity flaw (Peter trying to get back a microscope he got rid of in ASM 181.) And the last pages are pretty good as Peter tries to get MJ to shut up so he can propose there. I forgot that John Romita Jr drew this one, as it's interesting to see his take on a character as he's finding his own artistic voice.
B+

[Mister Mets]

Amazing Spider-Man #291-292: The first issue is kinda weird as MJ quickly forgets that Peter just proposed to her, and heads to Pennsylvania for family drama. That arc gets a bit more satisfying when her father gets involved, although the story is diminished by MJ's sister's plot-induced stupidity. There are two interesting elements with the spider slayer story, Peter choosing between MJ and protecting New York City from a bad guy, and the villain following him to another state.
B-

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21: Very mixed bag. There are some good ideas (Spider-Man becoming a news story when Peter gets involved in every incident he can, A surreal nightmare with villains attending the wedding), but the speed at which MJ and Peter get married is absurd, and not treated as such. Possibly the worst comic book to appear on CBR's list of the Top 50 Spider-Man stories.
C

Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #7: Overlong low-stakes story about Puma trying to trick Peter into working for him, and Peter feeling disrespected.
C

Spider-Woman #1-3: This might not have been the best opening, given the focus on supporting characters like Silk, although that ties it well to events in Spider-Verse. Generally a fun romp through Alternate realities which does highlight how seriously Jessica takes superheroing. Has some fun twists involving the Jessica of the other world.
B

Spider-Woman #4: Solid Spider-Verse epilogue, as Jessica Jones figures out what to do with her Alt U variant, and has a somewhat understandable change of direction.
B+

Spider-Man 2099 Volume 2 #6-8: The world of Lady Spider is one of the most interesting introduced in Spider-Verse, and the fights are pretty nice, as the heroes realize some key details about Morlun's powers, while a 2099 hero returns.
B+

Scarlet Spiders #1-3: Interesting team-up with several spider-clones realizing the inheritors's biggest secret, and getting a pretty major victory for a tie-in. There's a nice contrast between the heroes, and the last issue is the most effective showing the last stand of a Ben Reilly who may be a better hero than Peter Parker.
B

[Turlast]

Amazing Spider-Man #296-297 - Doctor Octopus escapes from a facility to regain his control in the underworld. His biggest issue is his fear of Spider-Man, which developed after their battle in the conclusion of the Ock/Owl Gang War. So instead of fighting him directly, he's looking to release a biological germ that'll kill the entire population of New York and the web-slinger along with it. That way, he'll never have to come into contact with his fearsome foe ever again. Spider-Man catches on to this and allows himself to be defeated on purpose in hopes of reinvigorating Ock's confidence. Spidey is swatted with ease and convinces Ock to demonstrate his victory to a city full of people rather than an empty one. He calls off the attack and everything is back to normal. Well, Peter has lots of bruises, but the beating was worth it.

Pretty cool story.