Modern Spider-Man help!

[Leigh S]

My son, Joe is very much in the middle of a Spider-Man fan surge.  I fed him the 60s Essentials up to vol 5 as a young un (must get more!) and he is rereading them in the wake of the new film.

He is hankering for something a bit more modern though, and I can't blame him, essential (see what I did there?) as those 60s tales are.

But I have no clue about "good" Spder-Man arcs or collections that would appeal to an interested 14 year old?  any suggestions for appropriate reading?

[Greg M.]

Superior Spider-Man -  a semi-reformed Doc Oc's mind in Peter Parker's body.  There's a couple of complete collections of this out there - it's largely excellent.
New Ways to Die - Probably the best storyline to come out of the 'Brand New Day' era - Spidey vs Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts, with lots of Venom and Anti-Venom action.

Both the above are written by Dan Slott, who, until recently, had been chronicling Spidey for the past decade. Some of his stories are just so-so, but the best are great, with an average quality level of 'pretty good'. You should be safe enough with TPBs of any of his other arcs - Spider-Island, for instance.

Going back a bit further, you've obviously got stuff like Kraven's Last Hunt, generally regarded as a stone-cold classic. I've recently been enjoying the TPBs of The Complete Alien Costume Saga from the 80s. The Birth of Venom TPB should also appeal.

[Leigh S]

Cheers Greg- he is a big fan of Venom, so a few of those sound spot on.

I suppose I am wary after my only experience of modern Spider-Man was flicking through a copy where the storyline seemed to centre around the rape of Betty Brant (or something of that nature), which I found pretty appalling for obvious reasons- just trynig to avoid anything like that!

[Greg M.]

There's nothing like that in any of the above as far as I can remember, thankfully - definitely not in any Slott story. I'm not aware of anything of that nature in the main Spidey title in the last decade - unless this is a story from the Nick Spencer run, which I haven't been following. Possibly this was during the Flash Thompson Venom run, since Betty featured heavily in that.

[Greg M.]

Just thinking - your son might enjoy the first couple of collections of Spider-Man / Deadpool too.

[Leigh S]

yeah  he likes Deadpool - and presumably collected?

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

Start him at 'Coming Home', the first arc by JMS (ASM "volume two" #30-35, 1999, drawn by John Romita Jnr). That was my choice when getting my two boys "into Spidey" and it's still their favourite all these years later.
It's also been massively reprinted in various editions over the years and is therefore available quite cheaply on ebay. Including as part of the Marvel Graphic Novel Collection.

Plus, it's a very, very good story.

SBT

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

I'd also go as far as to say that if you start him from there, and let him work through the entirety of Amazing Spider-Man from that point, at his own pace, he will find the series just gets better and better and "grows" with him, in a similar way that 2000ad did for us.
After JMS, the series "blips" somewhat with the One More Day story- which serves a purpose, but serves it in the most awkward way possible. The new Status Quo set up in the Brand New Day immediately following it managed to annoy keyboard warriors in a similar way to how we see them react today to things they don't like. Dan Slott (and the contemporary team of writers, until Slott took over solo) ran with it though, and to my mind made Spidey the best book in Marvel's stable for years following. Arguably Slot should have packed it in after the extended Superior arc, but even later Slott was frequently better than much of what went before.

The jury is still out on the current run, which personally I found hamstrung by some horrible art- at least until recently.

Everything is available in trades, from the JMS run to date and if you shop around ex - library copies are available for very few pounds.

SBT

[Greg M.]

yeah  he likes Deadpool - and presumably collected?

Yeah, and they're fairly recent too - should be easy to get hold of. I'd agree with SBT(R)'s recommendation of early JMS, though I think his run peters out (pun not intended) long before One More Day (which is indeed diabolical - pun also not intended.) Stuff like Sins Past is absolutely
barrel-scrapingly  terrible.

[Tjm86]

I would also add in "Into the Spider-verse".  I've not seen the film but it has been spoken of highly.  It has some of the strongest Spidey art I've seen in a long while and a cracking story that does seem to land well for a change.  Multi-dimensional shenanigans aplenty.

[TordelBack]

Big Spidey fan, but not kept up for a while: I'd endorse recommendations for Dan Slott and the Brand New Day stuff, very enjoyable soft reboot, if you can ignore what led up to it (a trap I fear Far From Home may have wandered into).  Struggled a bit with Superior Spider-man, but many others loved it.  Very hard for anything to beat those first 50-100 issues, though.

[Colin YNWA]

Not read a lot of modern stuff - there seems to be a lot of stuff knocking around - but I'd echo Kraven's Last Hunt as a stonecold classic and to my mind its perfect for an imaginative 14 year old if they want something a bit different.

From my time (80s) the Roger Stern stuff, particularly the Hobgoblin saga is just tops and normally can be found in one trade or another.

The recent(ish) Fever by Brendan McCarthy is brilliant - if atypical.

[zombemybabynow]

My son, Joe is very much in the middle of a Spider-Man fan surge 

SB this be because of the spider-verse movie (like my nephews)
The current miles Morales : Spider-Man comic book ain't bad & only around 8 issues in I think - so easy to get back issues or first tpb

[Bad City Blue]

DEFINITELY Ultimate Spider-Man from start to finish

Some of the best written SPider Man I've ever read, plus he then gets Miles Morales original stories.

Another vote here for the Superior SPider Man arc as well.

[The Adventurer]

You might have some lucking back the 90s rather then the actual current stuff. McFarland, Larsen, Bagley eras, most of which I'm sure have collected editions in form or another. 

Like this one https://www.comixology.com/Amazing-Spider-Man-Epic-Collection-Return-of-the-Sinister-Six/digital-comic/332725

Or this one https://www.comixology.com/Amazing-Spider-Man-Epic-Collection-Venom/digital-comic/687612