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

3. The Night Gwen Stacy Died (Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: The Goblin's Last Stand)

Spider-Man The Night Gwen Stacy Died
Marvel Comics

Although Mary Jane is certainly the more famous love interest, Gwen Stacy was the first woman Peter Parker ever loved. Most will be clued up on that now, thanks to the chemistry of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in Marc Webb's Spidey films, but Gwen wasn't always as famous as she is today.

That said, even if you do know how the story ends (and let's face it, the title is a dead giveaway), The Night Gwen Stacy died still manages to pack an emotional wallop. Collected in another of Marvel's Epic Collection line of TPBs, Gerry Conway and Gil Kane's 1973 comic is one of the most infamous in the publisher's library and, whether you agree with it or not, there's no denying its status in the character's bibliography.

Like Kraven's Last Hunt, The Night Gwen Stacy died is one of the more tragic Spider-Man comics out there, its melancholic nature exemplified by the fact that there was no actual way for Spidey to save Gwen. It also shows a real moment of weakness from Peter, who comes dangerously close to killing Green Goblin in the immediate wake of Stacy's passing.

Conway's story defied convention, pushed the medium into a new age and set a precedent - for better or for worse - in the decade following. A lot of the wall-crawler's greatest hits wouldn't exist had it not been for this story, and that alone is cause to check it out.

Advertisement
Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.