What are the top three definitive Spider-man stories?

[JasonF]

The origin story, the Master Planner story from the Ditko era, and the Death of Gwen Stacy, with Amazing 50's "Spider-Man No More" a close fourth.

[Brian G]

Something I thought about when it came up on the show...

I'm not trying to diminish the significance of the Dark Knight Returns, but I do feel Batman is one of the easiest super heroes to define. This is part of his appeal. I mean there's no other super hero who's worked so well in so many different mediums. Not to mention the amount of continuity free Batman stories out there. I feel it's much harder to pin down the definitive Spider-Man or Superman story than it is Batman.

Anyway here are three Spider-Man stories I consider definitive.

1) Amazing Fantasy 15. Yeah it's a little weak picking this one, but if there's any issue that defines Spidey, it's this. Geeky outsider. Great power. Great responsibility. Plus that Ditko guy can draw! 'Nuff said.

2) JMS Coming Home arc. I didn't read all of JMS' run, but that first arc hit some nice notes for me. The spider totem stuff is a little controversial, but ignoring that you got a great arc that defines Spidey. Peter taking on a teaching job and facing an unbeatable enemy really help to emphasize the whole responsibility theme.

3) Death of Gwen Stacy. This one's already been explained by a few people. I agree with them.

[Steve Raker]

1) Amazing Fantasy 17. Yeah it's a little weak picking this one, but if there's any issue that defines Spidey, it's this. Geeky outsider. Great power. Great responsibility. Plus that Ditko guy can draw! 'Nuff said.

You edited your post from last night, but didn't change the issue number (I'm still assuming, however, that you really meant #15, the first app. of Spidey).  That said, I never cared much for the 'extra' issues of Amazing Fantasy (#16-18) published almost 40 years later

[Jay Tomio - Part Deux]

The Eddie Brock/Venom/Black Costume thing always has interested me because it's the subject one of the few story-driven premiums you will see in comics, particularly this late in the industry's history.

I remember when Web of Spiderman #18  became a hot backissue  ("tough" black cover to boot and followed by  Web of Spider-Man #24) because they are the earliest "appearances" of Venom.

Fun, fun.

[Stupendous Man]

Controversial here but the entire USM run is my favorite superhero run ever (and I include the new USM run as a continuation of that)

Word.

[SilverBulletKY]

One more day.

Anyone?  Anyone?

 

[scoundrel3000]

I'll probably get ripped apart here but..."Torment".  It was my first Todd Mac  Spiderman

[Jay Tomio - Part Deux]

I'll probably get ripped apart here but..."Torment".  It was my first Todd Mac  Spiderman

I grant you immunity from #antiawesome forces. 

[evaD]

One more day.

Anyone?  Anyone?

 

 

[Shroud68]

I want to be counterpoint to the standard well known answers but in this case the obvious and epic stuff,  I cannot deny, deserves to be "defenitive":

The Death of Gwen Stacey: Read those issues today and it still looks and feels fresh and current. A girlfriend and villian dying in those issues was really powerful and it's impact on Peter Parker was crushing. I was far too young to appreciate it as I do now but it holds up almost 40 years later.

Kraven's Last Hunt: What fantastic use of the medium, crossing over the three titles. A hero losing, Kraven posing as Spiderman fighting another villian. The creeping sense of doom and madness. The Mike Zeck art. An excellent narrative and a punch in the face ending that seems obvious in 2011 but back then to a teenager, it was a shocker.

#3 is difficult. It's hard to bypass the early Lee/Ditko stuff. I hate Venom but the intial Eddie Brock stuff has it's appeal. I also really love Brand New Day era stuff. It re-energized Spiderman and washed away the JMS stink. Consider Origin of the Species instead of Guantlet. The Guantlet just felt like an arbritrary umbrella linking great stories with with a bad ending. To pinpoint one over 50 years is tough but I will play along and say:

Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut: Hard Luck Spiderman fighting an impossible foe to save a friend and somehow some way winning. Great JRJR art who deserves more credit for his early Spiderman work as opposed to his later. That is two issues that capture Spiderman for me. I can give you three lesser known,  just a degree off definitive,  but these three will do for now.

[BillyZ]

My tops -

1) The Ditko era - Justified or not, I view this as one continuous narrative
2) The Original Clone Saga - Even more than the death of Gwen Stacy, I thought this follow-up was Gerry Conway at his peak writing ASM
3) Kraven's Last Hunt

Honorable mentions -

1) The Byrne/Claremont issues of Marvel Team-Up

2) The JMS years - despite a few hiccups along the way and a putrid coda, which you really have to pin on another Joe anyway.  I will always count Peter confronting Kingpin in jail during Back in Black and telling him how he is going to die if anything happens to Peter's family as one of my favorite Spidey moments.

[Chris Campbell]

1.  Death of Jean DeWolff
2.  Death of Gwen Stacy
3.  AssassiNation Plot 

[David]

OMG, I can't believe nobody's mentioned the introduction of Cardiac or Round Robin!

 

[Shroud68]

3.  AssassiNation Plot  

As a fun summer story,yes. Even then I did not like the Mary Jane subplot, it felt like filler,  but Spiderman with characters not associated with Spiderman makes for a good story. Paladin, Silver Sable and Sabretooth were  not overdone yet and McFarlane was hitting it in the right spot. He drew a frightening Red Skull. An Erik Larsen fill in issue was OK. It does not make my list but it is off the radar and really should not be.
 

[Jay Tomio - Part Deux]

3.  AssassiNation Plot 

Karma granted by the #proawesome committee   

[Shroud68]

OMG, I can't believe nobody's mentioned the introduction of Cardiac or Round Robin!

 

The introduction of the Kangaroo just missed my Top 3.

[Jay Tomio - Part Deux]

TMAC effecting life: After reading ASM #310 I became FASCINATED by the (Killer) Shrike bird and remembering looking it up in every encyclopedia I ever ran into (pre-net people). The character first appeared in the 70s, but after ASM described the bird and it's peculiar habit I remember thinking outside is really even more awesome than I had thought.

[Jeppe]

 

Okay, maybe Hooky would do better on the top three least definitive Spider-Man stories. But screw it, I enjoyed the shit out of it when I read it in 1994!

[slurmo]

OMG, I can't believe nobody's mentioned the introduction of Cardiac or Round Robin!

 

I liked Cardiac.  His motives didn't make much sense if I remember correctly, but I was young and he was "cool"

[David]

I liked Cardiac. 

There's nothing wrong with Cardiac.  He was a vigilante, like everybody else.

And his base of operations had what was probably the first RSS aggregator-type setup in a modern comicbook I had seen.