Untold Tales of Spider-Man

Marvel Berkley/Byron Preiss Productions Prose Novels

by Stan Lee, Steven A. Roman (Contributor)

In the tradition of the popular comic book of the same name, this new anthology has over a dozen original tales starring the amazing Spider-Man -- from the earliest days of his career, to the death of Gwen Stacy, to the days just before his marriage to Mary Jane Watson.

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

343 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a second anthology of prose Spider-Man short fiction from Byron Preiss; it appeared in 1997, three years after The Ultimate Spider-Man, which credited Lee alone as editor. It includes fifteen stories, as well as introductions from both editors and an appendix which places each story in the comics chronology. (Marvel used to take chronology far more seriously then they came to in later years.) I enjoyed all of the stories; they were all nice slices of Peter's life to one degree or another. I enjoyed Spidey meeting Dr. Pym (Ant-Man) in Will Murray's lead-off story, and awarded myself a No-Prize for a scene in Tom DeFalco's story, in which a character laments spending his last five dollars on a cheeseburger, and there's no way you had to pay five bucks for a cheeseburger anywhere in March of 1964 when the story was set. There were four that overshadowed the others and stuck out as worth special note: The Ballad of Fancy Dan by Ken Grobe and Steven A. Roman did an excellent job of telling a complex caper story, and showed Kingpin in a somewhat sympathetic light that illustrated things are rarely as clear-cut and black-and-white as they're usually portrayed in the comics. The Liar by Ann Nocenti was a good portrayal of the convoluted life Peter has to live in order to maintain his alter-ego, and included the great paragraph: "Once again, Spider-Man is reminded of his cardinal rule: never argue with men who think they're birds. Or octopuses. Or fools who think they're scorpions. Or rhinos. The world is a pet store full of delusions." Arms and the Man by Keith R.A. DeCandido is a very good and different story told in first-person of a journalist who wants to interview Otto Octavius. Finally, the book ends with a really excellent novelette by Adam-Try Castro, The Stalking of John Doe. Neither Spider-Man (or Peter Parker), nor Kraven (the villain) is explicitly named in the story, which is set in a mental facility and features a beautiful young doctor named Gwendolyn, who realizes, on page 339, that with great power comes great responsibility. It's a well crafted story that's brilliantly executed and is a real knock out. Excelsior!

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

First thing first — RL Byers story about Spider-Man right after the death of Gwen Stacy was incredible. That aside is well worth the cost of this audiobook (which I borrowed free on Hoopla).

Most of the stories were pretty good. A couple were somewhat , but most were interesting.

I took a star away, though, because I didn’t like the narrator at all. I especially disliked the way he read Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Did he audition and get selected for this job? What is the process for that?

[NickMohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent anthology series on the web slinger.

[Derrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another audio book of lots of comics. If you enjoy Spider-Man tales, than these are it. It's like audio books of the comics. I prefer one story rather than a whole bunch of them.

[Ekenedilichukwu Ikegwuani · Rating 4 out of 5]

the final story in this is probably one of my favorite spider-man stories ever written

[Pk Devan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wherever there's safety, evil finds a way to creep in. Spiderman has been a hero of many for years, but you've never seen him like this before! Untold Tales of Spiderman is a collaboration of different short stories. Most of the stories take place in some point in Spider-mans life. My favorite short story is "Celebrity," written by Christopher Golden and José R. Nieto. Peter Parker is sent to take photographs of Johnny Storm (a famous superhero) and his date. But what seems like simple pictures turns into a big disaster.

"Celebrity" is a great short story that kept my attention the whole way. The writing is very effective and powerful. Because of this, it really immerses you into the story. And that is a main strength. This book is amazing, and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read great short stories and loves Spiderman.

[Camden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fucking spiderman lovers gold mine wow