A couple of weeks ago, Spider-Man celebrated his 50th anniversary with the release of Amazing Spider-Man #692. I didn’t pay much attention to that comic because it had been years since I bought my last Spider-Man book.
At the most recent Fan Expo, I wanted to cover the Spider-Man panel, because I am not a regular reader and hopefully I would observe and report on the panel as someone who “wasn’t in the know” or give a different perspective on the panel. The panel, which included writer Dan Slott and editor Steve Wacker, talked about their plans for Spider-Man and a little bit about the future of the character. Half way through the panel it hit me, why am I not reading Spider-Man?
Dan Slott has a lot of passion for Spider-Man. It pours out of him when he speaks about the character and the book. You can tell he has some great ideas for the character and he wants Spider-Man to be Marvel’s flagship title.
Steve Wacker is the editor of Spider-Man, but he is also the editor on Daredevil, Captain Marvel Hawkeye and Punisher. I am a regular reader of Daredevil. I am going to start picking up the Punisher trades very soon and I have heard great things about Captain Marvel and Hawkeye. With the quality of books coming from Steve Wacker’s office, I really can’t go wrong with reading Spider-Man as well.
I used to be a huge Spider-Man fan. It was the book I spent most of my money on when I was in high school. My comics purchases dropped when I was in college. I would buy the odd comic book, but Spider-Man wasn’t a title I would pick up. I still loved the character, but I didn’t buy any Spidey books. I received issue #400 as a gift and that was one of the last Spidey comics I had. Issue #400 was an important book: that was the issue where Aunt May died. It was a tough issue to pick up because I didn’t know about the clone saga and Ben Reilly. Afterwards I bought 2 issues of Amazing Spider-Man, but then I didn’t buy any for a long time afterwards.
I got back into Spider-Man in the early 2000s with Ultimate Spider-Man. I picked up the first 7 trade paperbacks of the series and thought it was awesome. Then I picked up the Amazing Spider-Man trade Coming Home. After reading that, I put it away and never bought another Spider-Man comic again. The story was too ridiculous.
I ended up selling all of my Ultimate Spider-Man trade paperbacks, and that Coming Home “masterpiece” and decided I wouldn’t buy Spider-Man anymore. It was easy to avoid web-head on the comic shelves. Then Spidey joined FF.
FF is a title that I picked up from day one. I had issues with the story last year, but after I read the complete story arc, I could understand what Jonathan Hickman was doing with the series. Reading Spider-Man again was refreshing. The character has changed, but Peter Parker/Spidey has reverted back to the fun parts of the character when I first started reading him. Yes a lot has happened in the 292 issues I have been away Spider-Man, but I have confidence in Dan Slott that he will craft an intriguing story that will keep me hooked.
I borrowed issue Amazing Spider-Man #692 from a friend so I could check it out (my local shop was sold out and hopefully they can find me a copy). I hate the character Alpha, but we’re not supposed to like him. The writing of that issue was great. It may be one of my favourite Spider-Man comics (Amazing Spider-Man #347 is the best in my opinion).
So with the great writing, good artwork and great editorial/creative direction, Amazing Spider-Man is now officially back on my comics pull list. It’s been a long time away, but I can’t think of any reasons not to buy Spider-Man anymore.
How about you? Are you reading Spider-Man?
Ah, Erik Larsen is one of my favourite Spidey artists, that is a great cover. Been reading Amazing since before Mcfarlane came on the book. I would say the current team is perfect, ever since New Ways to Die, the book has only gotten better!
Erik Larsen is #1 in my book for Spider-Man artists. Gil Kane is definately #2. There have been so many great artists who have drawn the character but to me, those two artists capture the Spider-Man universe perfectly.
You both have wrong personal opinions.
Though Kane is a pretty solid #2 choice – what about Romita or Andru?
Spider-Man has been running 50 years Pete; it’s at the point where many generations have come to adopt the character as their own, along with the creators who worked on the book at that time.
Same could be said for Steve Ditko and others. Who was your favourite?
I don’t like Erik Larsen’s Spider-Man art, he tried to be too similar to McFarlane. Personally, I think Romita Sr is the definitive Spider-Man artist followed by McFarlane.