[7] The initial years of the series, under Lee and Ditko, chronicled Spider-Man's nascent career as a masked super-human vigilante with his civilian life as hard-luck yet perpetually good-humored and well-meaning teenager Peter Parker.

Peter balanced his career as Spider-Man with his job as a freelance photographer for The Daily Bugle under the bombastic editor-publisher J. Jonah Jameson to support himself and his frail Aunt May.

At the same time, Peter dealt with public hostility towards Spider-Man and the antagonism of his classmates Flash Thompson and Liz Allan at Midtown High School, while embarking on a tentative, ill-fated romance with Jameson's secretary, Betty Brant.

Ditko's quirky art provided a stark contrast to the more cleanly dynamic stylings of Marvel's most prominent artist, Jack Kirby,[3] and combined with the humor and pathos of Lee's writing to lay the foundation for what became an enduring mythos.

Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "Steve Ditko squeezes every ounce of anguish out of Spider-Man's predicament, complete with visions of the uncle he failed and the aunt he has sworn to save.

Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that "These first five pages are a modern-day equivalent to Shakespeare as Parker's soliloquy sets the stage for his next action.

Peter David wrote in 2010 that Romita "made the definitive statement of his arrival by pulling Mary Jane out from behind the oversized potted plant [that blocked the reader's view of her face in issue no.

[66] During Wein's tenure, Harry Osborn and Liz Allen dated and became engaged; J. Jonah Jameson was introduced to his eventual second wife, Marla Madison; and Aunt May suffered a heart attack.

[67] Keith Pollard succeeded Andru as artist shortly afterward and, with Wolfman, introduced the likable rogue the Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) in #194 (July 1979).

[68] As a love interest for Spider-Man, the Black Cat would go on to be an important supporting character for the better part of the next decade and remain a friend and occasional lover into the 2010s.

[77] A succession of artists including Alan Kupperberg, John Romita Jr., and Alex Saviuk penciled the series from 1987 to 1988, and Owsley wrote the book for the first half of 1987, scripting the five-part "Gang War" story (#284–288) that DeFalco plotted.

His depiction – "Ditko-esque" poses,[79] large eyes; wiry, contorted limbs; and messy, knotted, convoluted webbing – influenced the way virtually all subsequent artists would draw the character.

350, Larsen was succeeded by Mark Bagley, who had won the 1986 Marvel Tryout Contest[82] and was assigned a number of low-profile penciling jobs followed by a run on New Warriors in 1990.

A succession of artists, including Ron Garney, Steve Skroce, Joe Bennett, Rafael Kayanan and John Byrne penciled the book until the final issue, No.

Other elements included the introduction of a new Spider-Woman (who was spun off into her own short-lived series) and references to John Byrne's miniseries Spider-Man: Chapter One, which was launched at the same time as the reboot.

30 (June 2001), J. Michael Straczynski took over as writer[91] and oversaw additional storylines – most notably his lengthy "Spider-Totem" arc, which raised the issue of whether Spider-Man's powers were magic-based, rather than as the result of a radioactive spider's bite.

That year Peter Parker revealed his Spider-Man identity on live television in the company-crossover storyline "Civil War",[93][94] in which the superhero community is split over whether to conform to the federal government's new Superhuman Registration Act.

The alternating regular writers were initially Dan Slott, Bob Gale, Marc Guggenheim, and Zeb Wells, joined by a rotation of artists that included Steve McNiven, Salvador Larroca, Phil Jimenez, Barry Kitson, Chris Bachalo, Mike McKone, Marcos Martín, and John Romita Jr. Joe Kelly, Mark Waid, Fred Van Lente and Roger Stern later joined the writing team and Paolo Rivera, Lee Weeks and Marco Checchetto the artist roster.

Big Time saw major changes in Spider-Man/Peter Parker's life, Peter would start working at Horizon Labs and begin a relationship with Carlie Cooper (his first serious relationship since his marriage to Mary Jane), Mac Gargan returned as Scorpion after spending the past few years as Venom, Phil Urich would take up the mantle of Hobgoblin, and the death of J. Jonah Jameson's wife, Marla Jameson.

[106] It also tied with Civil War II (involving an Inhuman named Ulysses Cain who can predict possible futures), Dead No More (where Ben Reilly [the original Scarlet Spider] revealed to be revived and as one of the antagonists instead), and Secret Empire (during Hydra's reign led by a Hydra influenced Captain America/Steve Rogers, and the dismissal of Parker Industries by Peter Parker to stop Otto Octavius).

The book would be moving back to the format it had during Brand New Day where it would have a rotating cast of writers including Kelly Thompson, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar, Patrick Gleason, and Zeb Wells.

However, following the conclusion of the storyline in #93, Peter has resumed active duties as Spider-Man, while Ben suffers a mental breakdown after losing his memories and becomes the villain Chasm.

In January 2022, it was announced that writer Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr. would be working on a relaunched The Amazing Spider-Man, bringing the number of volumes for the title to its sixth, with the series beginning in April 2022 as a semi-monthly publication.

The relaunch took place months after a mysterious event that left Peter on bad terms with the superhero community and ended his relationship with Mary Jane.

He ends up taking a job at Oscorp and begins working closely with Norman Osborn (who becomes the heroic Gold Goblin) and starts dating Black Cat.

Peter was sent back to his Earth, while due to the alternative passage of time, Mary Jane and Paul, Rabin's son in that dimension, spent four years in the realm together and adopted two children.

Mary Jane becomes the superheroine Jackpot using the bracelet acquired from the other dimension as Black Cat breaks up with Peter shortly before Janice Lincoln and Randy Robertson's wedding.

In June 2024, it was announced that Wells would be concluding his run later that year, with Romita Jr returning for art and featuring Spider-Man in his final confrontation with Tombstone.

Zeb Wells's Amazing Spider-Man comic book received negative reviews from both critics and audience alike, due to the bad writing, pacing, the bad characterization of the main characters, the decision of splitting up Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson without any good reason, and killing Kamala Khan that didn't add any development to the story, being another poor example of the Women in refrigerators trope.

[109] In December 2024, it was announced that Kelly would become the writer of a new volume of ASM that will launch after 8 Deaths of Spider-Man in April 2025, with John Romita Jr. and Pepe Larraz providing the work on the art.