Reddit reviews Spider-Man: Dying Wish

It was The Dying Wish arc in Amazing Spider-Man #698-700 and the entire Superior Spider-man (#1-31) series that ended earlier this year.

Amazon links:

Dying Wish

Superior Spider-Man Vol 1

Vol 2

Vol 3

Vol 4

Vol 5

Vol 6

1. If you want to start with modern spider-man, I'd suggest reading from either Brand New Day or Big Time, which is where Dann Slott (current writer) started his run. Of course you just can just jump on with Superior Spider-man, which is the current series with Doc Ock in Peter's body being Spider-man (this took place at the end of amazing spider-man with the Dying Wish arc. The series is currently 20 issues in, so there's not as much catch-up. There's also Ultimate Spider-man that takes place in an alternate marvel universe that is also really good and has less continuity issues and is a modern retelling of the spider-man origin story and further.
   After getting some reading under your belt, I'd also suggest checking out some of the books in the side bar.
   
   
2. The absolute first spider-man comic is amazing Fantasy #15 from all the way back in 1962, and the first comic in the amazing spider-man main series came out in 1963. I'd suggest reading some of the early spider-man comics. They're a bit cheesy today, but still a lot of fun to read. You can find them in big collected omnibus form.
   
   
   
3. Amazon is always a good bet for getting trades for cheap, but I like going to my local comic book stores. They need as much support as they can get and you can usually get the people working there to help you get into new series. Its also just a great place to hang out and talk about comics with people.
   
   Hope this helps :)

Dying Wish collects the issues of how Doc Ock took over Spider-Man's body, if you want immediately before Superior.

If you want more Peter, start at Big Time and read from there.

I only recently just got into comics so I can understand that it's an overwhelming experience.

> How important is it to read comics in order?

You should read story arcs and issues in order but don't be overly concerned with starting at the very very beginning for every character. One, because a lot of popular characters (including Spider-Man) go back decades and decades, and, two, not everything from the beginning is good reading or good for a newbie. Go back to the very start if you're curious but I don't think that's a good jumping on point. What's considered good comic writing now is very different from what was considered standard back in the 30s or 60s.

>Are there any that would be especially good for "newbie" readers?

This is kind of tough to say.

Talking about monthly comics: DC recently rebooted their whole line of comics a few years ago with The New 52, one of the reasons being to allow for new fans to jump on easier. Marvel hasn't rebooted but they did launch Marvel NOW whose goal was to make it easier for fans to jump on, so anything that says Marvel NOW might be a good place to start.

Here's what I did though. I've been reading comics for about two years and only just started reading monthly issues this May. Up until then I was reading trade paperbacks (TPBs), which are just collections of individual issues.

Basically all I did was pick a character I like, google "best [character] trade paperbacks", and pick up a few that looked interesting. While I was reading TPBs I would be on subreddits like /r/comicbooks, /r/Marvel, or /r/DCcomics, to see what people liked and when new series were starting to find good jumping on points. I found the first good jumping-on point with The Amazing Spider-Man #1 which launched in May.

So that's what I'd recommend.

As for individual books, Spider-Man is only on its fourth issue right now so it's pretty easy to get caught up and jump on board.

My personal favorite Spider-Man TPBs are Superior Spider-Man (this actually stars Doc Ock in Spidey's body; some people don't like it, I think it's great, just be warned), Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt, Amazing Spider-Man Ultimate Collection (a huge collection of J. Michael Straczynski's popular run of the book in the early 2000s; I don't love the art but it's still a good read) and Spider-Man: Dying Wish (which sets up Superior Spider-Man).

I also read Spider-Man: Birth of Venom and The Death of the Stacys to catch up on some important Spidey history.

Do some research before diving into a book or character and pay attention to stories and art that you like so you can follow creators.

Hope that helps. I'd be glad to answer questions if you have any.

A good place to start is the Dying Wish arc that closed out the last volume of Amazing Spider-Man before Superior started. After that, just pick up the first volume of Superior Spider-Man.

Lizard No Turning Back
http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Lizard-No-Turning-Back/dp/0785160086/ref=pd_sim_b_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=04ACMXY9BRY3GDQG423Q

Then Dying Wish
http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Dying-Wish-Dan-Slott/dp/078516524X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

Read Spider-Man: Danger Zone. It's completely optional but it's where the actual mind-swap takes place. But you need to read Spider-Man: Dying Wish, which was the death of Peter and established Ock as Spidey.

The title "Venom" covers Flash, but they crossed over recently. I recommend reading the issues in this then reading Superior Spider-man. Also, if you want to start reading Spider-man again, The Amazing Spider-man number 1 comes out Wednesday I think.

The story takes place in the last few issues of Amazing Spider-Man. It's collected in Amazing Spider-Man: Dying Wish.