Comics: Current Title Summary

Well, here's a quick summary to the current Spider-Man titles. You can find a complete listing and detailed reviews in the Comics Index.

Spider-Man Core Titles

• Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1): Amazing Spider-Man is the original Spider-Man title, launched in 1963 under Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and it's still going strong. From January 1999 to December 2003 it was renumbered Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2), which is why there are no issues #442-499 listed here. Obviously, there's been a few creative changes since Stan and Steve's day. Currently, this title is published three times per month and has four different teams of writers and artists working on alternating story arcs. It is the core Spidey title in the mainstream Marvel Universe, and an absolute must for even the casual Spidey fan.
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• Amazing Spider-Man Family: A collection of tales staring Spider-Man piled high in one title. We can look forward to seeing Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, The Private Life of Peter Parker, Spider-Girl, Aunt May, and whomever else has wandered through any of Spidey's titles over the past half century.
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• New Avengers: Spider-Man is a founding member of the New Avengers created by Brian Michael Bendis. Spider-Man is a major character in most issues so far, and a significant part of Spider-Man's continuity occurs in this title, and hence it must be considered a core title. The early issues are expensive these days, if you didn't grab them at the time then you might want to consider a TPB.

  The first issues had a retailer incentive Variant cover, which is normally very hard to find and quite expensive. You might want to stick with the regular covers unless your comics budget is particularly generous.
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• Spider-Man Family (Vol. 2): Based on the success of the Spider-Man Family series of one-shots, this on- going Spider-Man Family title has been created. The book contains both new and reprint material, as well as Mini-Marvel one-page shorts (that have appeared in other Marvel titles) scattered throughout the issue.
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• Spider-Man: Extra: Spider-Man, Spider-Man does whatever a Spider can, even if it means that there has to be yet another publication to carry his adventures. Welcome to Spider- Man, Extra.
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Spider-Man Limited Series & One Shots

• King Size Spider-Man: Here is a big summer blast of Spider-Man stories.
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• Marvel Apes: Amazing Spider-Monkey: The world has gone to the apes, and well, this story is all about the Spider-Monkey that learned, with great power comes a truck load of bananas.
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• Secret Invasion: The Amazing Spider-Man: The Skrulls are coming! The Skrulls are coming! They've replaced key figures in world's political and super-hero communities, and now they're attacking en masse! Who can you trust in a world gone mad? Welcome to Secret Invasion, Marvel's big summer crossover for 2008. In these enlightened times we seldom get crossovers into ongoing titles unless they need a sales boost, so the Spideyverse's contribution to the crossover can be found in this three-issue limited series.
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• Spider-Man & the Human Torch in Bahia de los Muertos!: Spider-Man and The Human team up and head south of the Border to an island to deal with the threat of an unusual monster.
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• Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four: A four-issue mini-series teaming up the stars of Marvel's 2007 summer movies.
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• X-Men & Spider-Man: Spider-Man and the X-Men meet again and again over the years.
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Spider-Man Spin-Offs

• Venom: Dark Origin: A new, darker, more explicit and revealing take on the origin of Venom.
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Spider-Man 2099

• Timestorm 2009-2099: Spider-Man: The Marvel Universes from 2009 and 2099 crash in a great big mash-up. Spider-Man stars in this timely one-shot.
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Spider-Man Marvel Adventures Universe

• Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: This is another retelling of Spider-Man, aimed at re-capturing the younger market. While the regular continuity titles are pitched at the long-term faithful, and Ultimate Spider-Man appeals to savvy teenagers, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man is shamelessly looking to sell to the pre-teen market.

  Perhaps the most unusual thing about this title is that it follows so closely on the heels of another very similar book - Marvel Age: Spider-Man which ran to 20 issues of reworking Spider-Man's early day. For no apparent reason, Marvel canned that book and immediately replaced it with this title which started right back at the beginning once more. Maybe that's the plan, just keep re-telling the first 20 Spidey stories in different ways.
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Spider-Man MC2 Universe

• Amazing Spider-Girl: Like its predecessor, Spider-Girl The Amazing Spider-Girl is set in the MC2 Universe, a "What If" world where the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane Parker did not die (as told in Amazing Spider-Man), but instead survived to become a hero.

  This book follows immediately on the heels of the cancellation (after 100 issues) of Spider-Girl.
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Spider-Man Ultimate Universe

• Ultimate Spider-Man One Shots: Ultimate Spider-Man doesn't get a lot of one-shots, but when they do happen, here's the place we put them.
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• Ultimatum Spider-Man Requiem: The East Coast has been hit with a tidal wave of epic proportions that was caused by Magneto, and New York is all but destroyed. Spider-Man is missing, and presumed dead.
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Spider-Man Other Universes

• Marvel Heroes (UK Magazine): A new ongoing title produced by Panini in the UK, in the same style as the Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine). There are two comic strips in every issue. Spidey's not always in the title role, but he's always in the issue somewhere.
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• New Avengers Transformers: Spider-Man! Captain America! Luke Cage! Wolverine! It's the New Avengers against the highly merchandised might of Hasbro's Transformers! In a not-so- subtle tie-in to Michael Bay's Transformers movie (at cinemas Summer 2007!), we are treated to a four issue limited series of battling robot action and superhero tomfoolery. What more do you need to know?
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• Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine): While sharing the same name as the long-running main continuity title, this Spectacular Spider-Man is in fact a Kids Magazine produced in the UK once every three weeks. Aimed at the pre-teen market, each issue features an 11-page Spidey story, plus a centrefold wall poster, puzzles, games, villain profiles and all sorts of other goodies. As an extra incentive, each issue also ships with a plastic Spider-Man toy or giveaway cellotaped to the front cover. The "Spider-Man" of these stories is a generic cartoon version, essentially based on the popular 90's TV cartoon. You probably won't find this in the U.S., but for UK collectors it's a nice little bonus.
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• Spider-Man & Friends (UK Magazine): This UK kids Magazine is produced by Panini, and it's a companion to the Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine) produced by the same guys.

  The new "Spider-Man & Friends" range is based around Spider-Man, his cousin Spider-Girl, plus Hulk and Wolverine, though there's plenty of guest appearances. You should be able to find plenty of Spider-Man & Friends toys still in the shops, the style is a western/manga cross, and the target group is the 3-9 year old market.

  Published every four or five weeks, this UK magazine features a toy taped to the front of each issue. Inside you'll find a four page Spidey & Friends story with three panels per page, captions of 8-20 words per panel. Then there's some nice simple kids puzzles, some coloring, a couple of competitions, and a page or two of Spidey merchandise. Essentially, it's the same format as the older kids magazine, just with a much younger target market.
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• Spider-Man Noir: This is an alternate-world telling of the story of Spider-Man, if he had shown up in the 20s. It is told it a classic "noir" style.
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• Spider-Man/Power Pack: Spider-Man, one of Marvel's "oldest" heroes teams with Power Pack, a team of Marvel's "youngest" heroes in a four-issue mini-series. Let the fun ensue!
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Spider-Man Books

• Spider-Man Color/Activity Books (HarperCollins): HarperCollins produced a series of movie tie-in coloring and activity books to cash in on the Spider-Man 3 film hype.
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