What was the best year of the Spider-Man comics?

[magnum]

How about 1970 as a candidate?

There was only the main title, ASM. But it was a great year. The setting at the start of the year - Captain Stacy is starting to figure out Peter's secret identity. Peter is torn about whether or not he should tell Gwen. Flash is headed to war. MJ and Harry are dating. Aunt May is in the hospital again. The year starts with the return of Electro. Then there was a great three-part story with the Kingpin, where we see lots of depth to Kingpin's character and family life as his presumed dead son is discovered to be alive. Then the famous and often referenced issue where Peter walks in on all his friends and announces that he is Spider-Man. Then of course the brilliant three-parter with Doc Ock, featuring the fighjt with Ock's arms and the death of Captain Stacy. And then the aftermath, where Gwen is lost without her father and gets caught up with supporting a crooked politician before she ultimately decides to flee all of this stress and go to London. Peter makes the difficult, but responsible, decision to let her go.

Runner up year would be 1976. Not necessarily because of the stories, though there are some great ones. But its the first year we had three Spider-Man ongoings. They also green-lit the first (and only?) Spider-Man live action TV series that year, to be shown in 1977. Spider-Man was on top of the world and putting the first real bid to being the Marvel flagship character.

Good points for both years! Just so much to love from almost every year when you go back to the 60s, 70s and 80s!!!

[Hypestyle]

1986- gang war, hobgoblin, kingpin, silver sable, Foreigner, vs. Wolverine one-shot.. Authors- DeFalco, Owsley/Priest...

[Venomous Mask]

1986- gang war, hobgoblin, kingpin, silver sable, Foreigner, vs. Wolverine one-shot.. Authors- DeFalco, Owsley/Priest...

1986 also saw the cryptic debut of Venom when he pushed Peter onto a subway track. No one knew who it was, only they they didn't set off the spider sense.

[Metamorphosis]

1986- gang war, hobgoblin, kingpin, silver sable, Foreigner, vs. Wolverine one-shot.. Authors- DeFalco, Owsley/Priest...

Some great stuff to be sure. All the titles were in mostly good shape in this era (barring the occasional terrible fill in).

[oldschool]

Some great stuff to be sure. All the titles were in mostly good shape in this era (barring the occasional terrible fill in).

Yup, 1986 was a great time for comics in general and Spidey in particular. I still go with my original vote (1982) but am reminded that the '80's are unquestionably the best decade for Spidey books----so many great runs and stories with very few missteps along the way!

[Metamorphosis]

Yup, 1986 was a great time for comics in general and Spidey in particular. I still go with my original vote (1982) but am reminded that the '80's are unquestionably the best decade for Spidey books----so many great runs and stories with very few missteps along the way!

I would go even further and say the period from 1982 - 1988 was the best continuous era for Spidey comics:

1- Mantlo's Spec work including the very remarkable Owl / Octopus War.
2- Stern's ASM run, introducing Hobgoblin (his Spec run wasn't shabby either)
3- PAD on Spec and Web Of, and his "The Commuter Commeth" story in ASM
4- DeFalco / Frenz on ASM, and the fantastic Alien Costume saga.
5- Owsley / Priest's "Spider-man Vs. Wolverine", his issues of Web Of, and the Gang War issues of ASM. Yes the Ned Leeds as Hobgoblin reveal was botched, but everything leading up to it was pretty good.
6- Michelinie's solid work on Web Of, and then his very enjoyable run on ASM with McFarlane, which introduced Venom.
7- Gerry Conway coming back to Spider-man on two titles that were very solid, penning stories that introduced Tombstone and featured supporting cast members like Robbie Robertson perfectly.
8- JMD on Marvel Team Up, which were pretty quirky stories, but then coming up with Kraven's Last Hunt.
9- The Wedding Annual. Not the best story ever, but marked a long-lasting status quo in Spidey comics.

Did I leave anything out?

[oldschool]

I would go even further and say the period from 1982 - 1988 was the best continuous era for Spidey comics:

1- Mantlo's Spec work including the very remarkable Owl / Octopus War.
2- Stern's ASM run, introducing Hobgoblin (his Spec run wasn't shabby either)
3- PAD on Spec and Web Of, and his "The Commuter Commeth" story in ASM
4- DeFalco / Frenz on ASM, and the fantastic Alien Costume saga.
5- Owsley / Priest's "Spider-man Vs. Wolverine", his issues of Web Of, and the Gang War issues of ASM. Yes the Ned Leeds as Hobgoblin reveal was botched, but everything leading up to it was pretty good.
6- Michelinie's solid work on Web Of, and then his very enjoyable run on ASM with McFarlane, which introduced Venom.
7- Gerry Conway coming back to Spider-man on two titles that were very solid, penning stories that introduced Tombstone and featured supporting cast members like Robbie Robertson perfectly.
8- JMD on Marvel Team Up, which were pretty quirky stories, but then coming up with Kraven's Last Hunt.
9- The Wedding Annual. Not the best story ever, but marked a long-lasting status quo in Spidey comics.

Did I leave anything out?

I am definitely down with this!!

[magnum]

I would go even further and say the period from 1982 - 1988 was the best continuous era for Spidey comics:

1- Mantlo's Spec work including the very remarkable Owl / Octopus War.
2- Stern's ASM run, introducing Hobgoblin (his Spec run wasn't shabby either)
3- PAD on Spec and Web Of, and his "The Commuter Commeth" story in ASM
4- DeFalco / Frenz on ASM, and the fantastic Alien Costume saga.
5- Owsley / Priest's "Spider-man Vs. Wolverine", his issues of Web Of, and the Gang War issues of ASM. Yes the Ned Leeds as Hobgoblin reveal was botched, but everything leading up to it was pretty good.
6- Michelinie's solid work on Web Of, and then his very enjoyable run on ASM with McFarlane, which introduced Venom.
7- Gerry Conway coming back to Spider-man on two titles that were very solid, penning stories that introduced Tombstone and featured supporting cast members like Robbie Robertson perfectly.
8- JMD on Marvel Team Up, which were pretty quirky stories, but then coming up with Kraven's Last Hunt.
9- The Wedding Annual. Not the best story ever, but marked a long-lasting status quo in Spidey comics.

Did I leave anything out?

Hard to argue with this!!!

[Metamorphosis]

Most issues after around 1989 were still good--the Inferno crossover, first return of Venom, aspects of McFarlane's title, Larsen coming onto ASM and later Bagley and the first appearance of Carnage. Also JMD / Buscema's great work on Spectacular. It's around 1992 when they introduced Peter's robo-"parents" that I think they started introducing too much story baggage for Peter.

[oldschool]

Most issues after around 1989 were still good--the Inferno crossover, first return of Venom, aspects of McFarlane's title, Larsen coming onto ASM and later Bagley and the first appearance of Carnage. Also JMD / Buscema's great work on Spectacular. It's around 1992 when they introduced Peter's robo-"parents" that I think they started introducing too much story baggage for Peter.

Agreed on all counts here; I sort of look at the 30th anniversary of the book (right around #365) as when the title lost it's way for quite a long time. Honestly, from around that time (1992-1993), I feel it was not until the arrival of JMS circa 2000 that the title felt whole again. Sure, there were moments that were good---and even great such as ASM #400---but I would have to say that extended period was easily the worst for me in the character's history.

[Metamorphosis]

Agreed on all counts here; I sort of look at the 30th anniversary of the book (right around #365) as when the title lost it's way for quite a long time. Honestly, from around that time (1992-1993), I feel it was not until the arrival of JMS circa 2000 that the title felt whole again. Sure, there were moments that were good---and even great such as ASM #400---but I would have to say that extended period was easily the worst for me in the character's history.

Yeah totally agree--earlier this year I started re-reading ASM, starting at #301. There were still some good stories after Peter's parents came back--the two-parter with Venom threatening / protecting them had a unique kind of tension, introduced Ann Weying and had some brilliant Bagley art--but things seemed on the wane creatively. The Lifetheft arc with Vulture stealing Spidey's youth (and which featured the true original "old man Spidey" ) was sort of interesting. By the time of "Power and Responsiblity" and the beginning of the Clone return stuff, it felt like one status-shaking event after another with no end in sight.

I got to read DeFalco's second run after the Clone Saga for the first time, and it wasn't a lot better, but a bit more of a stable status quo. The Black Tarantula stuff didn't do much for me. It truly wasn't until JMS that the book felt reinvigorated creatively again.

[Mister Mets]

I would go even further and say the period from 1982 - 1988 was the best continuous era for Spidey comics:

1- Mantlo's Spec work including the very remarkable Owl / Octopus War.
2- Stern's ASM run, introducing Hobgoblin (his Spec run wasn't shabby either)
3- PAD on Spec and Web Of, and his "The Commuter Commeth" story in ASM
4- DeFalco / Frenz on ASM, and the fantastic Alien Costume saga.
5- Owsley / Priest's "Spider-man Vs. Wolverine", his issues of Web Of, and the Gang War issues of ASM. Yes the Ned Leeds as Hobgoblin reveal was botched, but everything leading up to it was pretty good.
6- Michelinie's solid work on Web Of, and then his very enjoyable run on ASM with McFarlane, which introduced Venom.
7- Gerry Conway coming back to Spider-man on two titles that were very solid, penning stories that introduced Tombstone and featured supporting cast members like Robbie Robertson perfectly.
8- JMD on Marvel Team Up, which were pretty quirky stories, but then coming up with Kraven's Last Hunt.
9- The Wedding Annual. Not the best story ever, but marked a long-lasting status quo in Spidey comics.

Did I leave anything out?

Well, there was a one-off Lizard story I really liked (Spectacular Spider-Man #127) but that is a strong case.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Hard choice.

I think 2013 wins (Superior, Superior Foes, and some epic stories in Scarlet Spider).

That's a great year and would probably get my vote.

Special mention to 2001 with JMS start on TASM highlighted by Coming Home and Bendis's best USM story, USM #13, Confessions. Love both stories.

EDIT: Forgot 1963 for Stan and Steve and 1973 with Gerry Conway and Gil Kane. D'oh!

[Torpedo]

I'm going to cheat and change the parameters from a calender year to a sequence of twelve months (actually 14, see I admit I'm cheating).

For your consideration, cover dates March 1983 until April 1984.

In Amazing Spider-Man you have Stern and Romita, Jr. debuting and completing their original Hobgoblin arc (issues 238-239, 244-245, 249-251), but you also have "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" (issue 248).

Meanwhile, over in Spectacular Spider-Man you have the end and aftermath of the Owl - Octopus War (issues 76-79), Cloak & Dagger plus the Punisher vs. the Kingpin (issues 81-83), more Hobgoblin (issue 85), and the Spider-Man identity reveal original version (issue 87).

Pretty entertaining stuff.

[Daniel22]

That's a great year and would probably get my vote.

Special mention to 2001 with JMS start on TASM highlighted by Coming Home and Bendis's best USM story, USM #13, Confessions. Love both stories.

EDIT: Forgot 1963 for Stan and Steve and 1973 with Gerry Conway and Gil Kane. D'oh!

Top contender for me too.. I also liked a lot of the "Superior Team - Up stuff.. And Superior Carnage..plus I believe the All-New X-men/Spidey/Hulk series of specials/annuals came out that year, which were a lot of fun.. And the tail end of Venom, perhaps...? Either way, tons of great stuff!