THE TOP 25 GREATEST SPIDER-MAN COVERS OF ALL TIME

THE TOP 25 GREATEST SPIDER-MAN
COVERS OF ALL TIME

BY 

John "THE MEGO STRETCH HULK" Cimino

SIMPLY AMAZING!

Let's face it, Spider-man is without a doubt one of the most popular superheroes ever created. Truth be told, he could well be "the" most popular. Why? Because he is so relatable to everyone. Yes, we know he's cool, has snappy banter and many of us can understand the teen-angst Peter Parker has to go through on a daily basis. But the most lovable thing about our little ol' wall-crawler is without a doubt his costume. Not only does Spidey have what is arguably the greatest fictional character costume ever, it's able to transcend all boundaries. Yup, it transcends all ages, all sexes, all nationalities, all cultures, all religions... everything. We relate to it because the costume covers his entire body and  manages to capture our imagination on a subconscious level. We can almost instantly imagine ourselves in the suit swinging roof top to roof top. It is so iconic, that we just get drawn into it and it sticks in our heads... just like a web.

We can instantly recognize who Superman is, who Batman is, who Captain America is, and most heroes of lore because we can see who they are somewhat underneath the mask (if they even have one). But we can't see Peter Parker in the Spider-man outfit. Sure, you can't see other popular heroes like Iron Man, Spawn and the like, but Spidey was the first to really capture the pulse of the readers on a level that others couldn't. And let's be honest, as cool as those heroes look in their outfits, they don't scream "superhero" the way Spidey does.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and debuting in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962), Spider-man quickly became the most popular hero of the Marvel-mythos. He captured the essence of what Marvel was trying to be -- "superheroes with problems." Sure, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk started the ball rolling with Stan Lee's ingenious idea, but none of them ever exemplified that role as well as Spider-man did. He was the standard, that's why he soon became the icon for the company.

With Spidey always looking super-heroically-cool, his comic books resembled the same magic. They always represented the "pulse" of the entire Marvel Universe and screamed jazzy superhero adventure that was fun for the whole family. And most importantly, Spidey always had perfect chemistry with just about every character he came across so it's no surprise that he's the face of the company.

Looking at Spidey's comic book covers or his appearances on covers always exemplified the meaning of super-heroic-fantasy and total nonstop action. He did it better than the Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine, the Avengers, the X-Men, Batman, the Justice League and even better than Superman (BANG!). Yup, Spidey showing up on comic covers are what I looked at to get my "Supa Dupa" fix as a kid. So in honor of that addiction, I present to you my 25 favorite Spider-man covers of my time and of all time. Some might surprise you, some won't. But either way, these are the covers that totally captivated my imagination as a kid and left a forever impression... Thwippp!!!

25.) MARVELS #4 (1994)

24.) MARVEL TEAM UP #93 (1980)

23.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #33 (1966)

22.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 (1963)

21.) TALES TO ASTONISH #57 (1964)

20.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #19 (1964)

19.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #161 (1976)

18.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #13 (1964)

17.) THE SAVAGE SUB-MARINER #69 (1974)

16.) CAPTAIN AMERICA #138 (1968)

15.) MARVEL TALES ANNUAL #1 (1964)

14.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #2 (1965)

13.) MARVEL TEAM UP #11 (1973)

12.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 (1964)

11.) AMAZING FANTASY #15 (1962)

10.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #119 (1973)

9.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #134 (1974)

8.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #135 (1974)

7.) MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #1 (1974)

6.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #121 (1973)

5.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #129 (1974)

4.) STRANGE TALES ANNUAL #2 (1963)

3.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #73 (1969)

2.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #123 (1973)

1.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #68 (1969)

Agree? Disagree? Let's hear it fanboys and let's see your lists!

Check out other Hero Envy "Top 25 Greatest Covers" Lists:

 Superman
http://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-top-25-greatest-superman-covers-of.html

Hulk
http://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-top-25-greatest-hulk-covers-of-all.html 
 

John Cimino

John Cimino is a Silver and Bronze Age comic, cartoon and memorabilia expert that runs a business called "Saturday Morning Collectibles." He buys, sells, appraises and gives seminars on everything pop culture, so if you got something special, let him know about it. He contributes articles to ALTER EGO, RETROFAN, BACK ISSUE and THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR from TwoMorrows Publishing, runs the Roy Thomas Appreciation Board on Facebook and has appeared on the AMC reality show Comic Book Men. He also represents some of comicdoms biggest stars and brings them to a Comic Con near you. John likes to think he's the real Captain Marvel, people just don't have the heart to tell him he's just an obsessed fanboy that loves to play superheroes with his daughter Bryn. Contact him at johnstretch@live.com or follow him on Instagram at megostretchhulk.