The Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks (Amazing Spider-Man, No. 1-5)

Rating:
Summary: Good for anyone who wants to know how Spider-man started.
Review: "The Amazing Spider-man Masterworks," is a great collection of the first six stories of the amazing Webspinner, Spider-man, including the very first appearence of Spider-man in "Amazing Fantasy #15." It has great stories including the very first appearence of Doc. Ock, and the Vulture, and an awesome fight with Doctor Doom. I recommend it for true Spider-man fans.

Rating:
Summary: (Sigh) I Guess This'll Do Until I Can See The Movie Again :)
Review: All kidding aside, this is a wonderful collection. Steve Ditko's art may look a bit crude to the contemporary reader, but few comics artists before or since have approached his mastery of chiaroscuro and composition. Plus... it's got the Vulture! Doc Ock! J. Jonah Jameson! And Aunt May! And it's in color! What's not to like?

A must own for any true believer. Nuff said!

Rating:
Summary: Introducing Spider-Man, a superhero who is "different"
Review: I am sure I am not alone in going back and re-reading "The Amazing Spider-Man" from the beginning as a way of both preparing for the blockbuster movie version and critiquing its fidelity to the original comic books. In this collection have Spider-Man's origin in "Amzaing Fantasy" #15 as well as first encounters with the Chameleon, the Vulture, the Tinkerer, Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, and even Doctor Doom from the first five issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man."

Although there were similarities to those who had come before (e.g., the motivation of a loved one's death just like Batman), it was ultimately the differences that made Spider-Man so popular. However, the key element of that difference did not emerge until issue #1 of "The Amazing Spider-Man," when J. Jonah Jameson begins his public crusade against the Spider-Man menace Ultimately, what made Spider-Man "different" was that he was considered to be a menace rather than a hero by the public. This meant that usually neither Peter Parker nor his web-slinger alter-ego had any luck other than bad, very bad, and worse. Here was the great idea of making the comic book superhero an underdog who is bewildered, confused, and bitter (end of issue #4) rather than a symbol of truth, justice and the American way.

What is amazing as you re-read these stories is how well these comics stand up (with the glaring exception of the parts in "Spider-Man" #1 where they drop a steel net to try and capture John Jameson's errant space capsule and Spidey catches a ride from a jet fighter using his webbing). I was never a big admirer of Steve Ditko's artwork, especially the stuff he did after he left Marvel, but in going over these early Spider-Man comics I am very impressed with his compositional skills. Ditko deserves a lot more credit as a comic book artist than I had given him the first time around.

As for Stan Lee's writing, the fun is how he tweaks the prevailing superhero mythos, especially in terms of Superman. Here the great metropolitan newspaper is out to get Spider-Man thrown in jail and Spider-Man's #1 fan is always trying to beat up puny Peter Parker. Then you can toss in the soap opera elements that are just starting to emerge in these first few issues. But clearly the key supporting figure here is Aunt May, the beloved little old lady who was arguably the more unique and important supporting character Lee ever created at Marvel. No other superhero ever had a white-haired aunt who could never know the truth, who was terrified by the mere thought of Spider-Man, and who showed almost as much gumption during all those stays in the hospital on death's door as she did heart every day of her life.

It is clear from re-reading these first six comics that all of the defining elements of Spider-Man were pretty much established at this point in the character's history. But once you have learned the beginning that is no reason to stop at this point, because even if you switch over to the black & white "Essentials of Spider-Man" collection to continue the web crawler's story, you will still enjoy the ride because the best is yet to come.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Rare Find!!!
Review: I just came across this book in my local comic book shop and was in the mood for some classic Marvel so I picked it up. It reprints issues #1-5 of Amazing Spider-Man plus Spidey's origin story in Amazing Fantasy #15.

If you're a fan of Steve Ditko's art this book is a treasure. And even if you're not, after reading this book you will be!

The stories are, of course, great - they feature the first appearances of Doc Ock, the Sandman, and the Vulture, plus a battle royal with Doctor Doom.

This book is pretty rare (it predates the new series of hardcover Marvel Masterworks books.) After it's publication, Marvel decided it would be cheaper to do their reprints in larger numbers and to jazz them up with hardcovers, so there is no continuation. This is basically a stand-alone TPB. (Marvel Masterworks vol. 1 reprints the same Spider-Man issues, along with issues #6-10.) Only two other similar volumes were printed, Avengers Masterworks and X-Men Masterworks.