Get yourself some wallcrawling action in time for the new movie!

(Panini Books)

With the latest reboot of the Spidey film franchise now in cinemas, it’s no surprise to see Panini putting out another of their outstanding compilation volumes under the Marvel Platinum banner, collecting a disparate mix of stories featuring the webslinger, auspiciously based on some of the characters and themes presented in latest movie Homecoming.

So we have the ‘sixties debut of the peregrine pensioner the Vulture and his 21st century successor, and the first appearance of the vibrating villain the Shocker, but there’s also a team-up with Netflix star Iron Fist, the acclaimed ‘Kid Who Collects Spider-Man’, a three-part epic which finds Peter Parker sectioned in a psychiatric ward, and a four-part storyline introducing Morlun and Ezekiel…

It’s a very eclectic mix of stories, which should be expected when you’re spanning a character’s six decades in print, but works perfectly well regardless. Range editor Brady Webb knows what he’s doing when he puts together these collections, conscious of the need to offer something for fans old and new, and there’s also material here you’d struggle to find reprinted elsewhere at the moment.

The line-up of talent here reads, as when it comes to these volumes, like a who’s who of the comics industry, including the likes of Stan Lee, Chris Claremont, Roger Stern, Ann Nocenti, J Michael Straczynski, Mark Waid, Steve Dikto, John Romita Sr and Jr, John Byrne, Mike McKone and Barry Kitson… You really can’t go wrong with names like that on the contents page.

Spidey’s first film in the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a long time coming, and of course fans are hoping it’s been worth the wait. But for this reader, it’s success will have an even sweeter consequence – more collections in the Definitive Spider-Man series!