Say you’re up late one night and you decide you want to read every Spider-Man comic book ever published but only if you can do so in chronological order. Not publication order, mind you, but in an order that has all 2,000+ issues make sense as a single story. Because this is what you do when you’re up late. Don’t blame me.
Before today you had two options. First, you could find some online reading orders but they can be lacking so that option is out. Second, you could read every issue and then try to put them in order as you go but that defeats the purpose of reading them in order.
As of today, you have a third option.
One of the secret projects I’ve been working on for Gabbing Geek has been this definitive Spider-Man reading chronology. The goal is to incorporate as many canonical appearances as possible in an order that someone reading Spider-Man for the first time could follow. Interested? Find out more after the break.
In creating a definitive list of Spider-Man appearances some choices have to be made. Like what to include and what not to include. Because there’s a difference between being useful and just being ludicrous.
So what isn’t included? First up: cameos. While cameos can be interesting, I didn’t want to clutter up the chronology with issues where Spider-Man appears in one panel stealing a piece of cake.
But there are exceptions to every rule and in this case if there’s a cameo that makes sense, I will include it in the list. It has to have more substance than pie theft. Maybe cake vandalism. Some of these cameos are actually important enough to note so I also have a series of “Spiders, Spiders Everywhere” posts which call out some of the best Spider-Man cameos.
Most cameos are not on the list but one thing I chose to include are Spider-Man featured What If? issues. I find the What If? issues interesting and I tried to slot them in a place where they made sense. If you don’t care about What If? stories then you could always skip them.
Some other things to bear in mind when considering this list:
One of the first things you learn when trying to complete a project such as this is that it is impossible (‘natch). I’m one of those people that wants everything to fit perfectly into a chronological order like pieces of a puzzle, but this can never be done. Especially when you get into the 90’s when Spidey is appearing in like 300 books a month and in the new millennium when he is joining numerous Avengers teams and the Fantastic Four. As many of these books have different writers and editors, it is not hard to imagine they don’t keep everything straight. (Or even really attempt to for the most part.) So sometimes you have to make a best guess, or accept the fact that there is no way it is going to make sense and just let it go. Trust me, I struggle with that. 🙂
The other thing that makes it impossible is guaranteeing every appearance is included. I am constantly coming across new guest appearances and the like to include. I will update the chronology to fill in oversights as needed. Also, be sure to leave a comment if you find something that you think has been overlooked or is incorrect.
I’ve also tried not to slice and dice issues so that you have to read a page from book X then some from book Y then back to X, etc. It happens in a few instances, or I note where it could happen. I value my sanity too much to attempt that.
The chronology will have two components. First, the raw list of issues beginning with Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy 15. Secondly, as I update the list I will do a separate post with my continuity notes that people may or may not care about, but that allowed me to place an issue as accurately as possible. Often times it can be something quite silly like “this issue has to take place after issue X because MJ is wearing a new cool hat”. Keeping the lists and updates separate will help from making the list too bloated, but also the annotated list is rife with spoilers for future issues. Does anyone really care about spoilers for comics that came out potentially 50 years ago? Probably not. But I tried to create this as if someone was completely new to Spider-Man (i.e. Jenny) and was starting with a clean slate from the beginning. Yes, this rule gets broken as well.
Without much further ado…the list…
- Amazing Fantasy 15 [Spider-Man story only]
- Spider-Man – Mythos 01
- Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine 01 [Story 2]
- Amazing Spider-Man Family 01 [Story 1]
- Amazing Spider-Man Family 03 [Story 1]
- Amazing Fantasy 16
- Amazing Fantasy 17
- Amazing Fantasy 18
- Amazing Spider-Man 001
- Fantastic Four Annual 01 [Spider-Man story only]
- What If? – V1 – 007 – Someone Else Had Been Bitten By The Radioactive Spider
- Amazing Spider-Man 002
- Peter Parker Spider-Man Annual 2001
- Amazing Spider-Man 003
- Amazing Spider-Man 004
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Annual [Story 1]
- Amazing Spider-Man 005
- Strange Tales Annual 02 [Spider-Man story only]
- Amazing Spider-Man 006
- What If? – V2 – 072 – Spider-Man Became A Murderer
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 01
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 02
- Amazing Spider-Man 007
- Strange Tales 115 [Spider-Man story only]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 03
- Amazing Spider-Man 008 [Story 1]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 04
- Amazing Spider-Man 009
- What If? – V2 – 076 – Peter Parker Had To Destroy Spider-Man
- Amazing Spider-Man 010 [Pages 1 – 5]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 05
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 06
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 07
- Amazing Spider-Man 010 [Pages 6 – 22]
- What If? – V1 – 001 – Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 08
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 09
- Amazing Spider-Man 011
- Amazing Spider-Man 012 [Pages 1 – 3]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 10
- Amazing Spider-Man 012 [Pages 4 – 22]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 11
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 12
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 13
- Amazing Spider-Man 013
- Spider-Man – Human Torch 01
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 14
- Amazing Spider-Man 014
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 15
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 16
- Tales to Astonish 057 [Spider-Man story only]
- Amazing Spider-Man 015
- Sensational Spider-Man Annual 1996
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 17
- Amazing Spider-Man 016
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 18
- Amazing Spider-Man Annual 001
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man – Strange Encounter
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 19
- Amazing Spider-Man 017
- Amazing Spider-Man 018 [Pages 1 – 2]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 20
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 21
- Amazing Spider-Man 018 [Pages 3 – 22]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 22
- Amazing Spider-Man 019
- Amazing Spider-Man 020
- Untold Tales of Spider-man 23
- Avengers 011
- Amazing Spider-Man 021
- Amazing Spider-Man 008 [Story 2]
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1996
- Amazing Spider-Man 022
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 24
- Amazing Spider-Man 023
- Untold Tales of Spider-Man 25
- What If? – V1 – 019 – Spider-Man Had Never Become A Crimefighter
- Amazing Spider-Man 024
- Amazing Spider-Man 025
- What If? – V2 – 082 – J. Jonah Jameson Adopted Spider-Man
- Webspinners Tales of Spider-Man 07
- Webspinners Tales of Spider-Man 08
- Webspinners Tales of Spider-Man 09
- Amazing Spider-Man 026
- Amazing Spider-Man 027
- Amazing Spider-Man 028
- Amazing Spider-Man Annual 002
- Amazing Spider-Man 029
- Amazing Spider-Man 030
- Amazing Spider-Man 031
- Amazing Spider-Man 032
- Amazing Spider-Man 033
- Spider-Man – Fantastic Four 01
- Amazing Spider-Man 034
- Amazing Spider-Man 035
- Amazing Spider-Man 036
- Amazing Spider-Man 037
- Daredevil 016
- Daredevil 017
- Amazing Spider-Man 038
- Amazing Spider-Man 039
- Amazing Spider-Man 040
- Amazing Spider-Man 041
- Amazing Spider-Man 042
- What If? – V1 – 046 – Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben Had Lived
- Amazing Spider-Man 043
- What If? – Aunt May Had Died Instead Of Uncle Ben
- Amazing Spider-Man Annual 003
- X-Men 027
- Amazing Spider-Man 044
- Amazing Spider-Man 045
- Amazing Spider-Man 046
- Amazing Spider-Man 047
- Daredevil 027
- Amazing Spider-Man 048
- Amazing Spider-Man 049
- Amazing Spider-Man 050
Be on the lookout for further updates coming soon. And you will always be able to find the Complete Chronology in it’s permanent home under Big Projects in the menu under the Gabbing Geek banner.
At the very beginning of your list I think you made an opps and called Amazing Fantasy 15 the ‘amazing spiderman 15’
Ah, in the text. You are correct. Thanks!
Reblogged this on The Never Chronicles.
No prob 🙂 This is quiet the undertaking! I was an avid collector in the 90’s, right up to the end of the clone saga, but your knowledge pretty much puts me to shame.
Even at 33 I can’t get over Sam Raimi for casting Topher Grace as Venom. [Fights down angry nerd tremor]
As bad as Venom was, never forgive Raimi for the Emo dance sequence. But keep in mind he gave us Evil Dead…
The Minus One issues are missing.
They should all go before Amazing Fantasy 15
Hey Kaine, thanks for the feedback! The Minus One issues are a bit of an oddity. From a purely chronological standpoint you are 100% correct.
I’ve been striving with this project, for better or worse, to be for people that have no idea about Spider-Man and are starting from the beginning. With that eye, I don’t think it makes sense to read 4 or 5 issues of a pre-Spider-Man Peter Parker or his parents before getting to Amazing Fantasy 15.
They will eventually be in the master list, but right now I am thinking they will be all lumped together closer to publication era and treated like the true flashback they are.