The Very Best of Spider-Man

Rating:
Summary: Excellent collection of Spidey stories
Review: As a great primer to the world of Spider-Man or just a neat collection for fans, The Very Best of Spider-Man shines. From the first story in Amazing Fantasy #15 and running up through the McFarlane era in the early 90's, it provides an interesting and engaging overview of the character and the talents who have developed him.

You get Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr., Tom DeFalco, Roger Stern, Mark Bagley, McFarlane, and more, really giving the reader a sense of how Spidey (and comics) has evolved.

Being that this book is from 1994, it was current up through that time. I'd LOVE to see an updated version, to include at least one story featuring John Romita Jr., and maybe one of the Ultimate stories with Brian Michael Bendis. Maybe even a couple of the better late 90's stories, before the book got revitalized.

This was also printed before Marvel upped the overall quality of presentation regarding their collections and graphic novels, so the paper quality could be better. However, at less than [price], it's an awesome collection of Spidey stories to get any webhead-follower pumped.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent collection of Spidey stories
Review: As a great primer to the world of Spider-Man or just a neat collection for fans, The Very Best of Spider-Man shines. From the first story in Amazing Fantasy #15 and running up through the McFarlane era in the early 90's, it provides an interesting and engaging overview of the character and the talents who have developed him.

You get Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr., Tom DeFalco, Roger Stern, Mark Bagley, McFarlane, and more, really giving the reader a sense of how Spidey (and comics) has evolved.

Being that this book is from 1994, it was current up through that time. I'd LOVE to see an updated version, to include at least one story featuring John Romita Jr., and maybe one of the Ultimate stories with Brian Michael Bendis. Maybe even a couple of the better late 90's stories, before the book got revitalized.

This was also printed before Marvel upped the overall quality of presentation regarding their collections and graphic novels, so the paper quality could be better. However, at less than [price], it's an awesome collection of Spidey stories to get any webhead-follower pumped.

Rating:
Summary: The Very Best Of Spider-Man
Review: I bought the book and I really liked it. I thought it was the best paperback of the spider-man series. The book was a bunch of short comic stories about peter parker first becoming spider man to fight his worse enemys.

Rating:
Summary: The Very Best of Spider-Man makes for a great read!
Review: The Very Best of Spider-Man (published in 1994) is a collection of selected stories that really show why Spider-Man is one of the best comic book superheroes ever created. He is one of Marvel Comics' most recognized characters. These were very entertaining stories, but I still wondered if more stories could have been inserted as well. This book only reprinted eight stories in total. I really thought that more stories could have been included. Overall, I was still satisfied with this collection.

Rating:
Summary: Essential For Spidey Fans
Review: Unlike DC, which has several 'best of' compilations under the "Greatest Stories Ever Told" name, Marvel Comics tackles a rare "Best Of" of its own with its flagship hero. 8 Stories are included here beginning with Spidey's famous origin up through the early 90s when this was published. With names like Lee, Ditko, Buscema, Defalco and McFarlane, this is a solid but not-entirely spectacular collection. It seems like a major crietria in picking these stories was to give many of the major villians a chance to shine. There are some touching suprises here, some of the essential Spidey stories and a few that were just ok. All in all, highly recommended.

Here's a recap of the stories:
*Amazing fantasy #15 - the mythic origin(which the movie updates while staying true to); doesn't seem so spectacular 40 years later, but it was the foundation which the franchise was built on( like the Batman) A-

*Amazing Spidey #33 - the quintessential Spidey story. Its the story by which all others are measured and contains all the qualities which define the character -sacrifice, perserverence, caring more for others than for self, resourcefulness, ingenuity, integrity and the inevitable refection incurred by having to keep his identity secret. A+++

*Amazing Spidey #50 - the public persecution of Spider-Man finally gets to Peter Parker and he retires his thankless life of crime-fighting for a 'normal' life as a dorky, angst-ridden guy -will his conscience allow him to? A-

*Amazing Spidey #248 - its interesting to note that for all the different Spidey titles, all but one of these are from Amazing Spider-Man...the premise of this story was borrowed for the 90's animated series (which can be seen on the 'Ultimate Villian Showdown' DVD); short and moving A+

*Amazing Spidey #271 - the only story showing Spidey in his cool 'black' costume; brings back Crusher Hogan (a forerunner of Hulk Hogan, perhaps?!?) from the origin as Spidey displays something rarely seen in modern comics - compassion A+

*Amazing Spidey #317 - The only Venom appearance; I'm not a huge fan of McFarlane art, but it was dinstinctive and hilights one of Spidey's most popular periods B

*Amazing Spidey #365 - 30th Anniversary story featuring the Lizard. Borrows the famous scene from Amazing Spidey #33 where he lifts this huge weight. Pretty standard evil Lizard dad threatens mom and son story. C

*Spectacular Spidey #189 - almost identical to the previous only with the Green Goblin. No one gets under Spidey's skin like an Osbourne and the creepiness makes this a better story than the previous one. Includes a creepy dinner scene reminsicent of 'Haannibal' but without the grossness factor. B