Spider-Man's origin is rooted in tragedy. Peter Parker gets powers only to lose his uncle he could've saved, and his guilt drives him to become a superhero. Responsibility has always weighed heavily on Spider-Man and guilt and loss remain powerful themes in his stories. At the same time, he's known for his sense of humor.
Even in the more serious stories, Spider-Man swings into action with a quip ready and drives his enemies batty with his nonstop wisecracks. Readers often remember the heavier Spider-Man stories because of their long-term consequences, sometimes causing his humorous stories to be overlooked. Nevertheless, there have been amazing Spider-Man stories that lean into the character's comedic charm.
10 Marvel Team-Up #96 Brings Spider-Man Together With Howard The Duck
Created in 1973, Howard the Duck, an anthropomorphic duck transported into the Marvel Universe, became one of the most well known comedic Marvel characters. His original comic lasts 31 issues, but his book would often relaunch. Howard would even guest-star in other books.
Howard the Duck stories were often parodies. The villain of Marvel Team-Up #96, Status Quo hated fads and wanted to get rid of them. Spider-Man and Howard worked together, fighting their way through Status Quo's followers armed with skateboards and Frisbees.
9 Amazing Spider-Man #258 - Peter's New Costume Is A Bag Over His Head
The saga of Spider-Man's black costume begins with nightmares and ends with Venom's birth, creating one of Spider-Man's greatest enemies. That doesn't mean there isn't room for a funny comic book during the arc.
Spider-Man took the black suit to Reed Richards for analysis, and when he found out that the costume was a living symbiote, he immediately took it off. Peter no longer had a costume, so Johnny Storm gave him an old Fantastic Four uniform, complete with a bag over his head and a "Kick Me" sign on his back.
8 Peter Parker Spider-Man #20 Is The Funniest Uncle Ben Story
Spider-Man stories that reflect on Uncle Ben's influence on Peter tend to be morose, but Peter Parker Spider-Man #20 proves they don't have to be downers. In this issue, a disheartened Peter visits Uncle Ben's grave and thinks about how fun Uncle Ben was.
Young Peter felt like an outsider, so Ben taught him to deal with problems by laughing them off. In the lighthearted story that followed, Ben and Peter engaged in an epic prank war against each other. It ended with a car splashing mud over present day Peter, who just laughed.
7 Amazing Spider-Man #246 Looks Into Everyone's Daydreams
As a departure from the usual Spider-Man comic format, the Watcher narrates Amazing Spider-Man #246 and takes a comedic look inside the heads of the book's stars. Black Cat dreams of Spider-Man unmasking and revealing himself to be Cary Grant.
J. Jonah Jameson fantasizes about beating up Spider-Man and becoming publisher of the century, and Mary Jane pictures her acting career taking off. Spider-Man himself imagines that he saves Jameson's life and getting praise from the public. He receives the key to the city and becomes an Avenger.
6 Peter Parker Spider-Man #42 Sends Spider-Man Off To Spring Break
It isn't always the story structure and dialogue that drives a comedic story; the artwork has a significant part to play. Such is the case of Peter Parker Spider-Man #42-43, where artist Jim Mahfood illustrates a spoof comic.
When watching an MTV-like channel, Peter Parker notices Sandman lurking around Spring Breakers. Spider-Man shows up to investigate, and a producer puts him in all their shows. Written in 2002, the comic took shots at all the popular MTV shows at the time, and Sandman himself transforms into a handful of celebrities.
5 Spider-Man/Deadpool #11 Swaps Spider-Man And Deadpool With Penn And Teller
Spider-Man's witty one-liners paired with Deadpool's fourth wall breaking in the Spider-Man/Deadpool series. Every issue brought loads of laughs, and the zaniness went furthest in issue #11. Guest starring stage magicians Penn and Teller, the issue was written by Penn Jillette himself and had additional fourth wall breaks.
Penn beats Deadpool in a game of poker, and Deadpool must become his assistant. Teller, meanwhile, puts on a Deadpool costume and fights crime alongside Spider-Man, who doesn't even notice it isn't Deadpool, despite the fact Teller never talks.
4 Spectacular Spider-Man #246 Introduces The Legion Of Losers
Not every Spider-Man comic book can have big name villains like Green Goblin or Dr. Octopus. That doesn’t mean that Spider-Man’s lesser villains can’t be fun, especially when playing off each other.
Spider-Man was busy dealing with his more threatening villains when a quartet of his sillier villains begin pulling off crimes. The Grizzly, The Gibbon, The Kangaroo, and The Spot joined forces, but they couldn't agree on whether they'd rather be robbing banks or killing Spider-Man. In the end, they caused more damage to each other than Spider-Man did.
3 Amazing Spider-Man #661 Has Spider-Man Clash With Younger Heroes
When Spider-Man was a member of the Avengers and The Fantastic Four, he realized he missed his teaching career. Reed Richards brushed him off when he volunteered to take over his teaching duties, so Spider-Man wound up teaching a class for Avengers Academy.
Believing that being the original teenage superhero qualified him to teach young heroes, Spider-Man was soon proven wrong. To his shock, he found himself unable to relate to the youth on their level. Even when he explained why he became a hero to them, they poked holes in his logic.
2 Spider-Man: 101 Ways To End The Clone Saga Mocks Itself
Spider-Man's Clone Saga was one of the most convoluted stories in Spider-Man history. It confused fans, and it even confused Marvel's editorial staff. After the Clone Saga ended, Marvel published a one-shot detailing how the team behind Spider-Man drove themselves batty while managing the story.
The Spider-Office bounced ideas off each other to come up with a satisfying end to the Clone Saga and get the Spider-Man comic books back on track. Ideas got more and more ridiculous as various editors and writers from Marvel joined in to give their input.
1 Amazing Spider-Man #266 Is An Amphibian Fight
Spider-Man gets wedged between the fabulous Frog-Man and the X-Men villain Toad on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #266. Spider-Man saves Toad when he jumps off a roof, so Toad wants to be Spider-Man's partner, which angers Frog-Man.
Frog-Man gets in the way when Toad tries to stage a rescue to prove his worth to Spider-Man. The two end up fighting, and Spider-Man intervenes. Spider-Kid, another Spider-Man sidekick hopeful, shows up, and they all end up taking Spider-Man's offhand suggestion seriously, forming a team called the Misfits.