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Underground > Comic Books >

Spider-Man: What's good?

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01:44 / 08.07.04

Just chiming in for no specific reason but to say that the very first Spidey annual, the one with the first Sinister Six grouping, is by far one of the best and more joycore-iest Spidey comics I've ever read.

But, er, yeah! As far as modern runs go, Ultimate's probably the best bet.

02:16 / 08.07.04

Amazing #400, with the death of Aunt May was always really touching to me

i couldn't agree more. even though it was bogged down in the clone bullshit, and even though it was retconned later, just that scene on top of the Empire State Building ... god, it's perfect.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

03:23 / 08.07.04

The Wein/Andru stuff is mostly a nostalgia buzz...and out of the issues you mentioned Gerry Conway wrote up to #150.

I never cared for Andru on Spider-Man, as he always made the character look awkward and off-balance instead of creepy like Ditko or athletic like Romita. As much as I don't care for Todd McFarlane in a lot of ways, he did bring back to creepiness to Spidey's poses that had been missing for so long.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

06:39 / 08.07.04

My understanding, Matthew, is that kids fucking LOVE ultimate spidey. It's good to know what the fuck you're talking about sometimes, isn't it?

Haus of Mystery

08:12 / 08.07.04

That pretty much applies to any story then.

10:37 / 08.07.04

That wasn't Spider-Man and Zoids #1, now, was it, Flyboy?

I preferred the metal dinosaurs at the time.

Milligan and Fegredo's two issues of Tangled Web (#5-6, 'Flowers for Rhino') were excellent, of recent, and Paul Jenkins early Peter Parker, Spider-Man were good, sweet character-pieces too, until I realised Jenks cannot do action to save himself. Millar's book appears, thus far, to redress the imbalance.

12:05 / 08.07.04

I too had the spiderman & Zoids comic, my first exposure to spidey. I recently "inherited" my uncle's spiderman comics (due to him having a kid, not due to him dying) and was overjoyed to read that same issue in it's original american format. Gave me a little shudder of glee it did. (it was the one where hobgoblin captured sha shan, if any one's interested). The collection also includes "cometh the commuter" and all those black cat issues that were mentioned earlier.

13:28 / 08.07.04

"So with that in mind, what are some good examples of "adult Spidey" books that are worth hunting down, ie. good minis available in TPB, etc.?"

Unfortunately alot of the good 'adult' Spidey stuff is not in trade form...in my opinion. You can check out, however...

Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man - Like I said it goes wayward in the middle, but the first couple of trades are fun.

Kraven's LAst Hunt - naysayers be damned, this to me is the most adult Spidey book out there. There is no angst here, just one really freaked superhero whose life comes crashing down on him at the worst possible time.

Amazing Spider-Man #400 - I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this was really well done. Aunt May's death is a very emotional story. Well done.

Spectacular # 200 - Harry's last stand. Peter and Osborn come to a final showdown.

Spectacular #182 - 187 (I think?) - The storyline is called "Child Within". And is a lead up to Harry's defeat, all psycho-drama as Spider-Man almost loses it here.

Spectacular #188 - 190 (I think?) - the story is called "Funeral Arrangements" Again more psycho-drama. The Vulture gets cancer and wishes to make amends.

Tangled Web - an anthology series about the people Spidey's life effects.

Some of this stuff is pretty gloomy and may not capture that fun feel of the movie for you, but they are good stories regardless. I say again: Go with Ultimate

13:47 / 08.07.04

...and out of the issues you mentioned Gerry Conway wrote up to #150.
Doh! I stand corrected.

I never cared for Andru on Spider-Man, as he always made the character look awkward and off-balance...
I have to disagree. I always got more of a "real guy" vibe from Andru's Spider-Man than Romitas, and thought he was great at conveying feeling through the mask and with body language (surprise, embarassment, etc). Of course, in a lot of those stories Spidey was off balance, getting his ass kicked pretty regularly. I thought Wein's quips and one liners were funnier than Lee's, too. I dont think it's all nostalgia. I think I'm going to pick up some issues I dont have to test the theory.

Matthew Fluxington

22:06 / 09.07.04

My understanding, Matthew, is that kids fucking LOVE ultimate spidey.

I'd love to see some evidence of this. Truly.

17:55 / 10.07.04

Sales. Maybe?

19:31 / 10.07.04

Yes. Sales. The true test of how much kids like comics.

I'm sure the kids are going to love the return of Hal Jordan.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

19:52 / 10.07.04

Quick, let's compare the ticket sales of Spider-Man 2 vs. sales of Ultimate Spider-Man on it's best month ever!

Or: let's compare sales of Spidey comics in the past (60s or 70s, perhaps) and to those of now, and come to the conclusion that children are DYING OUT.

(Obviously all consumers of said products are children)

22:56 / 10.07.04

Will you be my friend?

23:39 / 10.07.04

Oh. Wait you didn't mean big kids, did you? My bad.

Personally, I run a comic shop and while I'm sure my words mean jack all...Ultimate Spider-Man out sells the other Spider-Man comics. Now I find more kids will buy the Ultimate or Marvel Age book before the others. If that helps any.
I honestly think the book is the best thing Spider-Man in the last several years. Hell, maybe even since Stan ended his run in the 70s.

D Terminator XXXIII

10:35 / 11.07.04

Flyboy, that run you're describing had, what, Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom (sp?) in the credit boxes, I think. Somewhere along, at least. I, too, was darned young when the run was being published, but found them to be rather cheesy at times. If you recall there was one issue where a villain named the Spot reigned supreme. Or didn't. He had the power to throw out black spots in midair and lead his fists and feet through them, and have them reappear in another entirely unconnected (but, you know, connected) black spot. Wow.

Most of the Peter David run is ace. Very, very funny, and very, very sad at times (the DeWolff/Sin-Eater storyline was relentlessly grim).

The Roger Stern and the first JR Jr. run on Amazing was, well, amazing.

That's as far Spider-Man is concerned for me.

Anyone wanna champion Chapter One?

D Terminator XXXIII

10:39 / 11.07.04

And, woo, I knew I'd forget that one-off with Paul Jenkins and Sean Phillips from 'Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #11. The Chameleon kidnaps Mary Jane and confronts the Spider-Man atop a bridge. But nothing in the story goes as could otherwise be expected, and at some point the Chameleon reveals his homosexual love for Peter Parker. Superb.

15:15 / 11.07.04

That story was sooo ass.

Jenkins almost made up for it with Peter Parker: Spider-Man #35 (Heroes Don't Cry). Spiderman as imaginary friend.

23:02 / 11.07.04

Ultimate Spider-Man is the only comic I've seen kids' mums buy them at an all-night garage.

Brigade du jour

05:33 / 12.07.04

I'd recommend the current Straczynski/Romita Jr run on Amazing Spider-Man; I've been collecting each issue for the last two years, feeding my repeating pre-adolescence like a doting wetnurse.

Somebody mentioned the Sin-Eater story? Absolutely fucked my head when I was a kid, would love to track those early-mid80s issues down in Charing Cross Road.

One of the best Spidey stories I ever read was during the Secret Wars II thing, when the Beyonder turned a building into gold and then it collapsed under its own weight and Spidey put himself through the wringer over whether to steal a notepad or not.

Most of this is definitely nostalgia, but then I read a lot of Spidey stuff as a kid and I like to think I've only remembered the really good stuff.

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

08:54 / 12.07.04

I really enjoyed the JM DeMatteis / Sal Buscema run on Spectacular leading up to 200 - This started with a follow up to Kraven's Last Hunt (with the rat-bloke character - Possible The Child Within mentioned up-thread?) through various Harry/Green Goblin showdowns.

18:26 / 12.07.04

>> One of the best Spidey stories I ever read was during the Secret Wars II thing, when the Beyonder turned a building into gold and then it collapsed under its own weight and Spidey put himself through the wringer over whether to steal a notepad or not.

Holy shit, I remember this. It was like Web of Spider-Man #3 or something like that. Wild! Fun and goofy and yet still worked somehow as a Spidey story.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

03:19 / 13.07.04

Anyone wanna champion Chapter One?

I don't think John Byrne would show up here, and I further don't think anyone else liked it. There's a Big Deal series that got ignored while it was being done.

12:54 / 13.07.04

Yeah, Chapter One was pretty piss poor (and unnecessary). Spidey gets a COMPUTER instead of a microscope from his parents -- big update there. Thankfully the "Spidey's origin happens with a huge explosion right after the spider bite" bit also went the way of the dinosaur pretty quickly.

13:17 / 13.07.04

Hee, I liked that first appearance of the Punisher, where he's doing backflips and stuff. It's like, "I'm a U.S. Marine! Huzzah!" (flipetty flip) Because, you know, backflips are the first thing they teach you in boot camp.
"You! Soldier! Give me twenty! Backflips! I want backflips! What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?! I told you to do a half back twist, you did a hand spring! Clean out the latrines, Mr. Thinks-he's-Rey-Mysterio-Jr.! And the rest of you! What's so funny!? Up on the parallel bars like you got shat on, boy!"

D Terminator XXXIII

14:33 / 14.07.04

That story was sooo ass.

Yes. That's where the 'homosexual love'-spoiler fits right in.

Haus of Mystery

20:04 / 14.07.04

I always loved The Lizard. Something about his purple action-slacks and lab-coat always clicked with me. Yet the most recent Lizard story I can remember(aside from Bendis' botch job in that 'Ultimate Team-Up' title) was McFarlane's gobsmackingly awful post-Miller Spidey shit-fest 'Torment'. So, can anyone recommend me a 'classic' (or just plain apeshit) Lizard story. C'mon you enlarged brains-in-jars! Work for me.

09:56 / 15.07.04

I liked the Spider-Lizard story, when Petey got dosed with the lizard serum, and turned into a bulletproof, mindless version of the lizard, and Curt Connors had to chase him down in the sewers and basically mug him to get the cure down his throat. Cool reversal of the usual Lizard story, and much better than the fucking Spider-Hulk, or Six-Arm Spidey.
Hah, remember the Spider-Buggy? I think I had the toy of that... I wish I had the Rom, Spaceknight toy....

13:14 / 15.07.04

was the spider buggy in marvel continuity or just the one in my head where spidey fought side by side with action man against stretch armstrong?

a

Spyder Todd 2008

13:53 / 15.07.04

Good Lizard stories? Shit, I don't know. The writing of "Quality of Life" was alright but the art was incredibly bad and pointless (why do we need to do a CGI Spidey book? why?) Secret Wars leading to Amazing Spidey 252(I think) was kind of cool, because it had the Lizard with Curt Conners intellect. I think. Or I may just be remembering the crappy version of secret wars in the mid 90's cartoon. Visually, the Lizard is lots of fun, but no one really has written a modern Lizard epic or anything. I always find Dr. Curt Conners much more interesting than the Lizard. But oh well. My advice: stick with the classics with Lizzie poisoning the river and turning us all into mutant crocodiles. Retro 60's rocks!
Oh, and maybe the novel "The Lizard Sanction". It's okay. In a mid-90's-Venom-obsessed kind of way.

14:17 / 15.07.04

To capitalize on the post-Spidey 2 Harry Osborn craze, Marvel just came out yesterday with a paperback collecting all Harry-as-Goblin stories. It's got the DeMatteis/Sal Buscema stuff and some earlier Roger Stern (I think)/Ross Andru stories. Looks cool.

14:58 / 15.07.04

i was in the toy shop at lunchtime

(remind me to tell you all about the doop toy sometime...)

and they have, no word of a lie:

Fishing spidey - spidey with galoshes, sou'wester and fishing rod

Archer spidey - spidey with a green hat and a bownarrow

and
Safari spidey - spidey wearing a 70s safari suit over his regular duds, for when he's in the jungle or chilling in a retro kitsch space age bachelor pad.

now what the fuck is going on there?

Haus of Mystery

20:03 / 15.07.04

Are you being serious Gambit. Cos' if I can't go down to that same shop and pick me up lounge-safari spidey tomorrow you're in trouble.

13:49 / 10.08.04

So did you guys get archer and lounge/safari Spidey?

Saw this on Augie DeBlieck's online column at comicbookresources and I couldn't agree more - someone's got to give Bagley props for doing freaking 63 issues straight plus small other assignments for other books simultaneously. Even if Mark Magley's art is far from perfect and his faces all kind of look similar most of the time, his streak on the book with no fill-ins is something pretty amazing, I think (no pun intended).

>> Feedback | Archives Tuesday August 10, 2004
Pipeline, Issue #374

Mark Bagley's been drawing this title now for 63 issues without a break, including bi-weekly runs. At the same time, he's taken on other short term assignments, and yet never blown a deadline. (You can split hairs here. THE PULSE is bi-monthly now instead of the original monthly status it was supposed to be before Bagley was artist.)

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

17:23 / 10.08.04

was the spider buggy in marvel continuity or just the one in my head where spidey fought side by side with action man against stretch armstrong?

Yes it was...it was the brainchild of a couple of marketing people in a Gerry Conway story, and Spidey destroyed it first time out, since he didn't know how to drive. Len Wein brought it back, controlled by The Terrible Tinkerer who used it to try and kill Spidey.

*shudders*

Yeah. They really did stories like that.

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