Spidey, Volume 1: First Day

Spidey (Collected Editions)

by Robbie Thompson, Nick Bradshaw (Illustrations)

Think you know everything about Peter Parker? Think again! Expect action, adventure and hilarity in equal measure as we head back to high school to explore Pete's early days! Modern talent combines with the classic Marvel flavor to present the web-slinging wonder's younger years in truly amazing, spectacular, sensational style. It's a return to the hassles of overdue homework, not knowing how to talk to girls and a never-ending merry-go-round of madness courtesy of the best rogues'gallery in comics, each one more incredible than the last. You'll love watching Spidey tangle with Doctor Octopus and dig Sandman, the walking beach. With these and more faces from Peter's past -both familiar and surprising figures -you'll remember what made Spider-Man the world's greatest hero in the first place! COLLECTING: SPIDEY 1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Spider Man, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Library Binding

First published August 10, 2016

About the author

Comics writer.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know the Spider-Man origin through and through?! Of course there are. There are kids appearing all the time, totally fresh Marvel fans-to-be, who have never read a Spider-Man comic but want to know where to start. And don’t you dare tell them to go back to the beginning and read the 1960s Stan Lee comics because that’ll kill any interest they might have!

That’s the thinking behind Spidey: retelling classic Spider-Man but in a modern comics style to a 21st century audience for whom this will all be brand new. And for those new readers, this is a great place to start reading Spider-Man comics, though for someone like me who’s read/watched the Spidey origin a hundred times already, this was just ok.

I’m not sure what timeline/world this series is set in but it’s the modern day (smartphones, etc.) yet people still think Iron Man is Tony Stark’s bodyguard! Best not to dwell on it - it’s its own thing.

All the classic Spider-Man beats are here with 15 year old Peter (who looks like the current Spider-Man actor, Tom Holland) learning to juggle the demands of being a superhero with his schoolwork, and helping his Aunt May with the bills too by selling photos of Spider-Man to The Daily Bugle. All of the familiar characters are assembled once again: Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, and the rogues gallery: Green Goblin, Doc Ock, the Lizard, Sandman, and the Vulture. The only difference (and it’s an insignificant one) is Norman and Harry Osborn are darker skinned, probably for diversity reasons.

Robbie Thompson’s script is bright and breezy, capturing the optimism and insecurity of teenage Peter Parker nicely in well-written stories that feel like a comfortable cross between the various Spider-Man comics, movies and cartoons. Nick Bradshaw’s art is beautiful and imaginative though unfortunately he only illustrates the first half with the second half being picked up by Andre Lima Araujo whose artwork is quite bland.

Completely green Spider-Man readers will get the most out of this as well as some long-time Spidey fans nostalgic for the olden days. More seasoned readers in general though won’t find the stories as compelling as we’ve all seen these before and know them inside out - I can still appreciate the decent writing but I know this web too well to be caught up in it.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to scratch my head when I first saw this book. 'Doesn't Marvel already publish TWO Spidey books for younger readers?' I thought. 'What's the point of this third one?'

Well, I couldn't tell ya, I'm afraid. What I can tell you, though, is that this is easily the best of the three. The book has a charm the other two are mostly lacking. Oh, and the artwork on this one is really great, with Spidey's fight with the Lizard being a particular artwork highlight.

If you're only going to read one younger-readers Spider-Man book, this is the one to read.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly geared to younger readers, each issue is a standalone with a different villain and the same Nick Bradshaw penciled origin page with a little different text each issue. The issues mainly focus on Spider-Man's fights with a page or two devoted to high school. Gwen Stacy has been retconned in to Parker's high school years in place of Liz Allen. (Gwen originally didn't appear until Pete was in college at Empire State.) Robbie Thompson has a good handle on the dialog and Spider-man's quips particularly. He and Nick Bradshaw have created a fun return to Spidey's roots even if a few things were needlessly retconned and costumes changed.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars



THIS is my favorite Spider-Man. The still inexperienced, tons of quips mid-fight, filled with teen angst Spider-Man. Not the Avenger or the successful CEO of his own company, this one.



All of the usual baddies show up in this one. Sandman, Lizard, Kraven (ever so briefly), Green Goblin and of course Doc Ock. Definitely excited to read more of this.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I freaking loved this. It takes me back to what I loved about spider-man when I was a kid.

Own these in single issues

Full review coming later.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Read as single issues]

Set in Peter Parker's earliest days as Spider-Man, this series gives us some new adventures of everyone's favourite wall-crawling superhero. It's not too serious, it's not covered in continuity, and it's never a chore to read. It's also perfect for new or younger readers. Most of all, it's cute.

Peter Parker's world lately is a lot more complicated, and it's fun to look back on these early adventures and see him worrying about dating Gwen or dealing with Flash Thompson. This is also a good place to see all your favourite classic villains, like Green Goblin and Doctor Doom. There's also a team-up with Iron Man, which is much more of a big deal to Peter in this book than it would be now.

Nick Bradshaw starts the series off, and his art works exactly with the tone of this title, cartoony but not dumbed down. Andre Araujo draws a few issues too, and his work is very different, but equally as suitable. It's when you put the two next to each other that the disconnect comes about. Take each issue as a single, and you're golden though.

Robbie Thompson's star seems to be rising at Marvel, what with Silk, Spider-Women, this book, and the upcoming Doctor Strange spin-off, and it's easy to see why. Deft character work, a good balance of inner monologue and character dialogue, and some great artists make this an easy read, if not a particularly heavy one.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is downright in the middle for me. It's not great, it's not bad, it's just OKAY. I'd give this a 2.5 but since I'm feeling nice (And I love my Spidey) I'll be giving this a 3. However, I wish it was better than it was.

What I liked: Going through different villains is a easy way to get caught up with Peter. I also think the artstyle is simple but works well. Almost a throwback for modern day. I also enjoyed the relationship with Aunt May and Gwen here and made it slightly different but it worked.

What I didn't like: Basically volume was is a big highlight reel. Every issue is just Peter beating the bad guy, usually pretty easily. No worry or stakes here. Just Saturday cartoon fun, which is good for newcomers, but kind of lame for us. Also Harry and Norman weren't not very well done if you ask me. Even their relationship seemed off.

Overall this is a book you might enjoy more if you never read Spider-man. It's not horrible but honestly I'd suggest Ultimate Spider-man far more. I'ma go with a 2.5 out of 5.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entry-level Spider-man title has really nice art, but the stories are a bit boring. Each story is only one issue long, so the stories are a bit simple. I'd say this would be good for kids or for people who have never read comics before, but if you have any comics reading experience, you'll probably be bored.

[Hugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. Nostalgic and modern at once, and written in perfect vernacular; the art is variable, though both artists are a little offbeat, to the good.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm...
Hmm...
Hmm...

Last year I wrote an article that was critical of comics', especially Marvel's, tendency to de-age their characters. They've made some diversity movements, and that's cool, but in terms of age we haven't seen as much movement. Ms. Marvel, Iron Man/Iron Heart, Moon Girl, Nova, Miles Morales, Totally Awesome Hulk. ALL bringing forth diversity in just about every way. Except age.

I got a pretty good lambasting for the article, by the way. Mostly from people who were convinced I was racist as the characters I cited in the intro weren't white. Which WAS true, although the next section was all about Robin and Bucky, and the section after that consisted of examples of adults taking responsibility, and that section was about John Stewart and Jim Rhodes. I don't know why I'm defending myself here. I guess it still stings a bit.

Lesson learned: "I quite liked Ms. Marvel except for the ending of the second arc" is WAY too negative. Only say something mildly critical of Ms. Marvel if you want to become one of (Twitter) history's greatest monsters.

One of the characters I didn't talk about much in the article was Spider-Man. Until the comments. Someone asked about Spider-Man, and I said that Spider-Man is probably the biggest all-time victim of de-aging as a doorway to "new" stories and ideas. Seriously, the guy has been rebooted in film THREE times in 14 years. That's more than Fantastic 4! And the comics? Sweet Aunt Petunia, forget about it! The guy, it's like puberty is the mob: "Just when I thought I was out, they PULL ME BACK IN!"

Here's a more specific quote:

I find it interesting that we so often consider Spider-Man a teen superhero and for his age to be at the core of who that character is. He graduated high school in issue #28 of Amazing Spider-Man (also the first appearance of the Molten Man, True Believers!), which came out in September of 1965. 51 years and over 700 issues ago. To put it in perspective, Peter Parker spent less than 4% of his Amazing Spider-Man run attending high school.

I'm quoting myself, which is the definition of being up my own ass. But I didn't want to do that math again.

And now, we have Spidey.

Spidey would probably be super enjoyable if you'd never read the origin of Spider-Man. Which means there's no fucking possible shred of a possibility that you're reading this review right now.

I was just talking with my officemate yesterday, and we agreed that there are 3 superhero origins NO ONE needs again: Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man. I swear to god, every time with these three. A rocketship from another planet (that NO ONE can explain why, if Jor-El is so fucking smart, he only made ONE ship for a fucking baby), blood and pearls in the gutter (OMG it's soooooo contrast-y!) and Spider-Man (with great power comes...I'm not even going to finish it).

Spidey does keep the spider bite and powers discovery portions brief. That stuff plus the death of Uncle Ben are kept down to a single splash page in every issue. Which is awesome because we have Spider-Man from page 1. It's a fuckton better than getting a 2-3 issue arc about Peter Parker getting his powers, but still, when is Marvel going to learn that there is not a human who has access to this book and interest in it who does not know Spider-Man's origin?

And I know I'm getting off track here, but I swear to all that is holy, I really, REALLY hope they don't spend a lot of time fucking around with the origin in the new movie. We got like NO origin in Civil War, and that worked out great! We don't need it! I promise we don't!

Marvel, please, if you can, just release two versions in theaters. One with origin, one that skips that shit. Then me and the other comic book losers can spend the extra 20 minutes pumping butter into our popcorn. Which I need to do. If I don't feel like a golf cart ran over my chest half way through a tub of popcorn, I know I fucked up.

Okay, Spidey.

The thing is, I'm sticking with my original thesis. I think I'd like to see some heroes that are not in high school. In Spidey, the Spider-Man parts were pretty great, the Peter Parker portions (Triple P's) were SO BORING.

The Spider-Man stories weren't anything earth-shattering, but they felt fresh. Spidey jokes around a lot, which he's always done, but the writing in this book manages to capture something interesting. Spidey is funny, but he's not hilarious. He's funny in that he's not great at being funny yet, but he's still making quips. Quips and thwips. That shit's working.

It's the Peter Parker Portions that are a bit of a snooze, and damn if they don't tread a lot of familiar ground. Flash Thompson is his antagonist, and Parker could mop the floor with him but doesn't because he feels like getting his head dunked in the toilet is the only way to keep his secret identity secret.

Which, another rant, that always bothered me. Have some self-respect! Parker, you stick up for the little guy every damn time, but never for yourself. I'm not saying you have to shatter Flash Thompson's orbital socket, but do you really have to let him put your face in the toilet? I feel like there's a lesson to be learned here about the existence of a middleground in most situations, specifically a middleground between smashing someone's face and having your own face swab a public urinal.

Also, a lesson in self-worth. Dude, I have SUPER low self-esteem, as evidenced by the fact that I have to prove to the faceless internet that I'm not a racist asshole even though I'm like 100% sure. I also routinely eat things off the floor because I feel like I dropped them and there's a price to be paid. And even I don't think kissing porcelain is the answer here.

In Spidey, Parker is in love with Gwen Stacy, he has to find a job taking pictures for the Bugle. The Peter Parker stuff couldn't be more by-the-(comic)book.

In Spidey, the Spider-Man stuff works, the Parker stuff feels like an afterthought. Robbie Thompson nails it with the Spidey stuff, less nails it with the Parker stuff. Maybe staples it or something. What's less than a nail but still okay?

Oh, I will say, the art is badass. The action is really cool, reminiscent of Nightwing from Scott McDaniel, but more colorful and 10% more Looney Tunes.

Okay, and I know this seems totally unrelated...does Ain't It Cool News dislike anything? I feel like every comic I look at, Ain't It Cool News has something great to say about it.

I don't mean to talk shit about something that's so relentlessly positive, but here are some headlines from right now:

It's your patriotic duty to go see Movie X right now!!!
Video X should tickle your very soul!!!

When there's ONE exclamation point, I guess that means it's terrible or something.

Truthfully, I'm just jealous because I really believe the folks over there love things as much as they claim. That seems like the good life. How do I get on that train?

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same story as always, just told in a more "fun" way. Meh.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was something I really wanted to like and couldn't wait to start reading about Spidey's first adventures...

.. but it was a letdown. This one wasn't for me. It's for kids. I guess I wanted something not that kid-friendly and simple.

[Ryan Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable as an adult, but REALLY would have appealed to me when I was just starting to read comics at 7-8. It’s very good at what it’s supposed to be: a gateway for new Spider-fans.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "Current Day" look at the "Early Days" of Spider-Man. He's still in high School, but current phones, the internet and such are in play here.
A fun read, with Peter meeting Gwen for the first time. We see "Doc Ock", Sandman, Doctor Doom, The Green Goblin, to name a few...

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the stories are not necessarily complex, and sometimes the artwork is just average, there is something that just clicks about this collection. Part of it is a nostalgia factor - for those of us who have been fans for years - and part of it is the inherent goodness and/or relatable nature of the character as a teenager. There were some nice scenes here between the standard superheroics, including Spider-Man receiving encouragement during an unexpected conversation with a young fan. Lastly, there was a moment late in the final story which will remind some of us of our own high school days. (And if doesn't, I guess you were Flash Thompson.)

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This umpteenth retelling of Peter Parker's high school years is a bit of a wash, as innocuous as it is unnecessary. For some kid, I'm sure it will be awesome, but I've seen this stuff rehashed way too many times in my life to be impressed by this middling iteration.

[Kalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was so fun to read! will definitely be getting volume 2 asap.

[Marcela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute series, especially for kids/tweens just getting into superheroes.

[Trai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very cute! The art is colorful and fun and the stories are simple and enough in line with the MCU that young readers wouldn't get jarred by differences. I especially loved the appearances by Black Panther and Iron Man (Peter asking Tony for dating advice was so cute). I deducted a star because the editing on this series seems inconsistent--"Stacy" and "Stacey" are used interchangeably, there are some sentences that don't make sense because of errors ("patrol" is used instead of "patrolling" which makes the entire sentence incomprehensible), and sometimes they seem to flat-out forget certain story beats. There's a point in this first volume where Peter says at least the Bugle credited him for a photo he took and an entire panel focuses on his byline, and then a few issues later Jameson is insisting they never credit photographers. Similarly, in that issue Peter is broke when he needs to buy a present for Aunt May's birthday--I know chronic money worries are always a thing with Peter, but it's been established earlier in the series that Norman is paying Peter very handsomely to tutor Harry, and that does not come up as frequently as one would think/is forgotten about when needed. (Speaking of Harry, he exists to pop up here and there for a few panels.) Overall, minor editing errors aside, this is a really cute all ages series that made for a fun read for my grownup Spider-Man loving self.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This series takes place within the Spider-Man high school continuity after Spidey gains his powers and loses Uncle Ben but before Gwen Stacey's death. The volume is filled with fun, fast paced self-contained stories filled with a nice collective of Spider-Man villains. Highly recommend for fans of Spider-Man.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

why does this book flat out ignore the high school era books Pete was hung up on betty then and she's not even in the book replaced by Gwen who he didn't even know then personality is off battles and encounters ignored movieverse level of iron man worship disappointing.

[Ronald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well that was disappointing.
The stories were meh. In this day and age the best the writers of a Spider-Man comic can do is still have the Daily Bugle call Spider-Man an evil menace and have everyone believe it. Spider-Man still gets no help, no hope and no real friends, he still has to "Hide" who he is from the real world and let others claim all the glory.
The worst part? Really do you want to know the worst part? The less told in this comic is that you should submit to bullies and let them do anything to you. Why is this worse? Because comic is aimed at younger kids. Also, why the hell is the administration of this school which seems to care so much about young Peter and his grades do nothing about the bully hurting their star pupil. In the real Spider-Man stories Peter / Spider-Man was able to escape bullies at school without giving away he was Spider-Man. In this day and age why nothing being done but make the bully look cool? It truly is shameful that a comic aimed at young people is not anti-Bully. Yes, I was badly bullied all my life and no one ever lifted one hand to help me and I would get in trouble for not submitting to the bullies. But the Spider-Man comics I read gave me hope because Peter could get away.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spidey as you've never seen him before!... oh wait we have ....a lot.

This is very much Robbie Thompson's "back to basics" view of Spider-Man as we literally go all the way back to his high school days and learn about some early adventures of the web slinger. He is in that phase where he is still being bullied by Flash, and just met (and fell for) Gwen Stacy. So we are talking way back.

I think that we as the reader are blinded by the first half of this book's art. Nick Bradshaw's Spidey art is just incredible at times. It was a blast to just see his interpretations of classic villains, and of course, of Spidey himself. His Arthur Adams-esque style definitely is eye candy for us, and the art alone is worth it to check this out.

However, the last half drops off as far as art. Don't get me wrong André Lima Araújo is a great artist, and I do like his style, but to follow Bradshaw is just not fair. It is such a drop off as far as styles that is actually quite jarring. I know we cant have artists do entire runs, but man, this really suffered from the transition.

To be honest, this book felt unnecessary to me, but was fun nonetheless. Geared more towards an all ages crowd, I think someone who is not familiar with Spidey would get a blast out of reading this.

[Phillip Cash · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is about Peter in his high school days, and it riffs on many of Spider-Man's early career greatest hits. Each story is self-contained (refreshing for a modern comic), and the comedic writing is sharp enough. For the first half of the book, the artwork is adequate but nothing special. In the second half, André Lima Araújo takes over for Nick Bradshaw and it goes downhill... the stories are full of lazy linework, gaudy-looking faces, and nothing backgrounds. Not the worst I've ever seen by a long shot, but lazy.

I expected these stories to be formulaic and they were. That's not automatically a bad thing; a back-to-basics Spider-Man series is always welcome as far as I'm concerned. As a seasoned Marvel reader, I found them inessential but mostly enjoyable (aside from the final issue which evokes the asinine Stark mentorship angle from the MCU, albeit done in a way that is less sickening). It's safe to say that I would have loved this series had it been around when I was a kid. Bonus points for not wasting any time with a full origin story; instead it's just recapped on page one of each issue.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zaskakująco smaczny, odgrzewany kotlet, który ukazuje Parkera, jak ten jeszcze chodził do szkoły i jednocześnie stawiał pierwsze kroki, jako superbohater. Kultowi złoczyńcy, z którymi walczy po raz pierwszy, sercowe rozterki i początki specyficznego humorku postaci. To tu znajdziecie. I tyle musicie wiedzieć, gdyż całość jest adresowana do młodszych czytelników.

Nick Bradshaw i spółka są naprawdę dobrzy, choć przy postaci Iron-Mana czuć było nieco naftaliny/mniej urozmaiconej kreski. Niemniej bywa dynamicznie i zabawnie. Nie jest to nic, czego byście nie widzieli, choć przyznam, że bawiłem się dobrze, zwłaszcza gdy Pete był w szkole z Gwen. Może nie A, ale B z pewnością.*

Amerykański system ocen to literki od A+ po F bodajże.

[Matisse · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Spidey' takes the webhead down to the bare-minimum: each issue is a standalone where Peter goes up against a member of his rogues gallery, while contending with some teen angst issue. That's it. There are glimpses of the larger Marvel world--Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Daredevil all cameo in the first TPB alone--but the focus is squarely on a teenage Peter Parker.

It's got a saturday-morning cartoon vibe to it, what with the goofy artwork, light script, and the cute way the webhead is exclusively referred to as 'Spidey'. The eerie way this Peter looks just like Tom Holland adds to the charm. =)

[Neyebur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un cómic perfecto para todos aquellos que se acercan por primera vez a Spider-Man tras sus películas en el MCU, una divertidas actualización de sus historias, como hizo a principios del 2000 el universo Ultimate, pero, mientras ese se enfocaba a un público adolescente, este está más dedicado a los más pequeños.
Aún así la historia está llena de homenajes a los lectores más curtidos del personaje, para que disfruten de esta reimaginación.
Mi única crítica es que no soy fan del dibujante de las últimas historias del tomo, sobre todo de como dibuja las armaduras de personajes como Dr. Muerte o Iron Man.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a great title which returns Peter Parker to high school and gives a modern spin on early adventures. I'm docking a star, because even though the story is very clear that Spider-Man is new on the scene at each turn he's encountering the various supervillains (Doctor Doom, Sandman, etc.) after he's already met them. Part of me is glad that Spider-Man's and the various villains' origin stories are glossed over so quickly and yet part of me wanted to see what possible new twist or direction Thompson could have given them.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection feature stories when Spider-Man is starting out. Rather than try and capture the look and feel of the Lee/Ditko stories, these stories are very much a modern take on his early days. The stories are entertaining but not particularly memorable. The art can get a bit cartoonish, but the page layouts are very creative. If you want to read some great stories taking place during the early days of Spidey that has a modern sensibility (at least for its time), check out Kurt Busiek's and Pat Oliffe's excellent Untold Tales of Spider-Man series.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book on a rec from the "Get Booked" podcast. I wrote in asking for Marvel comics recs for a 10yo obsessed with the MCU. The comics I had read (Black Panther, Thor, Vision) are too adult for her. This was the perfect rec. (They also rec'd a Capt Marvel comic, which I'll get to later.) This book is funny, completely charming, and the artwork is great. There are delightful appearances by Iron Man and Phil Coulson, along with standard high school angst. I really enjoyed this book, and so did 10yo.