I'm getting this battle out of the way early. It was bound to happen eventually. Kirby or Ditko? Choose!

As far as I'm concerned, this is THE match.

If I could only read one, it would be the FF, because it had more issues and more characters, more wild flights of fancy. But if I had to show someone a story that inspired, it would be the Master Planner story from Spider-Man.

Tough choice. So I'm going to stew over it. Plus, the poll isn't set up right now.

This is it. No other two runs in comic history mean as much to me as these two. They are far and away the most influential in Marvel history. There is almost no way to choose. I hate you.

Trevor is banned. I can't decide!! I've sputtered through typing up my thoughts 3 times now, but I can't articulate. There are too many reasons I could list for each. Damn you I'm going to have to think about this for a while.

Tough choice.

But easy for me.

For all the great ideas and fun that are in FF, Spider-man is the most perfect execution of a character with writer that I've seen. Stan was meant to write Peter Parker. and the fact, as noted in the last poll by someone, that we were fully in his head, knew his ups and downs as well as our own, was pure genius. I've never seen it done better, particularly at that time. and today with no thought balloons, unlikely to be done again.

besides the classic villains, this was the start of the best character, superhero, secret identity, supporting cast, and villains, for my money, in comics.
and I think it hits the ground running, unlike FF.

Spider-man.

This is evil. To me, this is the championship match. Hmmmm. I'll have to mull this over, but I will be hard-pressed to vote against Lee/Ditko.

FF may have had some bigger "wow" moments, but Spidey is pretty much perfection from start to finish and resonates with me much, much more. If I think about which Essentials collections I'd give my son first, it would be Spidey.

LOVE the Lee/Ditko Spidey! In fact just finished that storyline of the posted page. But Lee/Kirby edges it out! Other than Spidey and Dr. Strange, Lee/Kirby craeted Marvel, mostly with this book. Kirby's throw away ideas could create comic companies. The scope of thier work in FF is breathtaking.

The Rob H duo have swayed me. Particularly with

and


FF, despite my love for the first 5 issues thanks to a digest I received when I was about 7 years old, DOES take some time to really nail down the characters. Spider-Man is pretty much set from day one. I cared a lot more for Peter than for any of the Four, at least for the first 30+ issues, probably due to it being easier to write in the head of one character than an entire team.

Also, the first Essential I shared with my kids WAS Essential Spider-Man vol. 1.

Even with the incredible, epic storylines (Galactus!) and great length of the FF run, it's awfully tough to beat ASM #33 for sheer inspirational heroism.

I still hate Trevor though.

Spidey, Spidey, Spidey. I'm a bigger fan of the character, and the Lee/Ditko run is one of the most imaginative runs on a comic series that I've ever seen. A few things that push it over the top for me are the art (Kirby suffered through some horrendous inking for a big chunk of the FF, plus I prefer Ditko in general) and the Master Planner storyline (which is both epic and deeply personal).

Yes. Rob H's are the greatest, we rule!

Wow, a real Clash Of The Titans match-up. Gotta go with Lee/Ditko's Spidey. It is still the PERFECT origin ever created for a super-hero. And those thrity-something issues they did were so different from the other Marvel books at the time, due largely to Ditko's art. If Marvel was working on a 'house style', then Ditko effectively burned down the house with his stuff. I'd call it a tie when it comes to great villains introduced, but Spidey again has a HUGE edge in supporting cast characters.

And Hell, I've just been closer to Peter/Spidey for all these years. He was just a bigger part of my childhood. And it all started with this run. Gotta love it in black & white mode too!

FF when done right, is a great 'sci-fi' based comic, but spidey when done right, is a great 'every-day people' based comic. All of this is IMO, of course.

-JP

FF >> Lee/Ditko

Lee/Ditko isnt even the best Spider-Man run, so Lee/King Kirby FF gets my vote.

Todd

You can/could identify with the Lee/Ditko Spider-man, tough choice but Spidey-
Widey wins this one.

Ditko trumps Kirby for me. Every time. I love Ditko art. Kirby art I can appreciate it's impact. But it doesn't really appeal to me. So I go with Ditko.

I went with the FF, because they're my favorite characters.

Thanks for not putting STARMAN up against one of the juggernaut choices, Trevor.

After much thought, I go with Spidey.

Tough one, I admit, but had to be done.

I wanted things to be relatively even. I looked at the list this morning and just decided to match up the big runs against each other. The other four can battle it out and see what happens.

I like Starman's chances against any of the other three - but you should put it against SHIELD next. There's no way it would lose to SHIELD, no way. Won't happen. Unpossible.

This is absurd.

Save it for the poop tracker, Taft!

Jack Kirby was GOD. I never thought all that much of Ditko, for some reason. After Kirby, it was Neal Adams and Gene Colan for me.

Two of the most legendary runs of all time here, Taft. Whichever one wins is well deserved, in my opinion. I wouldn't be upset if the polling reversed and FF won. It's really like having a pair of diamonds and needing to toss one away.