Thoughts on Spider-Man by David Michelinie and Erik Larsen

[UltimateTy]

The omnibus for this run is coming out next month and I was wondering what the opinions of this run were.

Every Spider-Man story featuring the action-packed art of Erik Larsen - including his fan-favorite collaboration with writer David Michelinie! These two top-notch creators pitted Spidey against heavyweights like Magneto, the Tri-Sentinel and the Punisher - but that was just a warm-up for the main events: The return of the Sinister Six! A deadlier-than-ever Venom! In this seminal run, Spider-Man gains cosmic abilities, loses his spider-powers, battles Styx & Stone and the Black Fox, and fights alongside... Sandman and the Avengers? Plus, a latter-day showdown with the Spider-Slayers - and Larsen doubles up as writer to team Spider-Man with Wolverine and deliver the shocking sequel, Revenge of the Sinister Six!

COLLECTING: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 287, 324, 327, 329-350; SPIDER-MAN (1990) 15, 18, 21-23; AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) 19-21; MATERIAL FROM MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (1988) 48-50, SPIDER-MAN (1990) 19-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1302907026..._vW6fzbVWGJC94

[Sparko]

I started collecting as a kid just before this era and I loved it then and love it now. I'm a huge fan of the art and the writing. Not everyone shares my sentiment, but for me, this is some of the best Spidey ever. What I don't like about that Omnibus though is how many holes you have in the stories with all the missing issues. For instance, you're getting part of the Cosmic Spidey saga, but missing so much.
But as a collector, to see this work in a big book like an omnibus, it would look pretty sweet I think.

[Frontier]

I've enjoyed what I've read of it. There's some obviously dated aspects to it, but overall I think it reads as a pretty solid and fun Spidey run .

[Smoov-E]

When I started reading Spidey it was this run that got it rolling, very fun read and highly recommended

[Turlast]

This was a great run.

[Mister Mets]

I thought it was decent, but not great.

Whether it's for you depends on what you think of Larsen's art on Spider-Man, and Michelinie's writing. If you enjoyed Michelinie's work on ASM with McFarlane and/ or Bagley, and think what you've seen of Larsen's art is good, this may be worth a hundred bucks for you. If you like modern cinematic storytelling, this might not be for you.

[Grim Ghost]

One of the worst runs I've ever read. And although I'm not a fan of Larsen's art on the book the real problem lies with Michelinie's bad stories.

[Metamorphosis]

Pros: Larsen's art is almost uniformly fantastic; Great stories here including "The Return Of The Sinister Six" (first time they had been brought back since Lee / Ditko's ASM Annual #1), "Powerless", and one of the last great Venom stories in the island two-parter (#346-347). As an anniversary issue, #350 is pretty good as well. It was cool to see Spidey fight Magneto while Spidey still had the cosmic powers.

Cons: Probably the start of Michelinie's nadir on writing the title (though that arguably could've started with "Assassin Nation Plot" with McFarlane). Too many interchangeable plots in certain issues. The Tri-Sentinel & Punisher issues are very blah. I never thought much of Cardiac, but Larsen gives him a cool design at least.

I wish Larsen had stuck around longer on ASM actually, but we got Bags after him, so it's all good.

Larsen then goes on to write and draw adjectiveless Spider-Man after Todd M bailed. #15 is one of his strongest issues, with Peter discussing with Beast how Peter's powers would affect a child if he & MJ were to conceive. Then, Larsen turns in a follow up in "Revenge Of The Sinister Six", not as good as the first six-parter written by Michelinie, but picks up threads from that story, Larsen cuts loose here and though it's very much an Image-comics version of Spider-Man, there are some neat moments.

I still haven't read the Marvel Comics Presents stuff. But the issues Larsen came back for when Mackie was writing during the reboot are terrible.

Otherwise, these are good comics from when Spidey was written as a solid superhero title, and they weren't trying to reinvent the wheel every year in regards to the character or tangle Spider-Man up in inter-company crossovers so much. Comics from a time before comics in general became too self-conscious and too self-referential as a medium. Highly recommend this omnibus.

[UltimateTy]

Thanks for the opinions guys

I'm also getting the Tangled Web Omnibus that comes out a week after this.

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

Larsen's Venom is, for me, the definitive Venom. Which is kind of ironic, considering Larsen didn't like Venom.

[Metamorphosis]

Larsen's Venom is, for me, the definitive Venom. Which is kind of ironic, considering Larsen didn't like Venom.

It'll always be McFarlane's original design for me that I think is the best; before the long tongue, elongated jaw, and the slobber.

I like a simple, scary, bulked-up version of the black costume. With the creepy smile of course.

[Venomous Mask]

McFarlane was already making Venom more monstrous by #315. Given the designs of certain Spawn characters and his general love of the macabre, had he stayed on as artist, Venom would most likely have turned out similar to what was seen under Larsen, possibly even more grotesque.

[oldschool]

I thought it was an ok period; hovers around average in my book. Larsen was a good choice to follow McFarlane stylistically----and I do agree that McFarlane's take on Venom was slowly becoming more monstrous and likely would've looked similar to what we got with Larsen anyhow----but, if you were like me and thought neither of them drew their civilians anywhere near as well as their heroes/villains, well then that is a weakness that stands out for that period. Also, as others have pointed out, this is not a rich period for story-telling in the main title: take out the Venom and Sinister Six stories and there just ain't much here. After a fantastic run that started way back with Stern and through DeFalco's run and through the early (better) days of Michelnie/McFarlane (the early Venom stories and that "Webs" era were just a blast), I thought this is where the title began to falter and took a slow dip down to the Clone Saga a few years later.

[MagSeven]

Probably my favorite Spider-Man run to date. It's what really got me into reading Spidey regularly.

[Mark Trail]

The omnibus for this run is coming out next month and I was wondering what the opinions of this run were.



https://www.amazon.com/dp/1302907026..._vW6fzbVWGJC94

Probably the last time I enjoyed Spidey, to be honest.