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Essential Spider-Man

    (Marvel, 1996-2005, 2009, 2011-2012)
™ and © 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.

As Midtown High’s resident social outcast and 98-pound weakling, science nerd Peter Parker spends his days dodging bullies and being the apple of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May’s eye, until Destiny intervenes. After several decades, we all know the drill: Peter observes a experiment with radiation, is bitten by an irradiated spider, gains super-powers based on the arachnid’s natural abilities, cashes in on his newly acquired skills as an entertainer, fails to stop the thief who will eventually murder his Uncle Ben, learns that “with great power comes great responsibility,” captures his uncle’s killer, and turns to fighting crime as The Amazing Spider-Man. Of course, reading Spidey’s earliest adventures can be a fairly expensive pursuit — if you want the originals or even the hardcover Marvel Masterworks editions. Fortunately, the House of Ideas has offered up The Essential Spider-Man, a sequential reprinting of ol’ Web-Head’s escapades in thick, black-and-white trade paperbacks that assemble a ton of great stories in each book. Volume 1 collects The Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 and Annual #1 for the wallet-friendly cover price of a mere $14.95. That’s a lotta Spidey for not a lotta green!

— Thomas Moudry
Jump to issue:
  • 1
    #1
    Dec 1996
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 & Anuual #1; B&W
    1 copy for $12.75
  • 1-2
    #1 - 2nd printing
    2nd Printing
    Cover: $14.95
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 & Anuual #1; B&W
    No copies available
  • 1-3
    #1 - 3rd printing
    3rd Printing
    Cover: $14.95
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 & Anuual #1; B&W
    No copies available
  • 1-4
    #1 - 4th printing
    4th Printing
    Feb 2001
    Cover: $14.95
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 & Anuual #1; B&W
    No copies available
  • 1-5
    #1 - 5th printing
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 & Anuual #1; 5th Printng; B&W
    No copies available
  • 1-6
    #1 - 6th printing
    6th Printing
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 & Anuual #1; B&W
    No copies available
  • 1-7
    #1 - 7th printing
    7th Printing
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 & Anuual #1; B&W ca. 2011
    1 copy for $12.75
  • 2
    #2
    Jul 1997
    Cover: $12.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: Steve DItko, John Romita Sr.
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #21-43, Annuals #2-3
    No copies available
  • 2-2
    #2 - 2nd printing
    2nd Printing Cover by John Romita Sr
    Cover: $16.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: John Romita Sr., Steve Ditko
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #21-43, Annuals #2-3; B&W
    No copies available
  • 2-3
    #2 - 3rd printing
    3rd Printing Cover
    Cover: $14.99
    No copies available
  • 2-4
    #2 - 4th printing
    4th Printing Cover
    Cover: $14.99
    No copies available
  • 2-5
    #2 - 5th printing
    5th Printing Cover by John Romita Sr
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko  ·  A: Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr., Don Heck
    Collects The Amazing Spider-Man #21-43, Anl 2-3; ca. 2011
    No copies available
  • 3
    #3
    May 1998
    Cover: $12.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: John Romita Sr., Don Heck
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #44-68; B&W
    No copies available
  • 3-2
    #3 - 2nd printing
    2nd Printing Cover
    Cover: $14.99
    No copies available
  • 3-3
    #3 - 3rd printing
    3rd Printing Cover
    Cover: $14.99
    No copies available
  • 3-4
    #3 - 4th printing
    4th Printing Cover
    Apr 2004
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: John Romita Sr., Don Heck
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #44-68
    No copies available
  • 3-5
    #3 - 5th printing
    5th Printing Cover by John Romita Sr
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: John Romita Sr., Don Heck, Larry Lieber
    Collects Amazing Spider-Man #44-65 and Spectacular Spider-Man (Magazine) #1; ca. 2011
    No copies available
  • 4
    #4
    Feb 2001
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee, John Romita Sr.  ·  A: Gil Kane, John Romita Sr., Jim Mooney, John Buscema
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #69-89 & Annuals #4-5; B&W
    No copies available
  • 4-2
    #4 - 2nd printing
    2nd Printing Cover
    Feb 2002
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee, John Romita Sr.  ·  A: Gil Kane, John Romita Sr., Jim Mooney, John Buscema, Larry Lieber
    No copies available
  • 4-3
    #4 - 3rd printing
    Peter holding mask on cover by John Romita Sr
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee, John Romita Sr., John Buscema  ·  A: Don Heck, John Romita Sr., Larry Lieber, Jim Mooney, John Buscema, Mike Esposito, Gil Kane, Bruce Timm
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #66-89 & Annual #5; B&W
    No copies available
  • 4-4
    #4 - 4th printing
    4th Printing Cover by John Romita Sr
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Stan Lee  ·  A: John Romita Sr., Don Heck, Jim Mooney, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Larry Lieber
    Collects Amazing Spider-Man #66-89, Anl 5 and Spectacular Spider-Man (Magazine) #2; ca. 2011
    No copies available
  • 5
    #5
    Feb 2002
    Cover: $14.95
    W: Stan Lee, Roy Thomas  ·  A: Gil Kane, John Romita Sr.
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #90-113
    1 copy for $9.95
  • 5-2
    #5 - 2nd printing
    2nd Printing Cover
    Cover: $14.99
    W: Stan Lee, Roy Thomas  ·  A: Gil Kane, John Romita Sr.
    ca. 2002
    No copies available
  • 5-3
    #5 - 3rd printing
    3rd Printing Cover; New cover
    Feb 2001
    Cover: $16.99
    W: Stan Lee, Roy Thomas  ·  A: Gil Kane, John Romita Sr.
    No copies available
  • 5-4
    #5 - 4th printing
    4th Printing Cover by John Romita Sr
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway  ·  A: Gil Kane, John Romita Sr.
    Reprints The Amazing Spider-Man #90-113; ca. 2011
    No copies available
  • 6
    #6
    Cover: $16.99
    W: Gerry Conway, Stan Lee, Len Wein  ·  A: John Romita Sr., Gil Kane, Ross Andru
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #114-137, Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1, & Giant-Size Spider-Man #1-2; B&W
    No copies available
  • 6-2
    #6 - 2nd printing
    2nd Printing Cover by John Romita Sr
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Gerry Conway, Stan Lee, Len Wein  ·  A: John Romita Sr., Gil Kane, Ross Andru
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #114-137, Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1, and Giant-Size Spider-Man #1-2; ca. 2011
    No copies available
  • 7
    #7
    Cover: $16.99
    W: Gerry Conway, Stan Lee, Len Wein  ·  A: Ross Andru, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #138–160, Annual #10, and Giant-Size Spider-Man #4–5; ca. 2005
    No copies available
  • 8
    #8
    Cover: $16.99
    W: Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Archie Goodwin, Bill Mantlo  ·  A: Ross Andru, Sal Buscema, Don Perlin
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #161-185 & Anl 11, Giant-Size Spider-Man #6 and Nova #12; ca. 2007
    No copies available
  • 9
    #9
    May 2009
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, Roger Stern, Dennis O’Neil  ·  A: Keith Pollard, Jim Starlin, John Byrne, Al Milgrom, Sal Buscema, Rich Buckler, Jim Mooney, John Romita Jr., Alan Weiss
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #186-210, Anl #13-14 and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Anl #1
    No copies available
  • 10
    #10
    Jul 2011
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Dennis O’Neil, Michael Fleisher, Bill Mantlo, J.M. Dematteis, Roger Stern, Jan Strnad  ·  A: John Romita Jr., Luke McDonnell, Bob McLeod, Alan Kupperberg, Bob Hall, Rick Leonardi, Frank Miller
    Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #211-230 & Annual #15; 1st appearance of Biff Rifkin; 1st appearance of Black Cat (Felicia Harmon); 1st appearance of Hydro-Man (Morris Bench); 1st appearance of Illyria; 1st appearance of Jack Allen; 1st appearance of Lonesome Pincus; 1st appearance of Speed Demon (James Sanders); Origin of Hydro-Man (Morris Bench); Origin of Mud-Thing (Sandman/Hydro-Man); Origin of Sandman (Flint Marko)
    No copies available
  • 11
    #11
    Aug 2012
    Cover: $19.99
    W: Bill Mantlo  ·  A: John Romita Jr.
    Collects Amazing Spider-Man #231-248 & Annual #16-17
    No copies available