9. Ultimate Spider-Man, "Power And Responsibility"
Marvel ComicsThat's enough to be getting on with for the central tenants of Spider-Man, but if you want a little more insight into his early days and the events that shaped him into the internationally famed superhero you see today, we highly recommend picking up Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man. Where his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 gives us a rough idea of what Peter Parker's like, the Power and Responsibility takes its time building the character up, giving us a more detailed and complex depiction of this young, dorky orphan's life at home, school, and romantically. It also does it in a way that's a lot more readable and less cheesy than the comic from the sixties, as the teens actually dress and talk like kids do nowadays - no gee whizz or jiminy jillikers here, thank you - and brings the origin a little more in line with the recent Amazing Spider-Man film. We also get a new take on the web head's arch nemesis, the Green Goblin, plus the set-up for a brilliant scientist's descent into madness as Doctor Octopus...And besides all that it's just a great read, a neat spin on Spidey's early days, and has nothing to do with the cartoon of the same name. Sorry. That might be confusing. Just go with it.
Where to read it: The Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 1 collection, of course!