Gap
ASM #264–295
Not in an omnibus yet. Peter and Mary Jane get married, and Kraven hunts Spider-Man one last time. Read these issues in the Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collections.
Sixty years of Spider-Man is a lot. You don't have to start in 1962 – pick the path that fits you. Each one follows the story in order, book by book, and tells you what happens, what matters and where the gaps are.
The original stories from issue #1: Peter Parker's world, his family and his classic villains.
The big events: the black costume, Venom, Carnage and the Clone Saga.
A clean modern start: Brand New Day resets Peter's life, and you can read on to today.
For readers who know Miles from the films. A new Spider-Man, his family and growing up.
Peter gets his powers, loses Uncle Ben and learns that great power means great responsibility. Almost every classic villain appears here for the first time.
New stories set between the early issues. Written in the 90s, but they fit right after Omnibus 1. A good way to spend more time in the classic years.
Peter starts college, Mary Jane arrives, and the Green Goblin's secret identity is finally revealed. The Kingpin also makes his first appearance.
Peter and Gwen grow closer, but Gwen's father dies in a fight Spider-Man is part of. Later Peter grows four extra arms, and Morbius makes his debut.
The Green Goblin kills Gwen Stacy, and Peter can't save her. Nothing is the same after it. The Punisher and the Jackal appear for the first time.
Gwen seems to come back – the Jackal has cloned her, and Peter too. The first Clone Saga starts here, while Peter and Mary Jane slowly grow closer.
Peter finishes college and asks Mary Jane to marry him, but she says no. The Black Cat enters his life, and the man who killed Uncle Ben returns.
A lighter stretch: Peter in graduate school, and new villains like Madame Web and Hydro-Man. Short, fun stories between two bigger eras of the series.
Smart, simple and full of heart. A new villain, the Hobgoblin, becomes a long mystery, and Spider-Man has to stop the unstoppable Juggernaut on his own.
The story goes on from #252, when Peter comes back from Secret Wars in a new black costume. The 80s & 90s path follows it from there, book by book.
Peter comes back from Secret Wars in a black costume that turns out to be alive – an alien symbiote. He dates the Black Cat, and Mary Jane tells him a secret.
Not in an omnibus yet. Peter and Mary Jane get married, and Kraven hunts Spider-Man one last time. Read these issues in the Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collections.
Spider-Man's third monthly series from the same years, with Kraven's Last Hunt, one of the darkest Spider-Man stories ever. It fills part of the gap.
Peter and Mary Jane are newly married, and Eddie Brock shows up wearing the old black suit as Venom. Peter goes back to his red and blue costume for good.
Venom comes back, and six of Peter's oldest enemies team up again as the Sinister Six. Meanwhile Peter and Mary Jane try to build a normal married life.
A new symbiote, even more violent than Venom, is born: Carnage. At the same time Peter's long-dead parents seem to return, which is too good to be true.
The same years in Spider-Man's second series: Harry Osborn breaks down and becomes the Green Goblin like his father. Dark, sad and very personal.
Carnage starts a city-wide killing spree, and Spider-Man has to work with Venom to stop him. Then comes the painful truth about Peter's parents.
Ben Reilly, the clone from 1975, comes back with all of Peter's memories. Meanwhile Aunt May is dying, and Peter's whole life starts to fall apart.
Tests say Peter is the clone and Ben is the original. Peter gives up being Spider-Man to start a family with Mary Jane, who is expecting a baby.
Ben Reilly is the new Spider-Man, with a new costume and his own series, while Peter and Mary Jane move away from New York to wait for their baby.
The Clone Saga ends: the man behind it is revealed, Ben dies, and Peter was the real Spider-Man all along. Peter puts the mask back on for good.
1997–2007 is not in an omnibus yet: the new Amazing Spider-Man series and J. Michael Straczynski's run. The story picks up on the Modern Start path.
One More Day erased Peter's marriage. He is single, broke and back with Aunt May, and Harry Osborn is alive again. The easiest modern way in.
The mysteries of the first book are solved, starting with who Menace is. Norman Osborn, now in charge of the Avengers, pulls his son Harry into his plans.
Old villains return one by one, and Kraven's family hunts Spider-Man. At the end we finally learn what happened to Peter and Mary Jane's marriage.
Not in an omnibus yet. Peter gets a job at Horizon Labs, all of New York gets spider powers in Spider-Island, and a dying Doctor Octopus makes his last plan.
Doctor Octopus swaps minds with Peter and becomes a "superior" Spider-Man – smarter, harsher and much less liked. But Peter is not completely gone.
Not in an omnibus yet. Spider-Verse, Peter as the head of Parker Industries, and the start of Nick Spencer's run, when Peter and Mary Jane get back together.
A mysterious enemy, Kindred, makes Peter pay for every mistake he ever made. In the end Kindred is unmasked, and the answer goes back to Harry Osborn.
Peter has lost his friends and Mary Jane is with another man, while Norman Osborn, freed from his evil, tries to be a hero. It ends with the death of Ms. Marvel.
The truth about Peter and Mary Jane finally comes out, and New York's gangs go to war in the streets. Zeb Wells' long run reaches its end here.
The whole Gang War crossover with all the tie-ins: Daredevil, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and Miles Morales. The ASM issues are also in Zeb Wells Omnibus 2.
In the Ultimate universe Peter Parker has died, and Miles, a kid from Brooklyn, carries on in his name. Then his own uncle turns out to be the Prowler.
The same issues are in Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus (2018) – you need only one.
After Secret Wars Miles lives in the main Marvel Universe: school, his best friend Ganke and two Spider-Men in one city. Then Civil War II puts him in danger.
The same issues are in Spider-Man: Miles Morales Omnibus (2019) – you need only one.
Miles is older and a big brother now, and a man called the Assessor wants to use him. To protect his family, Miles has to fight copies of himself.
Miles' story continues in Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2022), not in an omnibus yet. New omnibuses are announced every year, so check back later.
