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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 7, 2015 10:21:39 GMT -5
In any standard poll, Lee would win hands down (I think), so let's stack the deck against him. You can vote for any Spider-Man writer you can think of, without a required minimum of comics, or any other restriction. If you believe he did a better job on the character, he's eligible against Lee.
Note: I'm also running this poll over at CBR, to see if there's much difference.
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Post by Pharozonk on Jun 7, 2015 10:31:55 GMT -5
I'm going for the dark horse in this race and declaring that David Michelinie was the best Spider-man writer.
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Post by Trevor on Jun 7, 2015 10:52:06 GMT -5
I haven't read enough Spider-man lately to have an alternate vote come quick to mind, but I'm afraid that I've never enjoyed Lee's writing on anything.
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Post by fanboystranger on Jun 7, 2015 11:12:11 GMT -5
I'm actually going to go with a more recent writer, Paul Jenkins, over Stan Lee. (Also over Roger Stern and JM DeMatteis.) Jenkins' run with Mark Buckingham on Peter Parker was one of the few times that a Spider-book was a must-read for me, and that was because they chose to focus on Peter Parker and his life rather than Spider-Man and his fights. The issue where Peter recalls Uncle Ben taking him to his first Mets game was an absolutely beautiful and remarkably powerful comic, even if I found it hard to suspend my disbelief that anyone could care about the Mets that much. Jenkins, in my opinion, set the highest highs on a Spider-Man book by making us remember that Peter Parker is a man first and a spider-man second.
I do love the Ditko/Lee and Romita/Lee eras of Spider-Man, but they never packed the emotional punch of the Jenkins/Bucky Peter Parker run for me. Unfortunately, the Jenkins' Spider-Man run became more conventional when Bucky left for Fables, although there were still emotionally powerful gems here and there.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,624 
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Post by Confessor on Jun 7, 2015 11:25:09 GMT -5
Tricky, tricky, tricky! This is a very difficult choice because there have been some fantastic writers at work on Spider-Man over the years. But to me, the Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. eras of Amazing Spider-Man are the very essence of what great Spider-Man comics should be. Given that Stan Lee basically wrote all of those books; given the incredibly high level of innovation that the period saw, pretty much every month; and given that this era of Spidey comics are the ones I return to again and again, I've gotta give it to Stan on this occasion.
Other all-time favourite Spidey writers of mine would be Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo, Roger Stern, Kurt Busiek and J. Micheal Straczynsky.
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Post by coke & comics on Jun 7, 2015 13:22:46 GMT -5
The best-written Spider-Man comics involved Stan Lee's work. I guess that makes him the best Spider-Man writer. But I suspect the strongest claim for that title may go to Ditko.
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Post by coke & comics on Jun 7, 2015 13:24:37 GMT -5
After Lee with Ditko/Romita, I'm also a big fan of Stern, David, Demateiss, Jenkins, and Bendis.
Lotsa great Spidey writers out there, and plenty more where those came from. Wolfman, Conway, Claremont, Slott...
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 7, 2015 14:17:49 GMT -5
Ditko #1 for writing, Lee for the dialogue
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Post by Action Ace on Jun 7, 2015 14:20:34 GMT -5
For me, Stan is The Man.
Bendis and Busiek would fight it out for the Silver Medal.
Jenkins, JMS and Slott all deserve mention.
Stern would be my champion for the 1970s and 80s era, which I probably like less than most (everyone?) in this forum.
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 7, 2015 14:32:51 GMT -5
Stern would be my champion for the 1970s and 80s era, which I probably like less than most (everyone?) in this forum. His first work on the character was Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #43, cover date June, 1980. He did write Spider-Woman for a year, prior to that. As for the Lee/Ditko debate, in the context of this poll, I think we should stick to the credits. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 7, 2015 16:16:11 GMT -5
I'm going with Bendis, Ultimate Spider-Man is the only Spider-Man I really like.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 7, 2015 16:19:37 GMT -5
The craft of those Spider-Man stories is what's impressive to me. The bulk of Stan's run was in the 60's, so constant action was the order of the day. Still, he was able to co-create a huge cast of very human characters that you instantly cared about or at least were interested in. It should be "easy" to do this in modern comics where you can get away with spending a whole issue featuring nothing but talking heads, yet I've rarely cared about about the Spider-Man characters like I did when I first read Stan's run.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Jun 7, 2015 16:57:12 GMT -5
I get that a lot of comics fandom was driven by nostalgia for the version you first encountered, and many of us weren't reading comics in the '60s.
But Stan was the best. Everyone else is doing fan-fiction.
(Although, honestly, his last couple Spider-man years were kind of marginal.)
And, what the heck, the rest of the early Marvels:
Fantastic Four: Yes, Stan was the best writer.
Hulk: No, but it's close.
Captain America: No, but Stan did the best patriotic speechifying of anyone.
Iron Man: .... Maybe.
Dardevil: No
Thor: Yes
X-men: HA! (No)
Avengers: Yes. (Unless you count the Ultimates and Marvel Adventures)
Sub-Mariner: No
Silver Surfer: Yes.
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 7, 2015 17:17:29 GMT -5
The first writer that comes to mind is Roger Stern. I loved his Spidey.
Other writers who really worked well on the character include Wolfman, Slott and JMS IMO.
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Post by benday-dot on Jun 7, 2015 17:41:59 GMT -5
I haven't read any Spider-Man comics after around 150, so I don't have much to go on. Gerry Conway's run was pretty good I thought, but nothing stands tall for Spidey, like the early Ditko period.
And the difference between Lee/Ditko and Lee/Romita is so pronounced that I think it's clear that Ditko was the driving force on those formative years. Heck, this is by Lee's own admission in giving Ditko plotting credits.
If we can't count Ditko then I guess I'll have to say Lee, with a big asterix.
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