Forbidden Planet Amazing Spider-Man Review 2026: Rebuilding a Run That Started in 1992

I came back to Amazing Spider-Man last year after a thirty-year break. The basement flood that took out 80% of my 90s longboxes happened in 2019; the decision to actually rebuild the run took until early 2024. What I found when I started looking is that the Amazing Spider-Man catalog in 2026 is a labyrinth of renumberings, brand-new-day relaunches, omnibus releases, oversized hardcovers, Epic Collections, Marvel Masterworks, and trade paperback reprints with three different cover treatments.

Forbidden Planet is the only retailer that has actually let me rebuild this collection without losing my mind. Here is what eighteen months and roughly £1,800 in Spider-Man receipts has taught me about their catalog.

The Amazing Spider-Man numbering problem

If you haven’t tried to collect Amazing Spider-Man recently, you might not know how broken the publication strategy has become. Volume 1 ran from 1963 to 1998 (issues 1–441). Volume 2 ran 1999–2003. Then Marvel renumbered back to volume 1 around the legacy numbering. Then Brand New Day rebooted the title in 2008. Then Big Time. Then Superior Spider-Man wedged itself in. Then ASM relaunched in 2014. Renumbered. Relaunched. Renumbered to 800 for the milestone, then 801. New volume in 2018 under Spencer. New volume in 2022 under Wells. Another renumbering scheduled.

For a returning reader, the question “where do I start?” has no clean answer. The question “where can I buy a complete reading order?” has an even worse answer at most retailers. Forbidden Planet is the rare exception.

What the search returns

The Forbidden Planet Amazing Spider-Man search returns a surprisingly clean breakdown:

• Marvel Masterworks Spider-Man. The hardcover canonical reprints of the Lee/Ditko/Romita Sr. era. All volumes I’ve checked are in stock. The price has held steady across reprints — important when you’re filling gaps.
• Spider-Man Epic Collections. This is where the meat of the back-catalog lives. They stock the entire active line — 70s, 80s, 90s Spider-Man storylines in paperback at sensible prices. Restocks land within a week of US distribution.
• Spider-Man Omnibuses. The big oversized hardcovers — McFarlane, Bagley/DeFalco, JMS, Slott, Spencer. Pre-order allocation works the same way it does for X-Men HCs — the book is allocated to your name at the point of pre-order.
• Modern single issues and trades. Wells’ current run, the Spider-Verse crossovers, Ultimate Spider-Man (Bendis original and the Hickman relaunch), Amazing Spider-Man Annual, and the various tie-ins.
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day Omnibuses. These have been slowly cycling back into reprint, and Forbidden Planet picks them up consistently.

What’s missing: floppy back-issues from the Lee/Ditko era. If you need ASM #1, #50, or #129 (first Punisher) in raw form, you’re going to Heritage or eBay.

The pre-order system, again

I keep saying this in these reviews and I keep meaning it: the Forbidden Planet pre-order system is the difference between actually getting limited Marvel hardcovers and getting a “we couldn’t source this title” email from Amazon eight weeks after street date.

The Spider-Man by J. Michael Straczynski Omnibus volume one is a case in point. Marvel printed a deliberately limited first run in 2023. Amazon listed pre-orders, took the money, then quietly cancelled 60% of them around street date. The book was selling for £180+ on eBay within two months. Forbidden Planet pre-orders shipped on time at the £75 RRP. The same pattern repeated for the Slott Omnibus volume two.

If you’re trying to complete the modern Spider-Man hardcover line, an active Forbidden Planet account is the only reasonable approach.

Pricing reality

ASM trade paperbacks at Forbidden Planet sit at RRP. Amazon will be £2–4 cheaper on most modern paperback trades when they have stock — which is often. For the long-running Epic Collections line, prices match Amazon’s within £1 or so. For omnibuses, Forbidden Planet is competitive with the publisher’s direct price.

Where they consistently win:

• The 10% VIP discount once you’ve spent £150. Stacks with their seasonal sales. Easy £40 saved on a single omnibus order.
• The bundle promotions on omnibus releases. “Buy two oversized HCs, save 15%” comes around every quarter.
• Reliability. This is the unquantifiable but most important factor.

For a casual reader buying one trade every six months, the price difference matters. For someone rebuilding a full run, the reliability matters more.

Shipping

UK: next-day if ordered before noon. Packaging is genuinely good — corner protectors on every hardcover, double-walled boxes, never a damaged book in this long Spider-Man rebuilding project. EU: 5–10 days. US: 7–14 days, shipping costs $25–35 for solo books, much less per unit when bundled.

I’ve had two damaged Spider-Man books in over 70 orders. Both replaced inside a week. No photo demands, no return shipping required, no haggling.

Where it falls short

Three real complaints from the rebuilding project:

• Search struggles with Spider-Man’s renumbering chaos. Finding “Amazing Spider-Man vol 4 issue 12” through search alone is impossible. You go to the publisher page and scroll.
• No reading-order guidance. A retailer this deep into Marvel could publish a basic reading-order guide for new collectors. They don’t. You’re stuck cross-referencing with Comic Book Reading Orders or r/MarvelComics.
• The back-issue floppy selection is post-2010 only. Standard FP problem, but it matters here because so much of ASM’s significance is in the older issues.

None of these are dealbreakers. All of them are real friction points.

Who this is for

If you’re rebuilding an Amazing Spider-Man run, picking it up for the first time as a long-form trade reader, or completing the modern omnibus line, Forbidden Planet is the only sensible primary source in the UK and EU. The catalog is genuinely complete in trades, hardcovers, and current single issues.

If you’re chasing key-issue back-issue floppies, you’re still on Heritage and eBay.

Ready to start filling the gaps? Browse the Forbidden Planet Amazing Spider-Man catalog here. Trade restocks land on Wednesdays, the omnibus and oversized HC releases on Fridays.