Tangled Webs: Best of Spider-Man Honorable Mentions

A few years ago to celebrate Spider-Man: Homecoming, we did a selection of our 50 favorite Spider-Man stories. Readers submitted their own choices, and a few more stories were added. There is still some great material that was left out, and with Far From Home in theaters, it’s a good time to discuss these.

Here are ten other stories that would be on my personal selection of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever. You may notice a shortage of Stan Lee selections, and that’s because he got his own honorable mentions entry last year.

Among Us Lurks… A Lizard (Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #127)

Writer- Len Kaminski, Artist- Alan Kuperberg

This might just be my favorite Lizard story. The basic idea is that the Owl has decided to kidnap Connors’ family in order to get Connors to work for him. At the same time, Martha Connors has gotten tired of getting involved with superhero shenanigans and dumped Curt; when he disappeared for a week for Secret Wars, it was the last straw. Spider-Man starts investigating when carer criminals claim to be attacked by giant reptiles, but he encounters a different form of the Lizard than he’s used to; this time, Connors is in control. However, with his family kidnapped, he may be more dangerous than ever before.

A few years ago I reread it along with other comics from that time, and it became pretty clear that this was essentially an inventory story, with barely any attention paid to Peter’s private life. But it still worked. The developments to the Lizard in the aftermath of his last appearance back in Secret Wars had dramatic weight, and the story highlighted Spider-Man’s experience as a superhero, and his desire to save everyone he can, even the hoodlums targeted by one of his enemies, and the criminal mastermind behind it all.

Other critics…

SuperMegaMonkey wasn’t a fan and described the issue as “pitch for a new series starring the Lizard,” which honestly might be part of its appeal for me.

High Tide (Spider-Man VS Wolverine)

Writer- James Owsley (now better known as “Christopher Priest”), Penciller- Mark Bright, Inker- Al Williamson

One excellent detail which adds to this story’s appeal is a small scene in which Peter’s reminiscing about the spider that bit him, and says that for all he knew the professor who shook his hand at the radiation exhibit was the source of his powers. The question of where Spider-Man’s powers would become a key point of JMS’s Amazing Spider-Man run and the throwaway joke is nowhere near the best moment in this dark story.

This one-shot is about Peter Parker getting involved in something that’s out of his league, on a mission to Berlin. It features a perfectly shell-shocked Spider-Man several times, as things just keep getting worse. Some of the great scenes involve dead grocery store owners, snipers and homeless men who see Spider-Man unmasked in Times Square, the discovery of a murdered friend, the search for a trigger-crazy suicidal friend of Logan’s, lots of berserker rages, and a really violent battle with Wolverine, in which Wolverine demonstrates that the only way Spider-Man could win the fight is to kill him. It’s elevated by great character moments as Peter really damages his relationship with Mary Jane, gets an odd result when searching for a black bodysuit in Germany (when he needs a costume), and makes a traumatic mistake.

Other Critics….
Wizard listed this the tenth best Spider-Man story ever in their first Spider-Man magazine, and the 4th best Wolverine story in a ranking of those in Wizard #X.
Spiderfan.org gives it a 4.5/5 (meaning they think the five star books are better)

It made CBR’s list of the fifty best single issue stories ever. Critic Douglas Wolk praised it in his book Reading Comics. Darren of the mOvieblog thinks it’s a bit heavy-handed and overshadowed by an unintended connection to the Hobgoblin saga. Supermegamonkey gave it a B-.

Amazing Fantasy #16-18

Writer- Kurt Busiek, Artist-Paul Lee

I’m a little perplexed at how obscure this mini-series is. Kurt Busiek, Paul Lee and a bevy of painters who contribute to the middle issue tackle a rarely explored (especially at that point) period in the Spider-Man comics: the events after Amazing Fantasy #15, when Peter Parker is trying to figure out what type of superhero he should be, and whether the lesson of power and responsibility even requires him to be a superhero at all. This is an accessible Spider-Man: Year One story by one of the most popular writers of the 90s with gorgeous painted art. Its obscurity is stunning.

These issues show a Peter Parker who had been changing before he ever got bitten by a radioactive spider, who has lost his circle of friends to newcomer Flash Thompson. He’s a lonely kid trying to make sense of the world without anyone who understands him, until he encounters someone his age who also has super-powers. That takes a tragic turn as he realizes they have a very different approach in how they want to use their powers and change the world. The painted art highlights a sense of the early days of the Marvel Universe when most people hadn’t seen superheroes in action, let alone the supervillains.

The challenges Peter faces are different from the bad guys Lee and Ditko pit Spider-Man against, which creates a nice balance. It starts with ordinary criminals, as a predatory outfit takes advantage of elderly widows and widowers claiming overpriced furniture is their spouse’s final present. And the bad guys get progressively tougher for a Spider-Man whose first instinct isn’t to take action, but to call the police. This story shows his transformation into a hero who can take matters into his own hands.

Other critics…

Gary Miller of Spiderfan gave every issue five out of five webs.

“Field of Dream” Peter Parker Spider-Man #27-28

A rematch with the Robot Master, one of the least-regarded Lee/ Ditko bad guys forces Spider-Man to make a very difficult choice. This comes at a terrible time for Peter. Mary Jane is believed dead, and an encounter with Norman Osborn (in Revenge of the Green Goblin, a story I might have include if I didn’t already two others from the Jenkins/ Buckingham run) has left him wondering if he is as good a man as he prefers to think he is, or if he’s capable of great darkness.

He has to choose to help an enemy commit suicide. If he doesn’t, the enemy will suffer and an evil computer program will inflict tremendous damage. But this would go against Peter’s greatest core value, something Jenkins and Buckingham don’t ignore. When he goes to Aunt May for some clarity, he learns about a family tragedy in one of her most powerful scenes ever.

Other critics…

Jeff English of Spiderfan gave the second issue five out of five webs.

“One Small Break” Peter Parker Spider-Man #30-32

Writer: Paul Jenkins; Penciller: Mark Buckingham

This was originally supposed to be a Spider-Man VS. Superskrull story to give Mark Buckingham the opportunity to draw all the major characters in the Marvel Universe. Instead it introduced Fusion- a man who truly hates Spider-Man, and seems to have the powers of every Marvel hero and villain (which provided Buckingham with the opportunity to draw them.) His reason for hating Spider-Man is a lot more sensible than Venom’s, and something Jonah’s warned against since Amazing Spider-Man #1, the dangers of kids imitating what they see on TV, something that sadly  can go terribly wrong. Fusion quickly loses the reader’s sympathy by gaining a three-figure body count. He gives Spider-Man a truly vicious beating, giving new meaning to the words “one small break.” The last issue features the story’s best moment as a completely shattered Spider-Man realizes Fusion’s secret.

Other great moments include Jonah realizing he can’t publicize Fusion’s vendetta against Spider-Man since all the other media sources are doing that, and Peter Parker being comforted by Flash Thompson, in a scene that is perfectly in character. Fusion reappeared in Peter Parker Spider-Man #39-41, also a solid Doctor Octopus story, and Jenkins’ Thor: Heaven & Hell mini-series. I’m not sure if anyone’s ever going to use him again, but I hope so. He has tremendous potential, and one of the best debuts of any comic book villain.

Other critics….
Jeff English of spiderfan.org gives every issue 5 stars.

JR’s review of the story in his 2001 year in review is summed up with the words “Fusion Fizzles”

Shed (Amazing Spider-Man #630-633)

Writer: Zeb Wells. Artists: Chris Bachalo, Emma Rios

This story’s been very divisive, with some seeing it as a character assassination with poor regard for continuity, and developments that should never be seen in Amazing Spider-Man, and others viewing it as a highlight of the series. It’s on my list of great stories, so you know where I stand. This occurred during the Gauntlet arc in which relatives of Kraven the Hunter have kidnapped Madame Web, and used her visions of the future to make typical encounters between Spider-Man and his enemies significantly worse. They make sure that Connors’ latest relapse as the Lizard takes a different turn, one that devastates Spider-Man and transforms the Lizard into something else, a creature that has shed Connors and wants all the humans to give in to their basest impulses, and release the cold blooded animal inside.

The A-plot of the Lizard doing something terrible and releasing people’s inner nastiness meshed with the B-plot of Peter trying to find someone to talk to, who could help him with his burdens at a difficult time, which was problematic since he had a painful realization about his relationship with the Black Cat, and Aunt May had been turned into a darker version of herself by Mister Negative. This was a story that was clearly about something, and tackled questions of the nature of humanity well. Shed shows a villain reaching the point of no return in a way that is pretty rare, and raises some tough questions about how someone should respond to a catastrophe, kicking off a character arc that has been one of the most satisfying parts of major Spider-Man event storylines like Clone Conspiracy and Hunted.

Perhaps one reason I’m okay with the feral depiction of the Lizard is that it harkens back to the story that exposed me to the character: Todd McFarlane’s Torment. Chris Bachalo’s art is a bit controversial, but it’s easy to follow here, and a good fit for the weirdness of the story.

Wells captured little details nicely, like Spider-Man admitting to himself that there was no way he could have been fast enough to prevent a tragedy, a doomed recurring character revealing that he knew the story would end this way, and the death of a mind.

Other critics…

David Uzumeri of Comics Alliance praised it as a grim and gritty comic done right. It made IGN’s list of the top 25 Spider-Man stories, as well as Alex Wyse’s list for CBR. It was panned on the Crawlspace podcast.

Arachnamorphosis (What If? #88)

Writer: Ben Raab, Artist: Ariel Olivetti

This might be my most obscure favorite story, but it uses What If? in a clever way to show a world where Peter Parker’s genre is different, where instead of being a superhero, he’s a science monster. It opens up dark with a middle-aged Peter Parker recognizing that his scientific experiments are turning him into a monster, and probably going to kill him at some point in the next few days. His main goal is to prevent his son Ben from suffering the same fate. At the same time, his son is bullied at school but starts to develop the power to fight back.

Ariel Olivetti has a different art style now but uses the garish 90s colors to depict what looks like a horror movie set to great effect. There’s one great moment where Ben is going to what looks like a mad scientist’s house, except it’s his own house, and that conveys what it would be like to live there and much about Peter and Ben’s relationship. This story ends in tragedy and hope. The biggest villains turn out to be ordinary people, imagining the worst of outsiders.

I’m a bit disappointed that there hasn’t been any appearance from these characters in the various Spider-Verse or Spider-Geddon stories, but it also works well to just keep it as is.

The Ultimate Punisher (Ultimate Marvel Team Up #6-8)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis. Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz

This is an unconventional choice because Spider-Man’s appearance is relatively brief. The main characters are Daredevil and the Punisher, although Spider-Man’s role remains pivotal, showing a teenage hero completely out of his league. The Ultimate version of Frank Castle is a police officer who took a stand against corruption, and lost his family in an attempted reprisal. Now he’s hunting down his former brothers in blue. Daredevil’s trying to stop him because he thinks it’ll be better if the legal system exposes the conspiracy, and he wants to save a good man from going over the deep end.

It’s an excellent reimagining of the Punisher, as the theme of police corruption is both timely and timeless. There’s a powerful flashback to someone trying to talk the uncompromising Frank Castle out of testifying against his fellow police officers, and he talks about why it’s necessary to be the type of man kids can be proud of. That’s before his wife and family is killed, which turns him into the type of guy who responds to a villain begging not to be shot so his mother can have an open-casket funeral “Face it is, then.”

It’s also likely one of the best Daredevil stories ever, given the nuances of that character, his hatred of guns, analytical mind and reinforced dislike of Spider-Man.

Other critics…

Peter Kroon of Spiderfan gives the issues grades of 3.5, 2.5 and 3. Darren of the mOvieblog sees it as a highlight of a decent run.

There For You (Amazing Spider-Man #801)

Writer: Dan Slott, Artist: Marcos Martin

This story was published after the Crawlspace top 50, so it might make a current list. With the final issue of Slott’s 100+ issue run of Amazing Spider-Man, he wanted to make a final statement on the character, reuniting with Marcos Martin, who had mostly left superhero comics to do creator-owned work. The previous issues were an epic showdown between Spider-Man and his greatest enemy, after Norman Osborn gained power beyond what he’s had before. The finale is completely different, a standalone about how one person is affected by Spider-Man on the worst night of their life.

It’s Marcos Martin, so the artwork is exceptional, from the first page showing major events from Peter Parker’s point of view (the only time we see him as a character), a hyper-detailed fight scene between Spider-Man and a bodega robber, and montages of the moments in ordinary people’s lives. It’s a story that highlights something that Spider-Man would be largely unaware of, the positive effect he has on thousands around him, the flipside of all the sacrifices he has made in order to do the right thing. It works pretty well by itself, but can also be a powerful companion to all the stories where things go badly for Peter.

Other critics…

It has a 9.1 average of critics according to Comic Book Roundup. On the Crawlspace it got a C from Bogenrieder and Mark Alford.

Back to Basics Part One (Amazing Spider-Man Volume 5 #1)

Writer: Nick Spencer Artists: Ryan Ottley, Humberto Ramos

This would very likely make the Crawlspace Top 50 if we were making the list today, rather than before Nick Spencer was even announced as the writer of Spider-Man. There may be some disagreement about whether this should count as an individual story, or whether I need to include the entirety of the first five issues, which are mostly by one creative team under the same story umbrella (Issue 1 is listed as “Back to Basics Part 1”), and presumably conceived as a unified whole. The first issue ends on a cliffhanger with the Lizard as Peter’s teacher that is continued in the next issue. A new mystery villain figures into the climax of the major adventures.

The counterargument is that the A-plots are largely separate. The first issue covers an alien invasion, that is largely resolved at the end of the issue and leads into the epilogue by Ramos with the trial and early appearance by new mystery villain Kindred, which doesn’t really figure into the rest of “Back to Basics.” It covers major changes in Peter’s private life and leads him to a major decision, which is set up in the first pages as Peter recalls a defining moment with MJ, and we also see the resolution to the decision. It’s also more Bugle-heavy than the rest of the TPB by virtue of Peter getting his ass fired. The arc for Issues 2-5 has a different storyline based on an event that occurs in the end of the second issue due to a scientific process introduced in the same issue. It also doesn’t resolve the changes in the first issue, not does it feature Peter making any decisions about his professional or academic future.

What made the difference for me is the sense that one can radically different opinions on the quality of the different segments in a way that wouldn’t work for most arcs. You could easily think that the first issue is okay but the Peter Parker VS Spider-Man story is a highlight, or that #1 is fantastic and the rest is a solid but not exceptional story, which is kinda my opinion.

Spencer handled the balance of Peter’s private life very well. In the space of a single issue, a lot goes badly for him. The academic cheating accusation came out in a very public way, building on developments from prior runs. He was fired. Aunt May was disappointed. There were some smaller insults as well (IE- Sajani suing him.) When one good big thing happened to him, it served to balance the bad. And it’s going to put Mary Jane in an interesting place, when she is the one person Peter can communicate with, who knows what he’s going through, and the injustice of it. Ottley had to handle an alien invasion, numerous guest-starrs, the return of an A-list villain, and the ups and downs, so many downs, of Peter’s private life, all of which he did with aplomb.

As a Lizard fan, I loved the stinger with his return, which established a promising dynamic (The Lizard’s in a position of acceptance, he’s going to be interacting with Peter, there is a potential for innocent bystanders to be hurt) that’s worked out pretty well in the run. The final development also gives Peter an opportunity to recover from his academic losses. He’s been knocked down a peg, but not out. He’s back to being a grad student, which is at this point, his ideal academic level. It’s really impressive that this was all done in a single issue in a very satisfying way.

Other critics…

Monkeysfightingrobots gave it a near perfect score of 4.9 out of 5. Newsarama gave it a 9.0 out of 10. Brett of Graphic Policy gave it a 6.8 and thinks the art doesn’t gel.

So, are any of you guys fans of these stories? Or maybe you think I’m crazy for thinking something should be considered one of the best ever Spider-Man stories? What would you have included?