What is your Spider-Man?

[Metamorphosis]

So many to choose from! While I agree with a few already mentioned, I'll throw out the PAD/Rich Buckler run from PP:SSM #'s 103-136. As a kid in the 80's, those Spidey stories were intense and beautiful to look at as I was just getting into comics.

Certainly this for me too, along with Tom DeFalco's first ASM run around the same time. And then the Michelinie/ McFarlane / Larsen runs.

[David Walton]

For me, the sweet spot is from the early 80s (beginning with Stern's run) to the early 90s, a decade long stretch where stories and art ranged from good to brilliant, and the characterization felt consistent.

After that, the stories are still exciting and there's a lot of fun to be had, but Peter makes some choices that don't feel right for the character, like letting Venom run free, or trying to bury his civilian identity when he's in a funk.

Also, I tend to think of 'my' Spider-Man as a guy who's well-respected in the superhero community, but not an Avenger. He does team-ups, not teams.

(Note: I'm not saying I can't enjoy more recent stories, or that the current status quo is illegitimate.)

[JTait]

In all honesty, mine is probably the Spider-Man from the 90's animated series. I got into collecting comics at a pretty woeful time for the character, and there wasn't really another alternative.

[marvelguy25]

there is a list of my spiderman but here you go:

1) TSSM -Got me more into spidey and comics thanks to this beauty .

2)TASM-very realistic take on Peter / Spidey in the ditko / romita era and relatable and human . wish he was in the MCU .would've enjoyed his moments with stark and the others . but glad we got holland as well .

3) Roger Stern writes the best stories for Peter . Fun, adventurous, crazy, etc. his work on the juggernaut, kid collects spider-man , black cat , etc. were really well done . makes peter alot more proffessional as well . i love his work on the hobgoblin . this guy should do comics more often nowadays .

4)JM Dematteis-makes peter go through so much of a psychological breakthrough with being buried, being conflicted with harry , vermin, and his family, his aunt may dying , doctor octopus poisoning him , etc. and created some really fun stories like frog man and the grizzy brothers, reading this is like watching a spiderman version of BTAS .

5) JMS-makes peter's life more mature giving giving him a job as a teacher, travel through place to place in a more professional manner, making him do more with the other scientists , and makes his relationship with mary jane more mature and thoughtprovoking . despite his problem with sins past (which i thankfully never read ) and OMD he is still one of the best writers on spider-man .

6)Garth Ennis' tangled web was also my peter because we people have faced sadistic bullies before and seeing peter beat up and talk smack to that sociopath carl king was just a joy to read .

i would like to talk more about Peter David, Stan Lee / Steve Ditko, TAS, etc. but i got a whole list of them i wanted to say but i feel like i got to do some other things to so here are some honorable mentions .

honorable mentions: Gerry Conway , Paul Jenkins, TAS, USM(comics), Astonishing Spiderman / Wolverine, Edge of Time, David Michelline, and soon to be Tom Holland .

[Mister Mets]

Part of why I think Stern's take is definitive is that he's had a Peter Parker who has been Spider-Man for a while. For obvious reasons, the stories set when he's a novice are only going to be a small segment of Spider-Man's adventures.

[Prof. Warren]

I think most fans always consider the era they started reading to be "their" Spidey so, for me, it's the Conway/Andru ASM. I just love that run. I consider Andru to be the most underrated Spidey artist ever and, for my money, no one ever wrote a funnier Spidey than Conway - not even Stan himself!

[paurru]

I wasn't much if a fan of Spider Man until I was 13 years old in 1993. From 1993 to 1996 I was into Amazing Spider Man, the Spider Man title called as just Spider Man, and then Sensational Spider Man for a short while. I was also into Spectacular Spider Man but that got dull and boring a little little bit at the time

[Dangerous]

4)JM Dematteis-makes peter go through so much of a psychological breakthrough with being buried, being conflicted with harry , vermin, and his family, his aunt may dying , doctor octopus poisoning him , etc. and created some really fun stories like frog man and the grizzy brothers, reading this is like watching a spiderman version of BTAS .

Definitely one of my fav runs- DeMatteis/Buscema.
I want an Omnibus to be released of that era.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Lee/Ditko (and to a lesser extent Lee/Romita), Bendis' USM with Bagely, DeFalco/Stern (specifically the alien costume stories, since I read that collection as a kid), early JMS and Millar's year on the Marvel Knights book are probably my defining Spider-Man stuff. There's not any one writer that's my 'definitive' writer for him - since it's a soap opera style ongoing, there's necessarily more consistency to his voice than with the likes of Superman or Batman where you have more room to experiment - but I prefer the "decent but not magnificent guy who has a rough time of things but'll always come out on top because, for all his failings, he never stops trying" take they go for than the "warm-hearted man-child who's the nicest superhero but also the least competent" idea that's come into vogue. When he's distilled down to formula it doesn't work, because the Spider-Man 'formula' is a goofball that always fails, which just doesn't work outside of a group setting without nuance. As a result, it usually ends up being the 'serious' Spider-Man stories these days that work best for me, because much as I don't think that should be the default state for the character, it's the only thing that draws him out of that formulaic comfort zone anymore.

[The Shadow]

Probably Spider-Man circa 1983 to the start of the clone wars: Loved the Stern stuff, the early Hobgoblin stuff, the black costume, McFarlane's run etc.

Also like the modern stuff by Slott and no marriage.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

The JMS era, it's natural progression after the Lee -> Conway -> Mantlo -> Stern -> Defalco -> Michillinie -> J.M.Dematteis

No clones, Spidey is married, MJ is great, Peter is funny, he's a scientist, no one accuses him of being a man-child, Peter Parker as a science teacher is ideal development for someone with his experience as assistant teacher in the 80s, and he still takes photos for the Daily Bugle..

[Dangerous]

^I liked Horizon MUCH better than him being a teacher, that felt like him realising his academic potential and using his smarts to the best of his ability.
The current stuff- him being the head of a highly successful international corporation is way too far in that direction, I don't want Tony Stark-Spider-Man which we seem to have now.

The downside to Horizon, only a minor thing, was that I missed him taking photos for the Bugle, which of course is his classic job.

[Moral_Gutpunch]

^I liked Horizon MUCH better than him being a teacher, that felt like him realising his academic potential and using his smarts to the best of his ability.
The current stuff- him being the head of a highly successful international corporation is way too far in that direction, I don't want Tony Stark-Spider-Man which we seem to have now.

The downside to Horizon, only a minor thing, was that I missed him taking photos for the Bugle, which of course is his classic job.

Didn't he already have a job at Tricorp? What happened to that?

Also, while I'm okay with Spider-Man/Peter being rich (it's not like he has Tony's personality), we already know he's bad with money and has no business savvy other than selling photo books. Heck, wouldn't he be smart enough to put someone else in charge while he works on science and gets patents? I know that's Stark-ish, but inventing stuff that goes horribly awry or makes people rich is a popular hobby in 616, and Peter's had it from the start.

[super_posable_joe]

JMS + JRJR for me, too. Plus the 70's stuff like Death of Gwen, drug addict Harry... I love that stuff. My new favorite Spider-Man is Tom Holland, though ;-)

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

^I liked Horizon MUCH better than him being a teacher, that felt like him realising his academic potential and using his smarts to the best of his ability.

I love that bit, and I think it's the best thing to happen to the character since that single issue Peter David wrote during the Back in Black of Jameson finally facing Peter Parker.

Didn't he already have a job at Tricorp? What happened to that?

I think he resigned it, or got fired since his Spider-Man duties took too much of his office time.
Haven't read everything that happened during the Howard Mackie relaunch of the two titles.