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COMIC-GAF Presents a Graphic Guide to Spider-Man Comics

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Hey there! One day, me and some of the local comics lads decided we should put together a guide for people interested in modern Spider-Man comics but might be confused on where to start or which series might interest them. We decided to focus on a couple eras.

ViewtifulJC gives us a review of the Brand New Day era. If you're not aware, Brand New Day is what came after the infamous One More Day storyline (Spider-Man sells him marriage to Mephisto to prevent Aunt May's death). Amazing Spider-Man was changed to a three-times-a-month schedule with a rotating writers and artists in a soft reboot.

This probably one of the trickiest eras to maneuver. There's a lot of gold mixed in with some crap, so ViewtifulJC took it unto himself to give you an in depth look at the good and the bad to help you pick and choose should you be interested in any of the storylines.

Brand New Day era is pretty long so we break it down for you in parts of three. After Brand New Day, Dan Slott takes sole control of the title in the Big Time era. We don't have a guide ready to go for that bit, but we do have what follows.

Psych-Bat comes in to give you an in-depth look into the Superior Spider-Man era where Doctor Octopus takes over Peter Parker's body.

Lastly, for today, comes my guide and review for Ultimate Spider-Man, the series focusing on a young Peter Parker.

Now these aren't the only eras of Spider-Man comics we think matter! There's just a shit ton of Spider-Man comics and we think these parts are ones people could use some guidance for. We're gonna try to continue to update the thread with new guides and review for other eras and series. At this time, I think we're gonna take a look at J Michael Straczynski's mixed run on ASM, the Miles Morales series, the aforementioned Big Time and probably some events like Maximum Carnage.

I cannot thank Psychbat and ViewtifulJC enough for their help. This took quite a while to put together and finally post. For example, JC was helping put this together a little over a year ago before he got with the ban hammer. Psychbat is responsible for everything in the Superior Spider-Man section including the content and design as well as periodically prodding and reminding me to put this together.

Here is the first part of Brand New Day brought to you by JC. He read a lot of Bob Gale comics so you wouldn't have to
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
It's has been a while since I have read Brand New Day and while it was rough reading it after urgh One More Day, as I felt and still feel that was no reason for Peter and Mary-Jane marriage to be dissolved and I didn't like how Peter relationship with Aunt May had regressed since not knowing that Peter is Spider-Man. I also didn't like Jackpot and I really really didn't like Carlie.

But story wise yeah Brand new day had some decent stories that I did enjoy though and some of the new villains like Mr. Negative were pretty cool.
 

phanphare

Banned
awesome thread! I loved the Brand New Day era personally. even though there was some crap it was nice to have so much variety with the creatives and I think they were shipping the book multiple times per month.

and yeah that snow arc was so good. the art was amazing. the story was good too but honestly that arc for me feels like Blade Runner where it's just got really good visuals and a cool vibe going on. good stuff.
 

ZeoVGM

Banned
Great thread. Despite my issues with erasing the marriage, Brand New Day ended up being great, as most of the past 10 years have been in ASM.
 

Messi

Member
Is the Shed TPB worth buying? Love Bachalo so its obviously beautiful...but what about the rest of the tp?
 

Sandfox

Member
The first thing I checked was to see if Unscheduled Stop got the respect it deserved. I might pick up the collections soon.

One thing I will say is that I recommend Big Time to people getting into modern Spidey.

Is the Shed TPB worth buying? Love Bachalo so its obviously beautiful...but what about the rest of the tp?
Shed is good.
 

phanphare

Banned
Is the Shed TPB worth buying? Love Bachalo so its obviously beautiful...but what about the rest of the tp?

I think there's only one other book in that trade but I'd say it's worth it for just Shed. 4 book arc and you can probably get it pretty cheap.
 

Vic_Viper

Member
Highly recommend starting with Slott's run. Starting with Big Time which leads into Superior, then into Amazing until Secret Wars. Some of the craziest stuff happens in Slott's run, Not all of it pays off but its a crazy ride all the same. Spider-verse alone is worth the read IMO.
 

VanWinkle

Member
Great stuff, but, wait, where's the Superior and Ultimate stuff?

Edit: whoops, sorry, didn't realize you were still posting them.
 
I don't know why I expected GAMEPROFF to be part of this. Maybe it's the avatar?

(Nicely done all of you~)
Thanks haha. Actually, Gameproff would probably be down to do a guide for something.

Can't wait for the Ultimate stuff. That was the book that first got me into comics, and really is just phenomenal.

Read Kraven's Last Hunt
Blue
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (especially if you liked the high school tone of the movie)
These are pretty excellent recommendations! I was thinking of doing guides for both KLH and Blue. I haven't read SM <3 MJ but its definitely gotten a lot of love over the years

Great stuff, but, wait, where's the Superior and Ultimate stuff?

Edit: whoops, sorry, didn't realize you were still posting them.
Yeah, I didn't want to swamp the thread right off the bat with nearly 40 images haha. Ultimate Spider-Man section will go up tomorrow.

Before you read Superior Spider-Man you need to read:
Last Legs (#600)

Ends of the Earth (#682 - 687)

Dying Wish (#698 - 700)

These stories are vital if you want to understand why Superior Spider-Man happened.
Thanks for this Boxy! Let me know if you'd like to put something together.

I thought Kraven's Last Hunt was considered one of the best runs?
It's definitely a classic. It just didn't make the cut for this round. It's more of a mini series. I think it'll be something we write up something for in the future.
 

Wanderer5

Member
This is pretty great. I'll probably pass much of the brand new day stuff, but I have Marvel Unlimited for this month, and been thinking to mostly look at Spidey stuff (particularly Superior Spider-Man).

Before you read Superior Spider-Man you need to read:
Last Legs (#600)

Ends of the Earth (#682 - 687)

Dying Wish (#698 - 700)

These stories are vital if you want to understand why Superior Spider-Man happened.

Thanks for this. I already started a bit on Superior, but I'll check these out on Unlimited.
 
Since JMS's mostly excellent run will be covered, I'll just recommend it's complementary series, Peter Parker: Spider-Man by Paul Jenkins (w/Zeb Wells) & Mark Buckingham and the follow-up, Spectacular Spider-Man by Jenkins & Ramos. The latter falls off near the end due to a then re-emerging editorial department forcing changes to the character on the creative teams, but Jenkins got to the heart of the character better than most Spider-Man writers. Very lighthearted but also completely goofy. Early-aughts Marvel was truly awesome.


Also, Marvel Knights Spider-Man by Mark Millar & Terry Dodson (w/ Frank Cho) is a great self-contained 12-issue story that's been collected in a handsome Complete Edition.

 

Pachimari

Member
Ahh, I read Kraven's First Hunt as Kraven's Last Hunt, so I got confused when it said "Eh." So there's also a First Hunt hmm.
 

Vampfox

Banned
Tried accepting Brand New Day but as someone who grew up with a mature married Spider-Man I just couldn't get into it.

I hate how they made Peter more immature.
O3eXPaz.jpg
 

Sojgat

Member
Do yourselves a favour.

3782206-01.jpg


Collecting: SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) #43-61 & 85, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #206, 224-252 & AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL (1964) #16-17 ... plus material from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #15, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #3, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #3 and WHAT IF...? #34
 

ZeoVGM

Banned
Tried accepting Brand New Day but as someone who grew up with a mature married Spider-Man I just couldn't get into it.

Just a quick reminder for anyone just joining us:

In two separate threads just this week, Vampfox has tried arguing with people that Amazing Spider-Man has been bad since they got rid of the marriage 10 years ago. He later admitted that he hasn't actually read any of it and that his opinions are based off of some reviews he read on a Spider-Man message board.

So you can ignore all opinions on Amazing Spider-Man from Vampfox in relation to the past literal decade. Trolling Spider-Man threads has become his thing.
 

Vampfox

Banned
Just a quick reminder for anyone just joining us:

In two separate threads just this week, Vampfox has tried arguing with people that Amazing Spider-Man has been bad since they got rid of the marriage 10 years ago. He later admitted that he hasn't actually read any of it and that his opinions are based off of some reviews he read on a Spider-Man message board.

So you can ignore all opinions on Amazing Spider-Man from Vampfox in relation to the past literal decade. Trolling Spider-Man threads has become his thing.

I read the first four months of BND, the "Back In Black Cat tradepaper back when Borders Books was closing and selling there books on the cheap , and Clone Conspiracy so I fail to see how I'm a troll.

But if people like immature manchild Spider-Man than more power to you.

Also Slott makes Peter very stupid.
http://spidermancrawlspace.com/wwwb...&t=21250&sid=75c9a5c88500492e134537578d75431f
 

GAMEPROFF

Banned
I read the first four months of BND, the "Back In Black Cat tradepaper back when Borders Books was closing and selling there books on the cheap , and Clone Conspiracy so I fail to see how I'm a troll.
out of sudden?
And cool. Three Arcs out of ten years of stories.
But if people like immature manchild Spider-Man than more power to you.
How do you know that its that way always and over ten years.
 
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