This thread's for the Spider-Man comics and spin-offs, whether they're decades old or brand new.
- Apart from the main Marvel Universe titles, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man "What If?" stories, crossovers, guest appearances in other books, Alternate Universe tales and things like Marvel's manga adaptations are all on-topic here.
- Spider-Man 'family' books are on-topic (as are their own crossovers, guest appearances etc.) - e.g. Spider-Man 2099, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, Silk, Spider-Gwen, Venom, Carnage, Black Cat, Red Goblin and Spider-Verse.
- Characters and comics that originated in Spider-Man but are no longer directly connected to the spider-franchise (e.g. Punisher, Silver Sable) are not on-topic, unless you're discussing historical connections and crossovers. If in doubt, check before you write a long post. If this isn't the right place, there's a more general Marvel Comics thread
which covers them.
Technically, Marvel's Infinity Comics (and their predecessors, Infinite Comics) are webcomics, not comic books, but it's fine to talk about their Spider-Man stories here.
Discussions that are only about Spider-Man adaptations in other media (films, video games etc.) are off-topic, but discussing the differences between the adaptations and the original comics is fine - as long as spoilers for the adaptations are tagged.
Please follow the spoiler policy rules
- tag spoilers for the latest issues, for any previews or content leaks, and for off-topic comics. When including spoiler tags, try to write so that tropers can make an informed decision before viewing them (e.g. which series and issue will they spoil?).
Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM
A bit late on this, but issue 8 of Spectacular Spider-Men was probably my favorite yet. It's basically a therapy-focused look at the aftermath from the whole Arcadium affair. It was much needed after how frantic and action-packed the previous issues were. The explanation of Peter's fantasy with Gwen makes so much sense and I sort of called it. He knew Gwen less so it's easier to create an Arcadium fantasy than with Mary Jane, where that wound is still fresh. All the explorations with the other supporting characters work, but Miles's felt underdeveloped for now.
Latest blog update (November 5th, 2022).I remember reading this particular issue.
Cap was comparing Peter to Bucky, which wasn't helped by Peter jumping on the missile.
Honestly, Spidey's good enough to be an Avenger, FF, or any other big time team.
The fact that he actually has been part of most teams despite his own Loner nature is impressive.
One Strip! One Strip!Logan has not only been a loyal X-man for years, but he's basically the Mutant's Team-up guy.
One Strip! One Strip!In Universe, Spider-Man didn't gel with The Avengers. It's the first of the big three US teams he actually joins and ends up freely rejecting, with the issue he does so involving The Hulk, the first to both join and reject The Avengers, to drive home the fact some don't belong. Avengers members need outside approval as well, said outsiders were already annoyed at their sprawling, rotating roster and while The Wasp was willing to keep annoying them to get more people she liked on reserve, she personally disliked Spider-Man at first sight because of course she did.
Out of Universe, Spider-Man wasn't an Avenger because Spider-Man wasn't supposed to have a lot of money and the Avengers are a government sanctioned team operating out of a mansion staffed with servants. It just clashed too much with Spider-Man's working class image. With The Fantastic Four it was easy. They're a family with a common origin, Spider-Man's neither. X-Men? Not a mutant. Spider-Man did actually join other teams, like Wild Pack. He was the most consistently featured character in Marvel team up, he had several close associates like Daredevil, Molten Man, Prowler, Black Cat, but no, when the Avengers were "just" another Marvel team akin to The Defenders, The Invaders and Midnight Sons rather than THE Marvel team, Spider-Man was one of those characters that just wasn't going to join for real. Marvel decided to Retool the Avengers into a team the whole setting practically revolved around in the mid 2000s and make Spider-Man Ironman's "son", so it seems silly now, but even if Marvel had decided to put Spider-Man on a team long term it would not have been The Avengers, prior to the Justice League level marketing push it got following Sony's acquisition of the X-men and Fantastic Four film rights.
Buldogue's lawyerI blame Bendis who wanted to stack the team with his faves and for some reason had enough pull where he could just get what he wanted
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Alias, Ultimate Spider-Man, his Avengers run has also retroactively gotten more praise
Bendis got the blame from readers for turning Avengers into a Justice League ripoff right off the bat, so you're not alone in that sentiment. And honestly, looking at Bendis's track record, it's probably not too far off the mark, but someone(editorial, marketing, other writers) still had to let him.
Ignoring that this is a Spider-Man thread for a minute, The Avengers were originally supposed to be a "B-Lister" team out of universe that were treated like "A-Lister" elites in story. None of Marvel's big draws were really associated with them. Hulk had cups of coffee, for being a founder, but he was pretty vocal about "not liking it", being more with Defenders and Pantheon. She-Hulk was more of an Avenger. Punisher obvious. Ghost Rider had Champions and Midnight Sons. Wolverine had X-Men and their various branches. Again, harder to imagine these days with the films giving Ironman a major boost and further codifying Spider-Man as his little buddy, but Ironman initially didn't care much for Spider-Man in the comic books, though he wasn't as vocal as Wasp about it. Black Widow didn't care for Spider-Man either. Like "I've been having a terrible month, flaunting my superiority over Spider-Man will make it all better" levels of dislike. Spider-Woman was the one associated with The Avengers(and even less with Spider-Man than Hulk with She-Hulk)
Edited by IndirectActiveTransport on Oct 26th 2024 at 7:41:48 AM
Buldogue's lawyer![]()
Didio was the reason for DC.
We know now that he managed to bring in a ton of writers over on DC in preparation for his 5G initiative, and this would involved all these writers attaining tons of freedom with their work.
Like for John Ridley had 5G passed he would have been given the keys to the Batman kingdom.
Bendis meanwhile was setting up Superman's 5G status quo including Jon becoming the new Superman and the intended Civil War story over Superman wanting all superheroes to go public with their secret identities like him too.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."I think Spidey fits in with the Avengers just fine at this point. There's only so far you can push the loner schtick before it stops making sense (and Civil War trying to reset the relationships between heroes was p. terrible)
And the reason Bendis got to do what he wanted with the Avengers is because, at least by what I've been told, his Disassembled event helped to revive the Avengers in the first place after they were stuck in a rut. I dislike the idea behind Disassembled but if that's the case it's kind of hard to argue with results?
What's the alternative? Just let the title flounder?
Yeah, it's not like Wells is a bad writer. He's done plenty of well-regarded stuff. And honestly, I think most comic fans are generally pretty forgiving. As long as Wells' next project isn't ass, I expect most readers will let his ASM run go. It takes multiple bad comics before people start completely writing off creators. Like, Chuck Austen would have a massive uphill climb if he got back into comics.
But Wells? There will be a small number of extreme fanatics who will hold an eternal grudge against him over his ASM run, but the vast majority are going to just move on. So they can focus on hating the next writer. It's the circle of comics.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.The worst part of Spider-Man being a loner is that it makes the other heroes look like jerks. "Oh, sure, Spider-Man, society hates you irrationally and you struggle a lot on your own but... well, you're on your own because we gotta more important team things to do." Old comics often had heroes act very callous towards him for his attitude even though... he only made wisecracks and acted like a mildly annoying but still useful and kind little bro, but everyone still treated him as if he was Deadpool.
And when it's on Spider-Man's side it feels it's "No, I don't want or need or should I be given your help because this is something I need to do on my own everything I need to do on my own because RESPONSIBILITYYYYYY! Uncle Ben is DEAAAAAAAAD!" which was as eyerolling as Bruce Wayne's "My parents are DEAAAAAAAAD!" when this guy spends decades without improving on how they should stop punishing themselves over it.
Edited by TomWithoutJerry on Oct 26th 2024 at 9:48:46 AM
Please remember that, ultimately, fictional works of entertainment are just that.This is the second spider with razor/barbed webbing now, and I'm curious how that's even supposed to work. Wouldn't that be tearing up the insides of the spider producing them? Even if the silk only solidifies after it has left the spinnerets, part of what makes spiders successful ambush predators is the ability to conserve resources by reabsorbing webbing, which they wouldn't be able to do in a pinch if its barbed or razor edged.
Buldogue's lawyerLet's never forget X-23 being such a jerk to Peter and saying that everyone else thinks he's annoying.
And everyone else including CAPTAIN AMERICA agreeing.
Other heroes acting like assholes to Spider-Man was legit a major barrier in me reading other Marvel heroes. They made such shit impressions.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Wolverines shouldn’t throw stones from glass houses
Edit: And that’s super out of character for Captain America
Edited by Bocaj on Oct 26th 2024 at 9:15:41 AM
Forever liveblogging the AvengersThat's when I got the brilliant idea... to pretend it was Captain Hydra!
Edited by TomWithoutJerry on Oct 26th 2024 at 1:18:58 PM
Please remember that, ultimately, fictional works of entertainment are just that.To Cap's credit, he said that he mostly just tunes Peter out.
Also, he did kinda throw Laura at the villain of the story in a Fast Ball Special without her permission, so she may have been in a bad mood at the time.
But yeah, most of the stuff with other heroes not liking Peter is probably just writers doing whatever cause they think it's funny, or possibly due to editorial mandates.
One Strip! One Strip!

Auntmayverse event soon.
Please remember that, ultimately, fictional works of entertainment are just that.