To celebrate the new Spider-Man movie, Mark Alford and I asked the Crawlspace contributors (both for the podcast and the columns) for their lists of the best Spider-Man comic book stories. These were were then compiled into a Top 50, which we covered over the course of several columns in the Tangled Webs/ Cobwebs series. Here it is one place with links to the original articles, as well as related material.
First, the countdown…
50. Marvel Team Up #79 (Red Sonja)
49. Spectacular Spider-Man #27 (The Final Curtain)
48. Amazing Spider-Man #41-43 (Rhino, Mary Jane)
47. Amazing Spider-Man #383-385 (The Jury)
46. Amazing Spider-Man #657 (Torchsong)
45. Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (Sinister Six)
44. Ultimate Spider-Man #1-7 (Power & Responsibility)
43. Amazing Spider-Man #666-673 (Spider Island)
42. Spectacular Spider-Man #200 (Best Enemies)
41. Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales) #1-13
40. Power & Responsibility (1990s crossover that kicked off the Clone Saga)
39. Amazing Spider-Man #617, 625 (Gauntlet: Rhino)
38. Ultimate Spider-Man #97-105 (Ultimate Clone Saga)
37. Fantastic Four #347-349 (New Fantastic Four)
36. Amazing Spider-Man #269-270 (Firelord)
35. Amazing Spider-Man #578-579 (Unscheduled Stop)
34. Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2 #36 (September 11)
33. Amazing Spider-Man #141-149 (Clone Saga)
32. Amazing Spider-Man #39-40 (Green Goblin Unmasked)
31. Spider-Men #1-5
30. Amazing Spider-Man #655-656 (No One Dies)
29. Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1-5
28. Ultimate Spider-Man #8-13 (Learning Curve)
27. Spider-Man/ Human Torch: I’m With Stupid #1-5
26. Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2 #49-50 (Doomed Affairs)
25. Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (The Wedding)
24. Amazing Spider-Man #400 (The Gift)
23. Spider-Man #75 (Revelations Part 4)
22. Amazing Spider-Man #267 (The Commuter)
21. Ultimate Spider-Man #156-160 (Death of Spider-Man)
20. Amazing Spider-Man #238-239 (Hobgoblin)
19. Amazing Spider-Man #252-259 (Alien Costume Saga)
18. Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1 (To Have and to Hold)
17. Amazing Spider-Man #1
16. Amazing Spider-Man #50-52 (Spider-Man No More/ In the Clutches of the Kingpin)
15. Amazing Spider-Man #193-200 (Return of the Burglar)
14. Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1-12 (Down Among the Dead Men)
13. Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Venom)
12. Amazing Spider-Man #539-543 (Back in Black)
11. Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2 #30-35, 37-38 (Coming Home/ The Conversation)
10. Superior Spider-Man #1-10
9. Spider-Man: Blue
8. Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #72-79 (The Owl-Octopus War/ The Final Battle)
7. Amazing Spider-Man #229-230 (Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut)
6. Amazing Spider-Man #248 (The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man)
5. Amazing Spider-Man #31-33 (The Master Planner Saga)
4. Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110 (Death of Jean Dewolff)
3. Amazing Fantasy #15
2. Amazing Spider-Man #121-122 (The Night Gwen Stacy Died)
1. Kraven’s Last Hunt
There was a separate list composed of reader submissions.
There are a few other related articles, which featured commentary on this list, or on many of the stories in this list.
- The rules on what stories were eligible were described in an earlier entry.
- The countdown started on April 1st.
- I wrote about a top ten list circa 1998.
- I wrote about the influence of other Marvel comics on key Spider-Man stories.
- I did a series on where to start reading Spider-Man
- Part 2 covered the argument that new readers should just go with Amazing Spider-Man #1-#150
- Part 3 detailed where to go after you’ve read the obvious Spider-Man stories.
- Part 4 was about where to start reading recent Spider-Man
- What is the best “typical” Spider-Man story?
- Major Spider-Man moments that happened in other Marvel comics first.
- More to come.
Since these are some of the most notable Spider-Man stories ever, the Crawlspace has published quite a few articles on the individual stories. These include…
- A 30th anniversary convention panel on “Kraven’s Last Hunt”
- DeMatteis reflects on 30th anniversary of “Kraven’s Last Hunt”
- A spotlight on the different depictions of Gwen Stacy’s death.
- Cobwebs on “The Death of Jean Dewolff”
- The initial plans for Venom
- The 30th anniversary of the wedding.
- How Amazing Spider-Man 2 skipped the second half of “The Night Gwen Stacy Died”
- An analysis of “Unscheduled Stop” and the great “typical” Spider-Man stories.
- Is Ultimate Spider-Man #1 one of the most important comic books of the last twenty years?
- The surprising influence of Amazing Spider-Man #40.
- Spider-Man VS Firelord (Amazing Spider-Man #269-270)
- More to come.
Some of the stories were also covered in podcast episodes. There have also been interviews with some of the writers, artists and editors responsible.
- Friday Night Fights: Spider-Man VS Scorpion (Amazing Spider-Man #145-146)
- Friday Night Fights: Spider-Man VS The Puma (Amazing Spider-Man #256-257)
- Friday Night Fights: Spider-Man VS The Green Goblin (Amazing Spider-Man #39-40)
- Friday Night Fights: Spider-Man VS The Juggernaut (Amazing Spider-Man #229-230)
- Friday Night Fights: Spider-Man VS The Kingpin (Amazing Spider-Man #197)
- Friday Night Fights: Spider-Man VS The Kingpin (Amazing Spider-Man #539-542)
- Friday Night Fights: Spider-Man VS Venom (Amazing Spider-Man #300)
- Friday Night Fights: Red Sonja VS Kulan Gath (Marvel Team-Up #79)
- Interview with Gerry Conway
- Interview with Jim Shooter
- Interview with Roger Stern Part 2
- Interview with Mark Bagley
- Interview with J.M. DeMatteis Part 1 Part 2
- Interview with editor Steve Wacker
- Interview with Dan Slott
- Spider-History on October 2000 (when Ultimate Spider-Man #1 came out)
- Review of Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #3-5 and other comics
- More to come