Favorite Spider-Man stories?
LibraryBoy
Posts: 1,803
Though I'm not a regular Spider-Man reader, I do like the guy, and last week's spotlight episode on Spidey's Silver Age got me to thinking about what some of my favorite Spider-Man stories have been. This list is by no means complete, but it's something to get the discussion started:
Amazing Spider-Man #12 - "Unmasked by Dr. Octopus!" Spidey tries to stop Doc Ock but is sidelined by a 24 hour flu bug. The title event happens, but the immediate resolution to that event is not what you're going to expect.
Amazing Spider-Man #258 - "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man." If this story doesn't make you tear up a little, you have no heart.
Amazing Spider-Man #262 - Spidey gets unmasked again, this time by a paparazzo. Very small-scale story, but one that has stuck with me for years. Also one of the very few Marvel photo covers to actually work.
Amazing Spider-Man #s 269-270 - Spidey takes on Firelord all by himself. Reminds me of "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut," but on a larger scale seeing as we're talking about a former herald of Galactus here. Shows how far Peter will go to get the job done, and how resourceful he can be.
Marvel Team-Up #s 65 & 66 - Captain Britain is introduced to America, and he and Spidey take on Arcade in Murderworld.
Marvel Team-Up #131 - Spider-Man and Frog-Man take on my favorite goofy villain, the White Rabbit. Not one of the all time great comics, but fun.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #33 - "Maybe Next Year." Less a Spider-Man story than a story about dads and baseball. My single favorite comic book story ever. Came out at a time when it looked like my own baseball-loving dad wasn't going to make it (thankfully he did), so it really hit me where I lived.
I know I'm leaving out a bunch that I like, but it's a start. What say you?
Amazing Spider-Man #12 - "Unmasked by Dr. Octopus!" Spidey tries to stop Doc Ock but is sidelined by a 24 hour flu bug. The title event happens, but the immediate resolution to that event is not what you're going to expect.
Amazing Spider-Man #258 - "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man." If this story doesn't make you tear up a little, you have no heart.
Amazing Spider-Man #262 - Spidey gets unmasked again, this time by a paparazzo. Very small-scale story, but one that has stuck with me for years. Also one of the very few Marvel photo covers to actually work.
Amazing Spider-Man #s 269-270 - Spidey takes on Firelord all by himself. Reminds me of "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut," but on a larger scale seeing as we're talking about a former herald of Galactus here. Shows how far Peter will go to get the job done, and how resourceful he can be.
Marvel Team-Up #s 65 & 66 - Captain Britain is introduced to America, and he and Spidey take on Arcade in Murderworld.
Marvel Team-Up #131 - Spider-Man and Frog-Man take on my favorite goofy villain, the White Rabbit. Not one of the all time great comics, but fun.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #33 - "Maybe Next Year." Less a Spider-Man story than a story about dads and baseball. My single favorite comic book story ever. Came out at a time when it looked like my own baseball-loving dad wasn't going to make it (thankfully he did), so it really hit me where I lived.
I know I'm leaving out a bunch that I like, but it's a start. What say you?
Comments
ASM #139-#151 The Original Clone Saga
Don't let the name turn you off, this is the original, the one that started it all. When people hear clone saga they think about the series from the 90's but this is the one was so good Marvel decided to revisit it. You have remember that Gwen had only been dead for about a year in real time. So when she popped up in the pages of ASM it was jaw dropping. So for another year Marvel kept the readers on the edge of their seats trying to figure out what was going on.
MTU #41-#46 Time Travel
Spider-Man travels through time and teams up with the likes of Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Dr. Doom, Moon Dragon, Killraven and Deathlok. The story takes place in the time of the Salem Witch trials and ends with Spidey in the future. In fact Bendis recent referred back to this story line in the Avengers when Spidey and the Avengers ran into Killraven.
ASM #36 VOL 2. 911 Tribute
It is just a powerful issue... 'nuff said.
ASM #50 VOL 2 Doomed Affairs
Peter and MJ meet at the Denver airport and reconcile their marital difficulties well Spider-Man and Captain America try to protect Dr. Doom. This is the issue that Marvel should of re-read before they decided to go forward with OMD/BND.
ASM #497-#500 Happy Birthday
Great Issue, what is so cool about these issues is Peter is forced to relive some of his most memorable moments as Spider-Man including the first time he fought The Sandman and The Death of Gwen.
ASM #12 with out a doubt
ASM #141/142 Spidey vs Mysterio
ASM #151/152 Spidey vs Shocker
ASM #160 Spidey vs the Spider-Mobile
ASM #229/230 the fight with Juggy
MTU #79 Mary Jane becomes Red Sonja, nuff said there.
SSM #17/18 Spidey and the Champions take on Iceman who's under some kind of mind control
Amazing Spider-Man #33 with Spidey crushed under the machinery
http://eamonn1961.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/compressed-storytelling.html
Amazing Spider-Man #300 - First time Spidey fights Venom... and both are wearing the black costume!
Amazing Spider-Man #130 - The debut of the Spider-Mobile! Not as awesomely goofy as the Supermobile, but damn close. I'm also a fan of this issue because when Spidey and the Torch take it out for its first spin, it's clear Spidey can't drive, so Johnny yells at him "Where did you learn to drive... Bangor, Maine?!?" I grew up in Bangor, Maine. Bangor, Maine, doesn't get a lot of comic book love. So even though the shout-out was meant as an insult, and one I don't even understand the reference to, I appreciated it all the same.
Sensational Spider-Man #s 13-15 - Spidey's in the Savage Land, teaming up with Ka-Zar and Shanna to take on Roxxon Oil goons, dinosaurs, rogue SHIELD agents, Stegron the Dinosaur man, and Chtylok the Che-K'n Kau (prompting Spidey to ask the immortal question, "Did he just say 'chicken cow?'").
Marvel Team-Up #74 - Spidey meets The Not-Ready for Prime Time Players! Stan Lee hosts SNL, Pete and MJ are in the audience, and the Silver Samurai has come for John Belushi. And since this is a Code-approved book, no one is coked out of their minds.
Great picks, people. Keep 'em coming!
Amazing Spider-Man 229-230 - "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut". Is it hard for anyone else to believe JRJR has been drawing Spidey for over 30 years?
Amazing Spider-Man 238-239,244-245,248-251,259-261 - I know these are spread out a bit but I love these early Hobgoblin issues. And the Charles Vess cover to #261 is one of my all time favorites.
Amzing Spider-Man 293-294, Spectacular 131-132, Web 32-33 - "Kravens Last Hunt". An excellent story. An ending that has mostly not been retconned yet. And I'm a sucker for the black costume.
And a gulty pleasure
Spider-Man 18-23 - "Revenge of the Sinister Six". Spidey teamed with Hulk, Ghost Rider, Deathlok, Sleepwalker, Nova, Solo, and the Fantastic Four against a Sinister Six team including Gog. All written and drawn by Erik Larsen. It is everything good and bad about the nineties packed into 6 issues.
they're making the spider-man movie but peter isn't seeing a cent so he's pretty upset
i thought it was a neat twist on the movies and the comic being in the same place
The Origin of the Hobgoblin (multiple issues thru 238-251). I loved the villian, he was my version of the Green Goblin as a kid.
Also Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut (ASM 229-230) was great.
"The Commuter Cometh" #267 was a hilarious take on how Spidey would work outside of NYC (no tall buildings? guess you have to call a cab!)
More recently:
Marvel Knights: Spider-Man the first 12 issues are a great read. Also the Spiderman & Human Torch mini by Dan Slott.
Mat Fraction wrote a great Spidey story in Sensational Spiderman Annual #1 back in '06 with a great Mary Jane walk down memory lane (all before Joe Q OMDed it)
Spider-Man: Blue
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21: The Wedding Issue
Spider-Man: Parallel Lives
The Death of Jean DeWolff
-Spidey 186 - 200: Marv Wolfman's run up to issue #200 where Peter Parker graduates college, attempts to take the next step with Mary Jane, loses Aunt May and confronts Uncle Ben's killer. Just a fantastic run where it felt like Spider-Man was moving forward
-Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 - The story of Peter Parker's parents.
-Untold Tales of Spider-Man - Kurt Busiek sets stories in the Ditko run and captures the feel of that classic run. When it came out, it was the only Spider-Man book worth reading
-Amazing Spider-Man #400 - The Death of Aunt May. And it should have stuck. It was that great a story.
I'll have more when I think about it a bit...I know there's a lot during the Roger Stern run that I liked, and I even liked some of the Mantlo run on Spectacular and anything by JM Dematties.
All of Untold Tales was fantastic, but my favorite issue was #16, which featured Mary Jane before she actually meets Peter but after she finds out he's Spider-Man. Using her as a way to show the two sides of Peter's personality and have her make sense of the dichotomy was a great storytelling trick.
And #400, even in the midst of The Dreaded Clone Saga, was such an amazingly well-written story. Much as I like Aunt May, that was the send-off she deserved. And her big secret from that issue was handled a lot better than the way similar events played out during the JMS run (not that that was handled badly, I just liked the ASM 400 revelation better).
(Trying to be as vague as possible with that last one for people who haven't read it.)
Spider-Man: Blue A powerful miniseries
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 MJ & Peter wed (BLEEP Joe Q)
The Death of Jean DeWolff
The Death of the Stacys HC
Marvel Team Up #117 Spider-Man & Wolverine
Matthew