Spider-Man Trades and Hardcovers You've Got Recently

[Russell]

ITEM #1- I always thought there WAS a Hobgoblin compilation which isolated ONLY the Stern\Mantlo stories between AMZSM #238-251? I thought it was called "The Origin of The Hobgoblin"?

I don't know which issues are in that trade, it might be but even so I think Roger Stern should have his whole run collected because he is 'generally' considered to be one of the top three Spidey writers.

ITEM #2- What is it with Marvel and their trade paperbacks? They either end on cliffhangers that will never be followed up on or they miss an opportunity for a "perfect" ending? *groan* DC nearly always gets it right!

As someone who is thinking about getting "Spider Island" I have to ask: does this Venom sequence end on a cliffhanger?

No it doesn't end on a cliffhanger. It is just what happens to Venom in the aftermath of SI. Venom #10 just happens to be the last comic in the HC, I would have ended it with ASM #673 but really it doesn't matter. I've bought a few collections and this is easily the best one due to the amount of 'extras', and the content inside. Nothing is cut out and it is all in an assumed story order, not just printed by what series it occured.

[Gryphon]

Not exactly a new purchase but when I had ordered the untold tales of spiderman omnibus, I had ordered it from amazon.ca and the ultimate spider-man omnibus from amazon.com. I realized that USOM had a price decrease on amazon.com while ultimate would cost me the same as USOM had on amazon.ca so I cancelled both orders and ordered them again each from the other site.

[Gryphon]

Untold Tales Of Spiderman Omnibus has arrived.

[Xenon]

I got my two Hardcover Volumes of the Spider-Man Newspaper strip today! One I got for $5 too, quite the deal.

[pedroparkero]

Next Chapter vol 2. the pre JMS era (mackie)

Ben Reily 2

SM through the Decades (i am a sucker for new profiles for marvel handbook)

Fight against Drugs...i wished marvel printed the whole PSA

[Shade 20x6]

The Complete Ben Reilly Epic Vol. 4

[Gryphon]

Spider-man the graphic novels HC

Ultimate Spider-man Omnibus vol 1

[ddub65]

Kraven's Last Hunt HC

Haven't read it before but I've heard great things so I'm excited to get into it.

[Lexrules]

Just picked up Marvel Masterworks Amazing Spider-Man Volumes 1 through 7 and The Death of Gwen Stacy.

[E. Wilson]

Geez Louise, there were a LOT of hardcovers out this week. Ultimate Spidey Omnibus, Avenging Spidey vol. 1, Carnage: USA, Perceptions, Graphic Novels, and Ultimate Comics Spidey vol. 2. Also Spider-Hunt.

...I got none of them. ;_;

[Gryphon]

Spider-man the graphic novels HC

Ultimate Spider-man Omnibus vol 1

Loved Ultimate spider-man as I knew I would.

The graphic novels really impressed me. I had heard a lot of complaints about parrallel lives recently but I dont understand them after reading the comics. Plus its interesting to realize there was a third life being parralleled ( which makes sense)

The other stories contained within were also good but the art stood out the most on hooky.

[Gryphon]

Amazing Spider-man Omnibus volume 2

[Magnum_Valentino]

ASM Omnibus 2, Ultimate Omnibus, Best Of Spider-Man OHC 1 and 5, One More Day, Brand New Day 1-3, New Ways To Die, Crime And Punisher, Kraven's First Hunt.

Trying to get caught up from ASM v2 #30 to present. Not too much more left to get. Organising the trades in order before starting buying them was the most intimidating part. If I can, I'll be getting everything in hardcover, excepting The Other which is a little too expensive. Anyone have any photos of similarly complete collections so I could get a look at what's in store for my poor shelves?

[Gryphon]

Essential web of spider-man volume 1

[Huree]

I really like those Ben Reilly stories...even with the 1990's artwork.

What was the overall gestalt of fans opinion? Does me liking this book mean I have bad taste?

I have a soft spot for them because that's when I started reading Spider-Man, I enjoyed them very much at the time and I think alot of the stories still hold up well today, plus the artwork tended to be great during that period, JRjr, Dan Jurgens, Mark Bagley. I think the dynamic between Pete and Ben was fun, especially when they teamed up against the sentinels during a pre-onslaught issue of PPSM.

The popular opinion at the time from what I remember from letters pages, was that most people hated it. Not necessarily for the stories themselves but because of the whole idea that the Peter Parker they had been reading since ASM 135 --or whatever number it was-- was not the "real" Peter. It was a ballsy move by Marvel but it was a move that they ultimately reconned because of fan reaction.

I think the idea at the time in the editorial dept was that Peter and MJ as a couple were boring but they didn't want to split them up (this problem sounds familiar doesn't it? It was like the first attempt at "One more day"). Ben was supposed to replace Peter for good but the fans hated it so much that they completely returned everything to the status quo in PPSM #75 (which is an admittedly awesome issue IMO).

The solution was that they were right back where they started before the clone saga and that was also the problem. If the Editorial dept at the time followed their instincts and just let there be a spider-man clone out there who married MJ, they could have done alot of interesting things with Ben Reilly (without the need for Mephiso).

Here's what I think should have been done:

Peter, feeling bad for being a clone that stole the life of the real version of himself, relinquishes the Peter Parker name to Ben Reilly, so that he can have his true identity once again. The cloned version of Peter now dyes his hair blonde goes off with MJ and moves to Portland to raise their baby daughter May.

I feel as though fans would have felt slightly better about this outcome because Spider-Man would still be Peter Parker, have the same hair color, wear the same costume, and be able to have all of the same supporting characters but with the twist that he has a big chunk of history missing and he's have to call up the clone in Portland to fill him in on what happened.

Then down the line if you wanted MJ back you could bring her back by making the clone degenerate or something, then if they got back together it would be REALLY WEIRD for them.