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

[Mauled]

I'm reading Maximum Carnage[B][B][B]

It's been awhile since I read it and some of the dialogue is pure 90's and MJ is really awful in this book. She's angry that Peter broke his promise about not being Spiderman for a week but you'd think a Serial Killer with Spider powers murdering people is a reason for Peter to have to be Spiderman, I mean common this should not need explaining to her !

That said it's ethical question on whether to kill Carnage or not is really well done and is a great story.

[Keeper of the Crows]

I finally had the opportunity to finish Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows. I read the first issue when it came out, but I haven't been able to finish the rest until now.

I thoroughly enjoyed RYV and thought it was a great story. I liked that although it was a story that featured a married Spider-Man, it wasn't really a story about the marriage. It was about family, responsibility, and overcoming impossible odds--the kind of tale a Spider-Man story should be. I actually thought the Regent was a neat villain.

I also thought it was some of Slott's strongest writing since "Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm With Stupid." (And I also liked Superior and Big Time.) He did a great job writing the marriage and Mary Jane too.

Onto the new direction!

[Mister Mets]

Marvel Team-Up #41-44
This is the first time I'm reading these stories, so I'm not including a grade. It was an odd team-up where Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch and the Vision are sent back in time to the Salem witch trials. It goes on a bit long, and is somewhat on the nose on moralizing, but there are some powerful moments.

Marvel Team-Up #45-46
Two team-ups in alternate futures. It's interesting to see Spider-Man put through the wringer.

Marvel Two in One #17/ Marvel Team-Up #47
Bill Mantlo's first crossover with the Fantastic Four (he'll do it again with Spectacular and the main F4 title.) The best parts are seeing Spider-Man's reactions to an absurd situation as a volcano pops up in New York. The stakes are high, although the end is really anticlimactic (bad guy is punched out with half a page to go).

Spider-Gwen #1-5
Builds nicely on the world established in Edge #2, while keeping what's the series's voice (in terms of dialogue and art.) Fun book.
B+

Spider-Verse #1-5
As in the original event, it's fun to see various spider-guys teaming up. The art has a cartoony style, and the story often goes in unexpected (in a fun way) directions (IE- Spider-Ham's naivety and friendship with Norman Osborn.)
B

[Mister Mets]

Spider-Man: The Hobgoblin Lives #1-3
Stern does a decent job of tying together strands of continuity in a story with good fight scenes and stakes, even if it is heavy on continuity.
B+

Web of Spider-Man #31-32/ Amazing Spider-Man #293-294/ Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132
This may surprise some of you, but Kraven's Last Hunt is really really good.
A+

Spectacular Spider-Man #134-136
The excellent Sin-Eater sequel as PAD ties a few interesting stories together, exploring what happens when Spidey loses his mojo.
A+

Amazing Spider-Man #296-297
It's a bit similar to an earlier story about Spidey and the shell-shocked Doc Ock, but the fight scenes are great and it sets up an interesting dilemma, as Spider-Man has to let his greatest enemy win in order to save the city.
B+

Amazing Spider-Man #298-299
Todd Mcfarlane's art is striking, and it's a rare chance to see his take on the black costume. The team-up with Chance makes for a fun situation.
B

Amazing Spider-Man #300
Venom is immediately established as one of the great Spider-Man villains. High point of Michelinie and Mcfarlane's run.
A+

Spider-Man #1-5
Maybe I'm influenced by when I read this story, but I still really like it. It's one of the nastiest fights Spider-Man's ever been in, beautifully illustrated by Mcfarlane, who has a decent take on the character's voice.
A+

[frizb]

Not too long ago I decided to go back and read my entire Spidey collection from the beginning. I'm up to the 1988 stuff so far. Amazing #301, Spectacular #139 & Web #44. So many great stories that I had forgotten about or hadn't read in forever....Hobgoblin, Sinister Syndicate, Gang War, Pete gets married, Spider-Slayer, Last Hunt, Venom. I love reading the letter pages from these old books. Got a kick out of everyone guessing who the Hobgoblin was. Also noticed that Mark Bagley won the Marvel Comics Official tryout contest for best pencils. Congrats to him. I hope it works out for him Can't wait to see what happens next!

[Ebony]

Spider-Man 2099 and Miles Morales Spider-Man are the best written and illustrated Spider-Man books out there right now, IMHO.

[frizb]

Finished all 1988 books. The Tombstone/Robertson story was my fav of the year along with the 1st Venom story. Pete's book promotion tour for "Webs" added a few new cities to the mix. Had to laugh when he just up and left the San Diego signing to grab lunch while people were waiting in line. On to 1989!

[oldschool]

Finished all 1988 books. The Tombstone/Robertson story was my fav of the year along with the 1st Venom story. Pete's book promotion tour for "Webs" added a few new cities to the mix. Had to laugh when he just up and left the San Diego signing to grab lunch while people were waiting in line. On to 1989!

Yeah, that was a pretty fun year/era overall; IIRC, it was near the end of the "classic" era before the seeds of the Clone Saga started to be sown in the early '90's. The main book was pretty much just Venom and Carnage between 1989 and then….

[David Walton]

Yeah, that was a pretty fun year/era overall; IIRC, it was near the end of the "classic" era before the seeds of the Clone Saga started to be sown in the early '90's. The main book was pretty much just Venom and Carnage between 1989 and then….

SSM had a tradition of picking up the slack whenever ASM was falling short.

There were several stretches where SSM was the book I looked forward to the most, or at the very least, the one I couldn't live without. The book generally did a better job pushing subplots forward (whereas ASM resolved them quickly or left them dangling too long).

[Ozymandias]

Spider-Man 2099 and Miles Morales Spider-Man are the best written and illustrated Spider-Man books out there right now, IMHO.

Spider-Man 2099, really?

[Ozymandias]

SSM had a tradition of picking up the slack whenever ASM was falling short.

If we're talking about the classic era, the only time PPSSM was better than ASM, was just before Stern made his move, from one title to the other.

Curiously enough, the worse title (MTU) did have a more extended period of time (Claremont/Byrne), as the best Spider-Man title.

[oldschool]

SSM had a tradition of picking up the slack whenever ASM was falling short.

There were several stretches where SSM was the book I looked forward to the most, or at the very least, the one I couldn't live without. The book generally did a better job pushing subplots forward (whereas ASM resolved them quickly or left them dangling too long).

Yep. There were several times in the 1980's that PPSSM was more consistent and the overall better read than ASM (not, of course, while Stern and DeFalco were penning ASM). Additionally, I would say the relaunched Jenkins/Ramos SSM title in the early '00's was an overall better read than JMS' flagship title at that point.

[Ozymandias]

I would say the relaunched Jenkins/Ramos SSM title in the early '00's was an overall better read than JMS' flagship title at that point.

Please, don't.

[oldschool]

Please, don't.

It's my opinion---one that I am sure others share---- and so I shall. Though, even if others didn't share it, I would still say it. It's my viewpoint that, after a great first year or so, the quality of JMS' ASM started to sink pretty steadily around 2003 (when the Jenkins-penned SSM launched) and pretty much plummeted a year or so later; during that time I found Jenkins' SSM to be the much more enjoyable read, though it wasn't quite as good as the Jenkins/Bucky run earlier on PP:SM it was still better than what JMS was churning out at the time.

[David Walton]

If we're talking about the classic era, the only time PPSSM was better than ASM, was just before Stern made his move, from one title to the other.

Curiously enough, the worse title (MTU) did have a more extended period of time (Claremont/Byrne), as the best Spider-Man title.

Yep. There were several times in the 1980's that PPSSM was more consistent and the overall better read than ASM (not, of course, while Stern and DeFalco were penning ASM). Additionally, I would say the relaunched Jenkins/Ramos SSM title in the early '00's was an overall better read than JMS' flagship title at that point.

I'm pretty much agreed, with the caveat that Mantlo's PPTSSM actually rose to the level of Stern's ASM with the Ock/Owl Gang War and the fallout.

To paraphrase Toby Keith, Mantlo's PPTSSM ain't as good as Stern's ASM was, but it's as good (once) as it ever was.

Of course, it goes without saying that the JMD/Buscema run took things to an entirely different level and would have competed with ASM at its best (which it wasn't).

I never really read the Claremont MTU. I actually came in on the tail end of the series, when they were transitioning toward WOS. I do remember the finale was killer (Spidey and the X-Men vs. Juggernaut and Black Tom). The Wonder-Man issue had a pretty cool subplot about a guy trying to steal Spider-Man's webbing to make better bulletproof jackets for police officers, not realizing it deteriorated in an hour.