Comics Starting Spiderman Comics

[kal-el1990]

Hi,

I am thinking of stating spiderman comics but i want to start from the begining. Im going to buy volume 1 of ultimate spiderman and i want to know a good comic that is in a volume to buy. Any good ideas? i would like ones with the symbiot and venom!

Thanks alot,

Kal-El 1990

 

[Dark Spidey]

Okay. My opinion, there might be some spoilers:

Getting Ultimate Spider-man is cool and everything. As long as you are aware that it's not the real Spider-man. If you are looking for the real Spider-man. Then I would say start collecting the Amazing Spider-man trade paperbacks. They are all written by JMS. But the first seven, all drawn by John Romita Jr, will astound you with their sophistication. They did me. But then again, I was around to read what came before them!

Venom-wise you're in luck. "The Birth Of Venom" trade paperback came out just last week. And would be perfect for you. It's got everything you need in there. It starts off showing us how Peter got the Alien Costume. Then has all the issues where Peter is wearing it. Up to where he then discards the costume after discovering that it's really an alien.

It also includes a few odd pages here and there taken from issues that featured important Symbiote stuff. Such as from an issue of Fantastic Four. Where the Symbiote escapes and goes to find Peter again. This is very cool. As we don't need to read the rest of that FF issue, only the part that leads into the following Spider-man stories, such as Peter discarding the suit for a second time, this time at the famous church tower.

It also features pages with the first few cameo appreances of Venom before leading into the first (and best) two stories featuring him. Both drawn by McFarlane. And both essential.

All in all. This is a Venom fan's dream come true.

 

[Kraven]

Or, if you want to start from the veeery beginning (the 60's) then there was a recent Omnibus that is either coming out soon, or already has. It colllects Amazing Spider-Man #1-38 and some extra annuals and stuff. It's cover price is 100 dollars, but if you look on amazon or ebay I'm sure you could find it for around 60.

 

[CConn]

Getting Ultimate Spider-man is cool and everything. As long as you are aware that it's not the real Spider-man.

Heh, I like Ultimate Spidey better than the real one.

In any case, to any new fan I'd suggest Spider-Man: Blue, then Essential Spider-Man Vol. 3 and up. Or The Death of the Stacys TPB - whichever you prefer. Afterwhich, Kraven's Last Hunt would be a good choice, as would JMS' Spider-Man run Vols. 1-7.

Oh, and definitely get Birth of Venom. As a newbie, you'll probably be confused by a lot of the subplots in it, but it is essential Venom material.

 

[Dangerous]

Don't bother w/ Ultimate Spider-man it is wank, and not even Spider-man anyway.

Collecting Spidey- You can do one of two things-

1) Just buy trade paperbacks and collections, or-
2)Buy trades/HC’s plus get acquainted w/ Spider-man in 2007 through buying the comics also.

Essential Spider-man are a series of on-going reprints chronicling the original run of comics, basically the golden era of Spider-man. This stuff is essential is reading, but in black and white it can be a bit of a drag. Marvel Masterworks is the other option for getting the original run for reading purposes, but they are rather expensive in comparison and only feature roughly 10 issues per volume.
They are however beautifully restored in full colour and a joy to read.
I have been told you can pick them up cheap in Barnes and Noble…

A Spider-man Omnibus is coming out soon that collects the first 38 issues of ASM plus more,
it’s in colour too and a HC so it’s like a merging of the two previously explained formats.
For first time readers though, some of this stuff ain’t that easy to read.

I would say a good way to start would be pick up the latest Spider-man Marvel Masterwork (Vol 7 I believe), checking out the latest ASM trade, latest Sensational collection (Feral), and the latest Friendly Neighbourhood trade.

This way you will get a taste for classic old school Spidey, and then decide if you want to collect that stuff, and similarly get to see what each of the three current books are like and if any which you would choose to collect. Most folks here seems to think Sensational Spider-man is the best book right now.
I share this opinion, and since Sensational is the book that Venom is going to be returning in soon it is probably your best bet.

It would also be a good idea to pick up the Wizard Best of Spider-man HC.
As this collection features some of the most popular Spider-man arcs/issues ever from throughout web heads 40 year + history, so it would be a good opportunity to see which creative teams you dig.
Then you could go off and collect their runs. Another idea could be to pick up ‘Spider-man The Ultimate Guide’ by Tom DeFalco and see what characters/arcs you like the sound of and go seek em out.


Collecting Venom- Venom's apps are listed here-

http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/apps/venom.html

Many of his arcs are collected in Trade format.

As Dark Spidey mentioned the Birth of Venom TPB came out last week and it is essential for all Venom heads. I'm reading through these issues again as we speak. What makes this trade so great is that it collects every issue containing the symbiote from its inception in Secret Wars #8 right up until the Spidey Venom showdown in ASM#317, and thus their first two battles.

The next trade to get after that would be the deleted Venom Returns volume.
You will be able to find it on ebay somewhere.
This contains the 3 and 4th Venom Spidey fights.
It rules.

Other noteworthy Venom arcs/collections are- Lethal Protector, which is not collected right now (I think), Maximum Carnage and The Hunger. Aside from these you could fill in the gaps by picking up single issues, IF you want to collect everything.

Hope this has helped.

 

[kal-el1990]

Thanks for all the help people. I want Ultimate Spiderman just becasue i like the art and the really cartoony feel to it, ill definatly look into that venom TPB!! Are there any hardback graphic novels like the vol 1 and 2 of Ultimate Spiderman?

 

[Prison Mike]

Yes there are USM Hardcovers. There are 7 volumes out right now and the 8th volume will be out in a week or two. Then the Clone Saga will also be out in hardcover in April. Most of my collection is in hardcover. I've been collecting Ultimate Spiderman for the past few months. You'll love it. Sure, it's not the original Spiderman that everyone loves, but USM has a unique spin on the heroes and villains. I love it. I'm trying to catch up as best as I can. I'm almost done reading USM vol 7. HC, which has the Hobgoblin and Warriors issues. By next month I should be caught up with vol. 8 HC and the Clone Saga. I highly recommend USM!

As for the original Amazing Spiderman issues, I'm thinking of getting a software that covers all of the original issues from 1963 up to June 2006. It's only $45 on Amazon for 43 years worth of comics! It's better than the Marvel Masterworks which costs $50 for 10 issues, IMO.

 

[gliderpilotgirl]

Thanks for all the help people. I want Ultimate Spiderman just becasue i like the art and the really cartoony feel to it, ill definatly look into that venom TPB!! Are there any hardback graphic novels like the vol 1 and 2 of Ultimate Spiderman?

Ultimate Spider-man is written more in a modern setting than the original, so some people prefer it, and it does feel more suited to our current world.
However, the original stuff is still good, it depends on your taste. Ultimate Spider-man also has a more juvenile feel to it than the original, where we saw Peter grow from about age 15 to about 30 now.
And I would highly recommend the the Ultimate Venom arc. It's quite different from the original, ( and the direction the movie seems to be going ) but the writing is superb.

 

[Eddie Brock]

Just because you read Ultimate doesn't mean you can't/won't like 616. And vice versa. I'm sick of the 2-way bashing. I only bash 616 because it's taking a turn for the worst, not because I'm an Ultimate fan.

 

[Secret_Riddle]

Well, i would say read the first 150 issues of ASM, then read all of usm (some really great stories)

Then you will probably have the best of what ultimate spider-man and 616 spidey have to offer.

(not dissing 616, just saying for starters, AMS's first 150 issue's is virtually a must read).

 

[Flint Marko]

First 150 issues? What about David Michelines run on spider-man? he and stan the man are both my favorite writers probably
also, I'd suggest picking up anything Sal Buscema did on spectacular spider-man. Great stuff

 

[Secret_Riddle]

Yah, but just to start off the first 150 of amazing is the most necessary, he might not like it that much after all so im not going to tell him to buy every excellent run.

 

[The Bruce]

Get the essentials and pick up Amazing Spider-man 539 - Back in black story arc...

 

[Eddie Brock]

Get the essentials and pick up Amazing Spider-man 539 - Back in black story arc...

No, new fans should NOT pick up the most recent ASM, it has too many continuity errors and Spider-Man acts WAAAAAY out of character.

 

[hulkamania85]

C'mon guys, enough with the elitism over 616 Spider-Man. How can you define "real Spider-Man" anyway? For many the movies are the real Spider-Man, for the new blood of fans the movies are creating that's going to possibly be their main interpretation of the Spider-Man story. The Ultimate comics serve as a great jumping on point for new readers and can possibly lead to stories not currently possible in 616. To sum it up simply, it's all good.

Anyway, Ultimate is a fine way to start with Spider-Man comics. It's a great, modern interpretation of some of the classic stories, as well as providing new twists. Some of them are good (Venom, volume 6), others not so good (Carnage). If you want to read the originals, go with Essentials. They are in black and white but at 20+ issues for 15 or 16 bucks it's good if you are reading comics on a tighter budget.

 

[Eddie Brock]

C'mon guys, enough with the elitism over 616 Spider-Man. How can you define "real Spider-Man" anyway? For many the movies are the real Spider-Man, for the new blood of fans the movies are creating that's going to possibly be their main interpretation of the Spider-Man story. The Ultimate comics serve as a great jumping on point for new readers and can possibly lead to stories not currently possible in 616. To sum it up simply, it's all good.

Anyway, Ultimate is a fine way to start with Spider-Man comics. It's a great, modern interpretation of some of the classic stories, as well as providing new twists. Some of them are good (Venom, volume 6), others not so good (Carnage). If you want to read the originals, go with Essentials. They are in black and white but at 20+ issues for 15 or 16 bucks it's good if you are reading comics on a tighter budget.

Honestly, this back-and-forth Ultimate/616 dissing is annoying. And it goes both ways...neither is "better", you can't even compare because they aren't telling the same story..

 

[Dangerous]

Actually 616 is better since that’s the real Spider-man.
USM is a rip off, and the movies are a simplified well, movie version.
The best intro to Spider-man would be as Secret Riddle suggested- the first 150 issues of ASM.
That’s where Spider-man is most clearly defined.

 

[TwilightPro101]

Here we go with the "real" Spider-man debate....again for the 5700 time.

Sheesh, its intrepretative material here people. Everybody has their own prefered Spider-man. It goes both ways...this is just like the Superman and Smallville debates over on Kryptonsite.

 

[Eddie Brock]

Actually 616 is better since that’s the real Spider-man.

Define "real."

USM is a rip off,

Ok, that makes no sense at all. Marvel is ripping off their own material? It's called an alternate universe.

and the movies are a simplified well, movie version.

Of course they're simplified...how else can 500 issues of continuity be contained in 2 hours? At its core, it's STILL Spider-Man.