5. The Sinister Six
Marvel ComicsWhat with being a regular shmoe, the stakes in Peter Parker's superheroic adventures tend to be pretty personal too. Some of the most famous Spider-Man stories involve the web head's loves ones getting dragged into his fights with various colourful supervillains, and the first appearance of The Sinister Six combines that perennial aspect of Spidey comics with the first team up of his enemies, a bunch of cameos from other Marvel characters, and a lot of stuff that will be familiar to viewers of the film series so far (plus some tips about what to expect from them in the future...) The first Spider-Man annual came out a year after the wall crawler's introduction to the world of comics, and built on everything that writer Stan Lee and virtuoso artist Steve Ditko had created so far. First of all we have Spidey bumping into members of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange, reminding us that New York is pretty well populated with super-folk. Then Peter goes through a crisis of confidence which sees him losing his powers for a short time - as seen in Spider-Man 2 - which, unfortunately, comes at the same point all the bad guys he's put away thus far realise they've more chance of bringing down their nemesis if they all take him on at once. We don't want to spoil what happens in this double-sized sensation, but it's a pretty fun read, with some of the early cheesiness from Amazing Fantasy #15 washed aside by the fast pace and gorgeous retro art. Plus if the Sinister Six play as big a part in the next Amazing Spider-Man film as we're expecting, you're gonna be way ahead of the curve.
Where to read it: Killing two birds with one stone, the Amazing Spidey annual they first appear in is reprinted in Essential Spider-Man vol. 1 as well!