Web of Spider-Man. Anyone remember that old series?

[paurru]

I was into the series a little bit but then that series had to drag it on with some of the major story arcs like Maximum Carnage and various Kaine stuff and Trial of Peter Parker yada yada.

I liked Web of Spider Man a little bit but then it had to get involved with Maximum Carnage like I said. To me, Web of Spider Man felt like more of a poor mans version of Amazing Spider Man kind of

[Inversed]

I haven't read a lot of Web Of Spider-Man, but one of the issues was one of the first back-up Spider-Man books I've ever read, so the comic will be special to me for that.

[Mister Mets]

Web was cancelled around the time I started reading Spider-Man comics, so my main exposure is through back issues.

I think one of the problems the series had was a lack of identity. It was often just an extra Spider-Man comic each month.

The main times it had a unique identity were under Michelinie (and editor James Owsley) who showed Spider-Man's travels for about two years, and Howard Mackie, who focused on street-level stuff.

[comicscollector]

Always seemed to be the less important Spider-Man series way back.
And the one to have more silly stories as Spider Hulk or Art Attack.
Not a bad comic book (i remember enjoying reading many stories) but really never as good as was Amazing Spider-Man or Spectacular Spider-Man.

[Prof. Warren]

The classic cover for issue #1 jumped off the stands at me back in the day. To this day, I think it's one of the coolest Spidey covers ever.

Web_of_Spider-Man_Vol_1_1.jpg

As for the book itself, I kept up with it for awhile but my interest quickly (no pun intended) petered out.

Whereas Spectacular carved out a good niche for itself as a vital satellite to ASM, Web always seemed pretty disposable. People who kept up with it might say otherwise but I can't recall many - or any - classic storylines that ran in Web, as opposed to Spectacular, which hosted some all-timers like The Death of Jean DeWolff and the Octopus/Owl War among others. Spectacular at its best always seemed like the the grittier, more 'street' version of Spidey while Web just never created much of an individual identity for itself. It was just...there.

[xpyred]

Steven Butler's art was a big plus for the series.

[WebLurker]

Never read it. Wasn't this the one with the flashback stories.

[Pav]

I started reading during the Clone Saga and all the books were crossing over, so Web Of was just another Spidey comic rather than something particularly special.

Honestly, I wonder if Web of might work as a title that doesn't specifically focus on Peter but other characters who get "caught in the web" of his life.

Maybe a Web of book starring, say, Kaine and Ben might sell better than a Scarlet book.

-Pav, who is curious...

[Vegeta]

Never read it. Wasn't this the one with the flashback stories.

Not volume 1, it was just a satellite title telling more done in one type stories until it got swept into the crossovers of the 90's. I enjoyed it up until that happened, then it felt just like any other Spider-Man book, just with less prestige than it's two predecessors.

[Digifiend]

The classic cover for issue #1 jumped off the stands at me back in the day. To this day, I think it's one of the coolest Spidey covers ever.

Web_of_Spider-Man_Vol_1_1.jpg

That logo is so good they're currently using a version of it for Miles Morales - minus the Web Of text and the spider.

[Captain Craig]

Web of Spider-Man #44 was my first Spidey comic. I collected it from that point forward and tracked down all the back issues.
To me it felt like more of a hybrid Amazing/Spectacular title. Amazing seemed to be about Spider-man in NY, Spectacular had Spidey traveling around the country with more regularity. Web would also showcase the more B/C list foes and Marvel underused heroes in support roles.

[Rincewind]

I remember getting the first issue in the mail. I had a subscription to Marvel Team Up and I still had 3 issues left on the subscription when MTU ended and WOSM began.

There is an interesting essay about Web on the Storytelling Engines website. Basically, it boiled down to "Web did not establish it's own identity the way Amazing and Spectacular had."

Part of the trouble was at the time, the Spidey books had some scheduling problems. Inventory and guest writers were prevalent in Amazing and Spectacular, but Web was hit hardest by this. The first 13 issues had 5 different writers (Louise Simonson, Danny Fingeroth, Peter David, David Michelinie, Bill Mantlo). It wasn't until issue 14 that David Michelinie was the regular writer, and he only wrote 7 more issues before the turnover started again. It wasn't until issue 47 that the next regular writer was on the title. Gerry Conway took over, but since he was already writing Spectacular, he wrote them both as one twice a month title.

With that amount of turnover, the title was never really able to make much of a mark. I still enjoyed some of the stories. David Michelinie had a clear idea of what he wanted to do by focusing on Peter working for Now magazine and taking a lot of trips outside of New York during his brief run. And any issue by PAD was enjoyable.

Overall, there were some good things in the title, but you had to get through a lot of forgettable stories for the good stuff.

[BlitheringToot]

I'd say the first 50 or so issues were good, but then it turned into the most generic of the Spidey titles. Nothing of any importance happened in "Web," and it had some truly awful storylines (the Lobo brothers were ridiculous, and the "Sandstorm" story was terrible). However, as xpyred pointed out, Steven Butler's art late in the series gave it a much-needed pick-me-up.

[Captain Craig]

For a title that "didn't have it's own identity", which seems to be some retroactive excuse to dismiss it, it last for 129 issues. Participated in the 2012 'Point' gimmick and got 2 more issues, a 129.1 & 129.2 for nostalgia. Any series that runs for nearly 11 years is pretty impressive. I'd say reading through this thread to date that the "identity" of the book was that it was a melting pot of a variety of Spidey stories without actually being an anthology style book.

[Rincewind]

For a title that "didn't have it's own identity", which seems to be some retroactive excuse to dismiss it, it last for 129 issues. Participated in the 2012 'Point' gimmick and got 2 more issues, a 129.1 & 129.2 for nostalgia. Any series that runs for nearly 11 years is pretty impressive. I'd say reading through this thread to date that the "identity" of the book was that it was a melting pot of a variety of Spidey stories without actually being an anthology style book.

I should also point out that Web did have some stability on the art side when Alex Saviuk joined on issue 35. He had a nice 7 year run with consistent art throughout.

I don't think I'm dismissing the title, just noting the reality of it's run. Anthology titles can be great. I loved the Spider-Man title when it went into anthology mode. I enjoyed the Tangled Web and Webspinner titles. But these tiles were anthologies by design. Web seemed like they could never line up a writer to stick with the title for long. The first 4 years especially, we got a lot of filler and forgettable stories. And the ratio of filler/forgettable stories to memorable stories was a lot higher for Web than the Amazing, Spectacular, or the Anthology titles.

Looking back, Web breaks down into the following eras:

1-46: constant turnover, no consistent creative voice. Some good stories like "Cult of Love" by PAD surrounded by filler.
47-70: Gerry Conway and Alex Saviuk, acts as sister title to Spectacular with subplots flowing between issues
71-83: more writer turnover, Alex S continues on art.
84-96: Howard Mackie gives the title a more street level focus with stories on the Rose and Hobgoblin. Alex S. still on art.
97-116: Terry Kavanaugh takes over writing. Nothing much memorable from the era (Spider Armor, F.A.C.A.D.E) with Alex S providing art.
117-129: Clone saga

When I think of Amazing, I will always associate it with the memorable runs the writers had on it. Stan Lee, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Denny O'Neil, Roger Stern, Tom Defalco, and David Michelinie each had runs where they left a creative voice on their stories. With spectacular, I automatically think of the Owl/Octopus war, the Black Cat storyline, the Death of Jean DeWolff, and JM DeMatteis's run. But when I think of Web.... nothing really springs to mind.