What I didn't mention is that there were alternates to Spider-Man (Amazing, Spectacular, Web and adjective-free) that I did read and enjoy. I was bummed that I disliked the main titles so much and was glad to have these three titles to read.
The three titles were Spider-Man 2099, by Peter David, Spider-Girl by Tom DeFalco and Untold Tales of Spider-Man by Kurt Busiek.
Spider-Man 2099
2099 was a fun read by one of my favorite writers (again, I have bored whatever readers I have to death on this topic in other posts). As Gerry Conway seemed to be trying to do with Firestorm, this seemed to be Peter David's effort to have a hand in "creating" his own version of Spider-Man and adding his own personal style and touch to it.
I have no information to prove that either writer was, in fact, looking at their respective books in this fashion (i.e. in an "if I created Spider-Man, here's what I'd have done" sort of way)...but I can't deny that the thought didn't cross my mind in both cases. Just me thinking out loud here.
2099 had a great origin story, good supporting characters, interesting ideas and interesting plots. All the things you'd expect from Mr. David.
Spider-Girl
The same could be said for Spider-Girl. In addition to the great aspect of seeing Mary Jane and Peter (retired from the Spider-Man thing, but occasionally jumping in) about 20 years after the current continuity, you get the daughter who has inherited the Spider powers!
DeFalco also threw in old school characters like Kaine, J. Jonah Jameson, Felicia Hardy and Flash Thompson were featured. Also featured were ancillary characters who you didn't need too much to draw the connection - like Phil Urich (fresh off the decent, but short-lived Green Goblin series), Normie Osborn and Franklin Richards.
There were also interesting new characters galore (too many to name) populating this fun and fresh title. And Tom DeFalco (and Ron Frenz) wound it all together and made it all run beautifully.
Untold Tales of Spider-Man
Finally, there was Kurt Busiek's Untold Tales. These were stories that took place kinda "in between the lines" of the earliest days of the Amazing stories. There were always some threads that more intrepid readers could recognize and get a proper time frame for where that particular story took place in terms of the genesis of Spider-Man.
Busiek gave us some new stories with old classic villains and mixed in a dash of new tales with some cool new Spider-Man foes. As DeFalco did, Busiek spun all these tales and just told some great stories.
As a Spider-Man purist, I have to give Busiek credit. He was merely adding to the Spider-Man legend...never threatening to alter it. It could easily have been misinterpreted. But he did too good a job for that.
Speaking of which, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Busiek's brilliant Marvels mini-series he did with Alex Ross. If you haven't read this, you're missing out. It's really really good.
Anyway, the third issue of Marvels was a "between the lines" tale that took place shortly after the death of Captain Stacy - the first of what I consider to be a few watershed moments in the Amazing title.
There is an interview with Gwen Stacy and a chilling scene with Doctor Octopus in which he acts exactly as you would expect a master villain to act. Cold. Remorseless. Excellent writing.
That's my take on this. Three excellent Spider-Man alternate titles. All came along at a good time for someone who was a lifelong Spider fan and felt alienated from the main titles.
If you are of a similar vein, look for any of these titles. They all read like the Lee/Ditko or Lee/Romita Sr. Spider-Man tales. Not a bad thing at all.
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