I'm a Spider-Man completist and in order to help out other fans, I've created this site. Pretty much all the images shown here are from my personal collection. And yes, scanning all those covers drove me mad. Some say, I had to be mad to start such a task in the first place. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one is the case here.

Does this site really contain a complete list of Spider-Man comic publications? Well, I hope so but I'm pretty sure it's not the case. There will always be new giveaways, cover variants or appearances that I do not know of. If you find any comic missing from this list, please, let know. But before you do, follow these simple steps (or rules if you like):

  1. Make sure the comic book you want me to add is not on the site. I do not have a complete list of Spider-Man (appearance) comics here, but I'm pretty close. Chances are, you need to look on a different page or perhaps in the other category.
  2. When you do have a comic book that I have not listed here, please, mail me a scan of the cover. Before you send me hundreds of megabytes, make the cover scan about 1/4 the original cover size (that's 40dpi). For a regular comic that would be something like 275 x 410 pixels. And please, make it a JPG file.
After that, adding stuff to this site is pretty easy. All pages were generated by Pete's Collection KIT, a little program I wrote to maintain my comic collection. It's just entering the data and pushing a few buttons. I will not update this site every week though, once every 4-6 weeks will have to do.

The quality of the images could be better. Most of the (older) comics were scanned while they were still in their Mylar bags. Well, big deal. Scanning thousands of comics is a tough job, taking them out and putting them back in their protective bags one by one is even tougher!

The current Cover Archive...

    Spider-Man Core Titles     11655 scans
    Sub-set: GiveAways     673 scans
    Sub-set: Variants     6233 scans
    Spider-Man Appearances     5220 scans
         
    Dutch comics     1140 scans

 

How does it work...
This Spider-Man Cover Archive is split in two main sections, American and Dutch comics. The American section is rather large and therefor split in Core Titles and Appearances. Below you'll find my rough guideline for putting books in one of these sections. Further down, the specific rules are explained.

In the Spider-Man Core Titles section, you'll find....

  • All Spider-Man features.
  • Reprints in any form of those features.
  • Giveaway comics (or series) that include Spider-Man as the main character.
  • All variants of the ones mentioned above. 
  • In order to quickly find those special (or rare) comics, two subsets have been created. One with giveaways only and one variants only.

In the Spider-Man Appearances section, you'll find...

  • All Spider-Man related visual story appearances not already included in the Core Titles section. To make it easy, I'm using the following categorisation: appearance, cameo, reference and other.
  • All variants of the ones mentioned above.

The Dutch Comics section includes the Dutch version of American comics. Since I have to draw the line somewhere, these are core titles only. I do not have any plans to include Dutch appearances as well.

NOTE: In 2008, getting all the variants of all the appearances/cameos/references/reprints became an insane and silly job. Collecting was loosing it's appeal and getting too expensive (in that order). So, starting with a cover date of January 2009, I only collect cover appearances. And in 2013 I stopped doing that as well. Will you still find the other stuff here? Sure, if there's one in a book that I was buying anyway, I'll include it.

What makes a book a variant...

  • Different exterior (cover). Not counting price differences on the same print run. For instance the US price in cents and UK price in pence. During the print run the black plate was changed in order to produce the UK (or Canadian) edition. The same goes for the 30 and 35 cents versions.
  • Newsstand editions and direct market editions are generally treated as one. On other words, what's in the UPC box does not count to make it a variant.
  • Different interior. This could be changed ads on a later printing or corrected pages like with the Earth X Special: Spidey book.
  • Different printing material. For instance Spider-Man's Tangled Web #1. The initial print was on regular paper. When they discovered the mistake, they recalled the books and printed it again on glossy paper.
  • Single reprint. The original and reprinted book look exactly the same on both the outside and the inside but have some text added in the indicia saying it is the umpteenth printing.
  • Collection reprint. All TPB editions count as one version unless there's a difference either in the exterior, the interior, the price or the printing material. Just the text umpteenth printing does not make it a variant.
  • Books that are sold sealed with product X are not a variant unless they are different following the rules above. So called "sealed collector sets" are just the same books but packaged differently.
  • When it comes down to TPB editions of appearances, only those that I happen to own are listed. Due to unavailable resources (money), I have to draw the line here.

A word about the giveaway sub-section...

  • Not all books shown in the Giveaways section are Spider-Man comics or have Spider-Man in them. Since these type of books are seldom seen, the whole series is included when possible.
  • Yes, some of these books should actually be in the appearances section. I simply choose to not split this type of series.

Feature...

  • Spider-Man is (one of) the main character(s) in the series. Usually his name is in the title (for instance Amazing Spider-Man) or he is the main character (for instance Marvel Team-Up). Because of this, sometimes, the whole series will be included although in some issues Spider-Man is nowhere to be seen.
  • Spider-Man is (one of) the feature character(s) in the story or one of the stories (for instance Marvel Fanfare (1992) issue 27). There is of course a thin line between a "feature appearance" and a "guest appearance". Please, don't hesitate to contact to share your thoughts. Please, take notice that some issues of a particular series are listed in the "core titles" category where others of that same series are listed amongst the "appearances".

Appearance...

  • Spider-Man is taking part in the story, interacting with the main characters of the story. There is of course a thin line between a "feature appearance" and a "guest appearance". Please, don't hesitate to contact to share your thoughts. Please, take notice that some issues of a particular series are listed in the "core titles" category where others of that same series are listed amongst the "appearances".
  • Spider-Man makes a very brief appearance (cameo) but is also shown on the cover.
  • Spider-Man does not appear in the story or inside the book but is shown on the cover only.

Cameo...

  • Spider-Man makes a very brief appearance (cameo) but is not shown on the cover. This can be a voice only appearance like in X-Man 36.
  • Spider-Man is shown in a flashback. A (newspaper) photo is a flashback too for it depicts an actual scene with Spider-Man.
  • Somebody in a Spider-Man suit, acting out Spider-Man's powers. Also see reference for there's a thin line between categories here.
  • No actual story involvement but only a pin-up of Spider-Man.

Reference...

  • Somebody in a Spider-Man suit, for instance on a costume party. Also see cameo for there's a thin line between categories here.
  • Family appearances. Meaning when Mary Jane, Aunt May or Uncle Ben are in the story. May Parker, aka Spider-Girl is listed in the "core titles" category for she is actually a female version of Spider-Man. On rare occassions, other supporting characters are counted too (Gwen Stacy or Harry Osborn).
  • A newspaper headline with just the words "Spider-Man".
  • Something made by Spider-Man (webbing) or Peter Parker (a newspaper photo or a note).
  • Spider-Man merchandise like comics, dolls, t-shirts, posters and more.
  • Spider-Man used in advertisement in the story. On a billboard or a store sign.

Other...

  • An insert with Spider-Man in it. For instance the "Fast Lane" inserts from late 1999 / early 2000.
  • A serial with Spider-Man in it. For instance the "Call Me Al" serial from 2002.
  • Any Spider-Man goody inserted in the book with the exception of trading cards.
  • Spider-Man depicted in ads or the bullpen page does not count with the exception of preview art of the (or an) upcoming issue.

TradePaperBack...

  • A TradePaperBack (often simply called TPB) is a reprint collection, with a sturdy, cardboard like, cover. At times, these books are called pocket books, digests or even graphic novels.
  • When it comes down to TPB editions of appearances, only those that I happen to own are listed. Due to unavailable resources (money), I have to draw the line here.

Thanks...
A big thanks to the following people (in no particular order) for their support, for their help in getting me rare books and just for being there. Couldn't have done it without you!
Toos Kroon, Kees Kroon, Yvonne Kroon, Stripwinkel Blunder (Eelco, Paul, Lucienne & Edwin), Todd Adkins, Andrew Hamlin, Steve Cranch, Steve Levine, Stan Szewczyk, Vince Billett, Ronald Miller, Mile High Comics, eBay, Eric Gillette, Jonathan Couper, Jonathan Darby, Alan Stone, Johan de Neef and Brian Collins.