One thing that gets brought up a lot after my weekly #NewComicBookDay videos on IGTV is, "Where do I even begin with comics?" Well, I'm going to bring you five Spider-Man #1's that are super current and you can still find for cover price or less. They all start current on-going series as well. This way you can get caught up on the current state of the universe without having to collect nearly 60 years worth of stuff!
5. Marvel Action: Spider-Man #1
Published: November 2018
Marvel and IDW team up to create new series of comics for the younger reader! If you enjoy Spider-Man the storytelling is well written and still easy to enjoy for the more experienced reading. However, It's simple and to the point enough to keep the young reader's attention! Naturally, capitalizing on the widely successful Into The Spider-Verse film that you may have heard of, Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen join Peter Parker on the cover! This book is really fun so if, even as an adult, you enjoy some of the more current and modern Spider-Man cartoons this brings them to you in comic form! You really don't have to worry about missing an issue either. They're not intended to be too involved with each other from issue to issue so pick up at your leisure and enjoy for yourself or to improve family time!
4. Superior Spider-Man Vol. 1 #1
January 2013
Superior Spider-Man is somewhat of a controversial series and I feel like you'll either like the concept and read it or not. This kicks off a series that has Doctor Octopus' consciousness in Peter Parker's body and he's attempting to prove that he's the "Superior" Spider-Man. I've seen a lot of disdain for this series but, I think, because I didn't know about it when it was a current series, I opened it to see how Peter Parker came back. I wasn't in the heat of it being a new story and Peter Parker is gone and so on and so forth. This is similar to the heat that Captain America got after the whole 'HAIL HYDRA!' thing. (That moment and Steve Rogers' title actually got me into collecting comics as an adult.) These comic books tend to always end up resolved with our hero on top so just enjoy the story and see it out to the end. This will also have you heavily updated on where Doc Ock is in this universe. They currently have a volume 2 of this title running.
3. The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1
Published June 2014
SPOILER ALERT!!! We've got Peter Parker back in his own body and he has a new tech company that he's in charge of!? Oh man, how does he tell Anna Maria that she's been dating Otto Octavius in Peter Parker's body!? This is the epitome of that Parker Luck we so often hear about. On top of all that, this book sees the 1st appearances of Cindy Moon (becomes Silk,) Clash, Lash, and Inferno in a back-up story according to Key Collector Comics. This is a book that, on the top end, is cover price but I've managed to grab for $1 so they're out there. It's also a fantastic Humberto Ramos cover who always manages to fantastically portray our Friendly Neighborhood hero! Overall, this is a pretty defining modern issue of the Amazing Spider-Man title that you can make sure to have in your collection for an extremely affordable price. It certainly has a lot more positives than drawbacks when considering whether to add it to your collection.
2. Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2018) #1
Published December 2018
Miles Morales: Spider-Man is a recently kicked off series that's still only 10 issues in! This is a series that I grabbed just for the #1 appeal, they kept me with Captain America on the cover of #2, and then the writing kept this title on my pull list going forward. This series, in just 10 short issues, has brought us some fun Miles stories, superb covers, and brings us a whopping 5 first appearances! That's an average of a new character every 2 books. If you're into spec, it can't hurt to have this many first appearances for cover price or less in your collection! This issue is definitely still out there and available without really thinking twice about the price tag. This #1 A cover really doesn't stand out to me personally but it kicks off a great series that I'll continue to recommend!
1. The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #1
Published July 2018
This fantastic wraparound cover by Ryan Ottley (although Venom bothers me) kicks off a Post-Secret Empire Peter Parker who's fallen deep into possibly his lowest Parker Luck scenario yet and the current run of The Amazing Spider-Man title. This book is the 1st appearance of a new villain we later know as Kindred. This run has been bi-monthly which means two books release each month so we got to 30 issues a lot faster than some other titles over the past two years. If I'm being honest, it's taken a long time and a few disappointing teases (solicitations for issues #24 and #25) but this is the best time to jump on because you get a dirt cheap 1st appearance of Kindred and, as you pick and choose your way to catch up to current, issue #30 is a great jumping on point as it is an Absolute Carnage tie-in!
In closing, I felt like these were great selections of affordable and relevant issues with the #1 stamped on the front. A lot of people collect for different reasons but I absolutely love the appeal of a new #1. All of these are affordable back issues but have deep roots and ties to the current state of where the Spider-Man universe is and has come since 1962! Eventually, as a collector, you'll get used to jumping all around and reading random books as you find them and complete some runs out of order. Most of the times you only need a general sense of who the character is to jump in. The key to great storytelling is making almost any book a good jumping on point by recapping enough to update you but not enough to annoy the consistent reader.
As always, thanks for hanging out with us!