10 Essential Storylines To Read If You're Just Getting Into Spider-Man

8. Secret Wars

Secret Wars, like Spider-Man No More!, is one of the most important comics out there. Yes, it isn't a Spider-Man tale strictly speaking, but the wall-crawler does feature prominently throughout. Further to that is the fact that this was the storyline that saw Spidey don the black suit for the first time, and you have as strong an argument as any that it be considered essential reading for web-heads everywhere.

Widely considered to be the first 'event' comic out there (read into those implications at your own peril), Secret Wars was the brainchild of Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck and Bob Layton. Centred around a mystical being known as the 'Beyonder' abducting Earth's mightiest heroes and villains and sending them to a place called 'Battleworld' to duke things out, the comic was the closest thing to a blockbuster the medium ever had. Spider-Man also had a key part to play, with most of his rogues gallery getting sent to the world along with himself on account of the fact that, well, they're the best the company's ever had.

The story's consequences were long lasting too, with Spidey donning the now infamous 'black suit' after an early battle. While sinister in origin, the costume change was thought to be totally innocuous at first, with the symbiote's ulterior motives only established in subsequent storylines which accompanied a stark shift in tone for Marvel's Spidey comics at the time.

Full credit to the black suit should go to Randy Schueller however, who sold the idea to Shooter for $220 dollars in a Marvel competition that same decade.