Spidey in the 1990's: what did you like?

[John Dunbar]

It wasn't all bad, was it?

I know, I know. There was The Clone Saga, and Maximum Carnage, and Torment. Maybe not high points, but I bet there are fans of even those stories here on the boards.

Tell me what you liked. I didn't follow comics for most of the 90's, so I missed out on a lot of Spidey stuff. I've heard of the notorious stuff [see above ;)], but I'm curious about the rest. Favourite runs? Creators that surprised you (in a good way)? Favourite stories? Any hidden gems?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I liked pretty much all of the post-Heroes Return* run, mostly written by Howard Mackie IIRC with art by John Byrne and John Romita, Jr. on respective titles.

*Although Spider-Man wasn't one of the heroes who "returned" per se, his titles got "new number ones" at the same time.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

The "Untold Tales of Spider-Man" series by Busiek was good...

Mike Allred did the Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1996 which was tons of fun...

[The Baron]

I don't believe I read any Spider-Man comics in the 90's. Unless, was the wedding issue in the 90's? If it was, then that was my favorite 90's Spider-Man comic.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

The Baron said:

I don't believe I read any Spider-Man comics in the 90's. Unless, was the wedding issue in the 90's? If it was, then that was my favorite 90's Spider-Man comic.

No, the wedding was in 1987...

[The Baron]

Doc Beechler said:

The Baron said:

I don't believe I read any Spider-Man comics in the 90's. Unless, was the wedding issue in the 90's? If it was, then that was my favorite 90's Spider-Man comic.

No, the wedding was in 1987...

Then maybe I didn't read any Spider-Man comics in the 90's.

[John Dunbar]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

I liked pretty much all of the post-Heroes Return* run, mostly written by Howard Mackie IIRC with art by John Byrne and John Romita, Jr. on respective titles.

*Although Spider-Man wasn't one of the heroes who "returned" per se, his titles got "new number ones" at the same time.

I stopped reading comics right around the time of Todd MacFarlane's first arc in Spider-Man (the infamous "Torment") and when I started reading again in the late 1990's, Amazing Spider-Man (Vol 2) #1 was one of the first comics I purchased. A new ASM #1, with art by John Byrne, sounded darn cool to me! I didn't follow Peter Parker, Spider-Man; in retrospect, it seems pretty odd to me that Spidey was reduced from four monthlies to two, and Howard Mackie was the sole writer. Jeff, did you follow the four Spider titles previously to that? I'm pretty curious about the two year span, 1997-1998, after Ben Reilly was killed off and Norman Osborn returned, and if those comics were any good. And do you, or anyone else know what was the reasoning behind ending two titles - Sensational and Spectacular?

[John Dunbar]

Doc Beechler said:

The "Untold Tales of Spider-Man" series by Busiek was good...

Mike Allred did the Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1996 which was tons of fun...

Agreed, a great series, I have all but three issues.

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

I liked 90s Spidey. Amazing Spider-man had some solid stories, lots of team-ups and Mark Bagely art. The first Carnage story was actually pretty good. IMO, almost everything from about ASM 350 to ASM 400 is decent. ASM 400, even though we later found out it was not Aunt May who died, is still a very good comic.

Spectacular Spider-man with Sal Buscema art is also good. The stories aren't very long, one or two issues long.

Spider-man 2099 is also worth mentioning. It's not Peter Parker but still a great series by Peter David.

[Lumbering Jack (M'odd-R8-Tr)]

I enjoyed the run Steve Skroce had on Amazing Spider-Man. His "era" included the fun addition of the female Doctor Octopus.

Here's google image link of much of his art and a few covers.

I have a garbage can at home that features his Spidey art.

[Chris Fluit]

Steve Skroce is a great artist. It's too bad for his fans that he mostly does story-boarding for Hollywood now.

[Dagwan]

Lumbering Jack said:

I enjoyed the run Steve Skroce had on Amazing Spider-Man.
-snip-
I have a garbage can at home that features his Spidey art.

I have a Spidey trash can too. I wonder if it's the same one.

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[Alan M.]

I really enjoyed the McFarlane and Larson Spidey stuff back inna day; there was just such frantic energy in all of them, it was hard not to enjoy on some level (well, for a teenager, anyhow). And I know I collected for at least some of the run Jason mentioned — I definitely remember the Bagley art, though I don't recall much else (besides the incessant number of guest appearances by other characters).