Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Spider-Man

A Dave in the Life: Peter or Miles? Who Wins Spider-Man 2?

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Every week in the Comic Book Herald newsletter, I write a column called “A Dave in the Life,” where I explore the issues or news in comics. Now, you can also find these columns published here on CBH. To get the full newsletter alongside reading recommendations and the My Marvelous Year reading schedule, subscribe (for free!) here.

After 2015’s Secret Wars ended Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, there were 4 characters from outside Earth-616 (aka Marvel Prime, the comics universe we’ve known since 1961) that got the call up to the big leagues: The Maker (“evil” Reed Richards), Jimmy Hudson (lol), Old Man Logan (not an Ultimate Universe creation), and Miles Morales (Spider-Man). While Miles is unquestionably the biggest of the four, he’s also the character Marvel Comics has struggled with the most. [Read more…] about A Dave in the Life: Peter or Miles? Who Wins Spider-Man 2?

A Perfect Spider-Man Story: Unscheduled Stop

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What makes a perfect Spider-Man story?

There are the epic adventures, the character-redefining runs, and the incredible team-ups that have become permanently intertwined with the character. But some of my all-time favorite Spider-Man comics are single issues or two-issue arcs. Of course, there’s tons of awesome long Spider-Man runs out there, but these little bite-sized Spidey stories often drill down into what makes the character amazing. No need to get bogged down in lore or larger plot points or mysterious villains peeking from the shadows. Instead, we get Peter Parker, his friends, his enemies, or even just an internal struggle given center stage.

There’s classics like “Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut” by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr. Silly adventures like “When Cometh The Commuter” by Peter David and Bob McLeod. The mental anguish of “No One Dies” by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin. But of all of these, my favorite, and what I think is a truly perfect Spider-Man story, is “Unscheduled Stop.”

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When Peter Parker Has To Die So Spider-Man Can Live

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“With great power must come great responsibility” feels more ripe for a high school graduation gift card than the backbone of a billion-dollar piece of intellectual property at this point, but the creative powers behind Spider-Man continue to hammer it home. 60 years into his existence, from the funny pages to animated films to the last vestige of the Hollywood blockbuster, Peter Parker still adheres to the ideal that readers and fans have seen across every medium.

The presence of multiple Spider-characters simultaneously on screen and on page has exploded since 2014’s “Spider-Verse” storyline in Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Now even the youngest of superhero fans know that there are multiple spider-folk due to the cinematic adaptations Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2018 and 2021, respectively. That overarching philosophy of selflessness in the face of the grimmest of circumstances still remains true throughout the entirety of the multiverse. No Spider-Men are afraid to make the ultimate sacrifice. [Read more…] about When Peter Parker Has To Die So Spider-Man Can Live

Spider-Men: Worlds Collide: A Boy Without a Home, A Story Without Direction

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peter and miles together in comics

Ladies and gentle web-heads, we are currently in the throes of a Spider-Man golden era.

If you somehow haven’t noticed, Spider-Man is everywhere these days, even more so than he usually is. The webbed hero is in critically acclaimed high budget games like Spider-Man PS4/Miles Morales; Into the Spider-Verse saw the popularity of character Miles Morales leap to new heights as it became the definitive Miles Morales story and won an Academy Award(!); Marvel Studios is bringing the beginnings of MCU Spider-Man to Disney+ with their animated entry titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year; and how could we forget about the staying power of the live-action MCU Spider-Man portrayed by Tom Holland? No Way Home is the perfect embodiment of what it means to be a Spider-Man fan right now. What’s that? What about the comics, you ask? Well, they’re…ok.

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What Comics Best Match The 3 Live-Action Cinematic Spider-Men?

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Thanks to the box office success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the cinematic history of Spider-Man is a hot topic around the water cooler for about a billion reasons, and with almost two decades worth of Peter Parker on the big screen, there is a lot to discuss. In those twenty-odd years, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland have each given a take on the live-action wall-crawler that captures fundamental aspects of the character we love, all while telling vastly different types of stories about who Spider-Man is and how he fits into the world around him.

Believe it or not, dear reader, there are even debates on this here Internet about which big-screen version of Spidey is the best! And it’s true that while all three performances are undeniably Peter and his alter ego, they’re not quite the same Peter. So where should you start if you want to read the stories that best represent your favorite on-screen Spidey? [Read more…] about What Comics Best Match The 3 Live-Action Cinematic Spider-Men?