Getting back into Spider Man comics. Stuff that went on in 1996-1998. What happened?

[paurru]

Anyone know what other storyline was going on right after the whole Clone Saga stuff?

Im slowly trying to get back into the old original Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man and Spectactular Spider-Man from the mid late 1990s.

Sensational Spider Man was a pretty good fun comic to get into then I quit buying comics back in 1996 due to me being in Junior year of High school.

So I was wondering what major storyline happened right away after the Clone Saga stuff?

Also regular filler one single issue stories too might help to get me back into old original Spider-Man stuff

[Metamorphosis]

The main thing is that Norman Osborn was revealed to be still alive and behind the whole Clone debacle.

After that, the books settled into a pretty quiet era. Peter and Mary Jane were doing their married thing, they introduced additions to the cast in an Uncle and cousins of Gwen Stacy, and Norman as a legitimate businessman who distanced himself publicly from the Green Goblin continued to torment Peter.

In other words, not a lot in the way of earth-shattering stories, but several solid arcs, especially JM DeMatteis back on Spectacular, Mackie and Romita Jr's self-titled Spider-Man book, the "Identity Crisis" arc that has Peter assuming 4 new superhero alter-egos, and a long-overdue showdown between Norman and Roderick Kingsley the original Hobgoblin.

Then they brought Aunt May back and rebooted, and the comics went to hell again for awhile.

[ngroove]

Purely, my favorite era of Spider-Man (End of 1996-Late 1998).

Amazing Spider-Man - Rose (Jacob Conover, but would not be revealed until the very end of his storyline), with Delilah, Electro, Doctor Octopuses, Stunner, vs Black Tarantula, with El Uno, Dragonfly, Bloodscream, and Roughhouse, gang war. "Identity Crisis" - Ricochet.

Spectacular Spider-Man (My Favorite) - Started with Chameleon, with Jack O' Lantern, Kraven the Hunter (Aloysha Kravinoff, but that would not be revealed until a handful issues in his storyline) and Legion of Losers (Grizzly, Gibbon, Kangaroo, Spot) subplots, then became the main title that had Norman Osborn's ownership of half the Daily Bugle. "Identity Crisis" - Prodigy. Also notable of Norman Osborn's slow-bubbling emnity against J Jonah Jameson and his family, and Flash Thompson's alcoholism.

Peter Parker, Spider-Man - Also featured quite a bit of Norman Osborn's manipulations of the public against Spider-Man of sorts, as he hired Trapster to smother a small time hood named "Joey Z" to death using a similiar substance to web-fluid. Also featured Kingpin's gradual comeback to power over New York. "Identity Crisis" - Dusk.

Sensational Spider-Man - Not as serious in storylines as in the other titles, but did have some Vulture, Prowler, Looter, Doctor Strange, Ka-Zar, Stegron, Rhino, Black Cat, Arcade, Sandman, and Hydro-Man stories of amusement. "Identity Crisis" - Hornet, my favorite parts of that event though.

Spider-Man Unlimited - Done-In-One fun with one on Dreadknight, one on Puma, one on Doctor Octopus, one on Robot Master, one on Lizard, and one on Scorpion.

[Pav]

Just going to support what Cheesedique and ngroove have already said: this was a fantastic era of Spidey comics - not because the stories were MINDBLOWING and THINGS WERE NEVER GOING TO BE THE SAME AGAIN - but because of the consistency. There were four monthlies, and each one put out solid stories month after month after month, and each one also had its own unique tone.

I loved the Spider-Hunt/Identity Crisis issues.

I loved the SHOC / Morbius / Hydra storyline in Peter Parker.

I loved seeing Peter quietly deal with his grief over Ben's death while dealing with D.K. in Sensational.

And Spectacular, under JMD, was maybe the best of them all.

Especially since I lost many of these comics in a flood a few years back, I've been waiting for this era to be reprinted. They've done the Clone Saga, and they've even done some of the Byrne-reboot stuff that came after this era, so I figure it's only a matter of time.

-Pav, who would like to visit an alternate reality where the creative teams of this era were able to keep on going rather than being kicked to the curb in favor of John "I ran out of good ideas years ago" Byrne...

[Metamorphosis]

Just going to support what Cheesedique and ngroove have already said: this was a fantastic era of Spidey comics - not because the stories were MINDBLOWING and THINGS WERE NEVER GOING TO BE THE SAME AGAIN - but because of the consistency. There were four monthlies, and each one put out solid stories month after month after month, and each one also had its own unique tone.

I loved the Spider-Hunt/Identity Crisis issues.

I loved the SHOC / Morbius / Hydra storyline in Peter Parker.

I loved seeing Peter quietly deal with his grief over Ben's death while dealing with D.K. in Sensational.

And Spectacular, under JMD, was maybe the best of them all.

Especially since I lost many of these comics in a flood a few years back, I've been waiting for this era to be reprinted. They've done the Clone Saga, and they've even done some of the Byrne-reboot stuff that came after this era, so I figure it's only a matter of time.

-Pav, who would like to visit an alternate reality where the creative teams of this era were able to keep on going rather than being kicked to the curb in favor of John "I ran out of good ideas years ago" Byrne...

Didn't they reprint a clutch of issues from this era in the "Spider-Hunt" TPB that came out awhile back?

But yeah, this era on the whole has been woefully under-collected. Pretty sure the majority of it is not available on Marvel Unlimited either.

The one slightly weak link of this era to me was DeFalco's ASM. Read it for the first time a couple of years back, and found I didn't care that much about Black Tarantula, the new Rose, or even the Electro arc. The Carnage / Silver Surfer story was atrocious. And I didn't much like Skroce's art either.

[Pav]

Didn't they reprint a clutch of issues from this era in the "Spider-Hunt" TPB that came out awhile back?

But yeah, this era on the whole has been woefully under-collected. Pretty sure the majority of it is not available on Marvel Unlimited either.

The one slightly weak link of this era to me was DeFalco's ASM. Read it for the first time a couple of years back, and found I didn't care that much about Black Tarantula, the new Rose, or even the Electro arc. The Carnage / Silver Surfer story was atrocious. And I didn't much like Skroce's art either.

Agreed. I wasn't a fan of Skroce's art either, and while I had no problems with Defalco's run during this era, it just never held my interest as much as the other three monthlies. It just sort of felt... there.

I did like the Black Tarantula, though.

And I believe you're right about the Spider-Hunt trade; I guess I'm just waiting until they're put into Complete Collections or something of that kind before I buy them again.

-Pav, who had his only letter to Marvel printed during this era of comics...

[Metamorphosis]

Agreed. I wasn't a fan of Skroce's art either, and while I had no problems with Defalco's run during this era, it just never held my interest as much as the other three monthlies. It just sort of felt... there.

I did like the Black Tarantula, though.

And I believe you're right about the Spider-Hunt trade; I guess I'm just waiting until they're put into Complete Collections or something of that kind before I buy them again.

-Pav, who had his only letter to Marvel printed during this era of comics...

Which issue was it?

I've read the majority of the ASM & Spec of this era, but missed a few issues here and there of PP:SM and Sensational.

[Mister Mets]

I'm currently reading the Sensational Spider-Man run from this time. It's good, but not great stuff.

And that seems to be par for the course. There are four okay runs on Spider-Man monthlies, in addition to okay output on Spider-Man Unlimited.

It's worth reading, but there is also better stuff to hunt down for most Spider-Man fans.

[paurru]

What "better" stuff? Lol



Sensational Spider Man I enjoyed back then and the Spider Man comic book or as you call it Peter Parker/spider Man I loved that. It got more dark and serious than Amazing Spider Man or Spectacular

[Metamorphosis]

What "better" stuff? Lol



Sensational Spider Man I enjoyed back then and the Spider Man comic book or as you call it Peter Parker/spider Man I loved that. It got more dark and serious than Amazing Spider Man or Spectacular

To be fair, there was still plenty of slightly corny stuff in the PP:SM comic. Friends of Humanity, the Shocker arc, the terrible Ghost Rider guest issue.

Though the Morbius story was great, the Joey Z stuff was interesting, and "Freefall" was one of the best single-issues.

I liked PP:SM primarily for JR Jr's blocky artwork. The award for the dark title of the time would have to go to JMD's Spectacular, which itself even had moments of lightness. Would love to see that run collected.

[Mister Mets]

What "better" stuff? Lol



Sensational Spider Man I enjoyed back then and the Spider Man comic book or as you call it Peter Parker/spider Man I loved that. It got more dark and serious than Amazing Spider Man or Spectacular

Avoiding the obvious...

Chris Claremont's Marvel Team-Up, with or without John Byrne

Roger Stern's Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man, and Bill Mantlo's subsequent run

Marv Wolfman's Amazing Spider-Man

Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham's Peter Parker Spider-Man

[Pav]

Which issue was it?

I've read the majority of the ASM & Spec of this era, but missed a few issues here and there of PP:SM and Sensational.

I had a letter printed in one of the Sensational "Identity Crisis" issues. I must've been thirteen/fourteen years old or so.

Oh, and Cheese - last night I remembered my very favorite thing from those Defalco Amazing issues: the "Identity Crisis" issue that saw Peter switching through all four of his identities while fighting Roughhouse and Bloodscream!

To me, that's the spiritual beginning of the comic series most dear to my heart, Slingers.

-Pav, who still clings to the hope that it might see a second volume someday...

[Metamorphosis]

I had a letter printed in one of the Sensational "Identity Crisis" issues. I must've been thirteen/fourteen years old or so.

Oh, and Cheese - last night I remembered my very favorite thing from those Defalco Amazing issues: the "Identity Crisis" issue that saw Peter switching through all four of his identities while fighting Roughhouse and Bloodscream!

To me, that's the spiritual beginning of the comic series most dear to my heart, Slingers.

-Pav, who still clings to the hope that it might see a second volume someday...

Nice man! It's gonna be hard for me to look up that letter though as I read the Identity Crisis story in trade form.

I myself found the issue with Peter rapidly changing costumes to be a little corny to read, but it was fun. It was mostly the dialogue of the two villain goons in that issue that bugged me!

Slingers I picked up the first four or five issues of, after reading IC, and I just could not get into it. I would like to see more done with the Dusk costume though.

One DeFalco ASM issue of that era I straight up loved: #433, Peter out of costume fighting Mr. Hyde..I remember that one being a fantastic read.

[Pav]

Nice man! It's gonna be hard for me to look up that letter though as I read the Identity Crisis story in trade form.

I myself found the issue with Peter rapidly changing costumes to be a little corny to read, but it was fun. It was mostly the dialogue of the two villain goons in that issue that bugged me!

Slingers I picked up the first four or five issues of, after reading IC, and I just could not get into it. I would like to see more done with the Dusk costume though.

One DeFalco ASM issue of that era I straight up loved: #433, Peter out of costume fighting Mr. Hyde..I remember that one being a fantastic read.

Is that the issue where Phil Urich pops up again all of a sudden?

I loved the Green Goblin series. I remember being really stoked about Phil's reappearance, and I thought, "He's gotta be the new stand-in Green Goblin for sure!"

-Pav, who hated how that subplot turned out...

PS: Oh, yeah - I'd love to see the Dusk costume brought back into the Spidey-fold! I really liked the mythology that Howard Mackie developed in just that single issue in the Negative Zone, and I was hoping we'd eventually get to see how SHOC and his whole subplot would be involved.

Of course, all we ever really got were those less-than-stellar Webspinners issues.

Howard Mackie: dude had some awesome ideas, but too often they ended up going nowhere.

[Metamorphosis]

Is that the issue where Phil Urich pops up again all of a sudden?

I loved the Green Goblin series. I remember being really stoked about Phil's reappearance, and I thought, "He's gotta be the new stand-in Green Goblin for sure!"

-Pav, who hated how that subplot turned out...

PS: Oh, yeah - I'd love to see the Dusk costume brought back into the Spidey-fold! I really liked the mythology that Howard Mackie developed in just that single issue in the Negative Zone, and I was hoping we'd eventually get to see how SHOC and his whole subplot would be involved.

Of course, all we ever really got were those less-than-stellar Webspinners issues.

Howard Mackie: dude had some awesome ideas, but too often they ended up going nowhere.

I don't remember right off if Phil appeared in the issue, but that sounds right.

Why the heck was it ever vetoed that Phil turn out to be the Green Goblin V that was running around at this time?

As choppy as some of Mackie's stuff was at this time, it was still leagues better than the ASM Vol. 2 era, and Senator Ward (*shudder*).