Essential Spider-Man, Volume 5

Volume 5 collects issues 90-113 and opens in the midst of a fight with Doc Ock. If you're only familiar with the Spider-Man movies, you'll find the jumble of half a dozen story lines as originally written by Stan Lee with their original characters (yes, there was a whole love life prior to Mary Jane - more than one even!).

Stan Lee's writing is featured throughout with a few runs from Roy Thomas (Morbius) and a shift at the end towards Gerry Conway where we see a tired, ulcer-ridden Spider-man questioning his own motives begin to take over. Issues 90-113 feature a mix of super-villains, Marvel crossovers and back-stories. Only a few items of fashion and some throwaway lines about Nixon's honesty date the comic (well, and the arc involving Flash's return from Vietnam), but otherwise it's still very readable today. ( )