THE SPIDER’S WEB: Plus the heart-rending classic The Boy Who Collects Spider-Man… — Welcome to The Spider’s Web — a recurring feature by novelist and Archie Comics Co-President Alex Segura that looks at Spider-Man’s development since his start in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15. (Alex has been re-reading from the beginning.) Each installment covers a specific period in Spidey’s history, with Alex giving you a kind of bouncing ball approach, as opposed to an issue-by-issue breakdown. Click here for the complete index of columns. — Dan — By ALEX SEGURA Hey gang — last time we focused on the first chunk of Roger Stern and John Romita Jr.’s Amazing Spider-Man run, ending with the legendary two-parter, Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut. We continue to look at the superlative run, and its somewhat messy conclusion, here. And things are about to get really interesting. Once the Juggernaut saga is complete, Stern shifts into the next phase of the run — focusing on the corrupt and mysterious Brand Corporation, which is a tool he’d used to some effect in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, most notably in his origin story for B-List villain/antihero Will O’ the Wisp. If there ever is a point where the Stern/JRJR run seems to lag, even a bit, it’s here — but it feels intentional, almost — as Stern reconfigures and destroys the Tarantula in a sequence that’s tragic, haunting and adds pathos and character to a villain many had probably ignored by this point. The one-off Stilt-Man issue, by Stern with a script by Spidey vet Bill Mantlo and art by Bob Hall, falls a bit flat, and doesn’t feel essential — but it does work almost as a palate cleanser, because when the full team comes back for the next issue, it all changes. You can make a strong case that everything leading up to 1982’s Amazing Spider-Man #238 — the first appearance of the Hobgoblin — was a sometimes great, always good first season. And like most shows, even the best ones, first seasons are bumpy. They can feature startling highs, like the Juggernaut story, but they’re usually shakedown cruises — creators getting their sea legs with their world and characters. If you apply that idea here, then #238 draws a line in the sand that’s clear from Page 1: This is the real...