I would say pick up the Spider-Island story, pick up #665 which is a good character issue between Pete & Betty and every issue afterwards, so that'd be 10-11 issues. SPider-Island's Prologue starts in issue #666. Between #665 & 666 you should have a pretty good idea of where Spidey stands at the moment as far as relationship wise to the supporting cast and what's going on with his powers. I would also recommend the Venom series, that is a great book, and Remender is one of Marvel's best writers in my opinion. I have really enjoyed the first 2 issues of Avenging Spider-Man, its not a must read as far as adding the Spidey mythos or current story of Spider-Man's life but I think its a pretty good read and very fun team-up book. And I would also recommend the upcoming Carnage mini-series that starts later this month. So I would say Amazing Spider-Man #665 on up and Venom (whole series if you can find it, otherwise #5 on up (#10 just came out)) and the Carnage mini. But I also recommend Avenging Spidey #1 & 2 if you have room for it in your budget.

You should read Kraven's Last Hunt and if you like Ben Reily you should read The Clone Saga

Yeah I think so. I stepped away from Spidey for a while after the Brand New Day/One More Day debacle. I was not happy with what they did there, but I have really been enjoying it over the past year and really like how Spider-Island turned out. And yeah Avenging Spidey is an awesome book, very cool, but it is not essential for the Spideyverse, but if you have the money to get it I definitely recommend it!!! If you can't find all of the issues of Amazing Spider-Man during Spider-Island, there should be a trade coming out soon. Otherwise I recommend contacting Le Comics on Facebook. My buddy Rob runs that shop and it is second to none, great customer service, he'll get stuff shipped out to you at a pretty dang good price. Happy to help man!

Spider Island was good

maybe check out Future Foundation or Avengers, you may like those cause hes in them

ultimate universe (the old one, not the new one) is a good place to pick up collections

the new ultimate spiderman isnt half bad either

@ TDK_1997 : those are good stories that I highly recommend, but I think he is trying to get into the current Spidey books, those are good arcs but not essential to him getting an understanding of whats happening currently in the books. But yes the Clone Saga collections will help re-inforce and give you a better understanding of the Jackal's intentions in Spider-Island, but its not essential. You just have to know that the Jackal loves cloning Spider-Man.

@xScorchedx: I suggest to begin from ASM #612. It's the Gauntlet era and it ends in #637 with Grim hunt arc (the sequel to Kraven's Last Hunt). There it begins the build up to Spider-Island. It's not neccesary to read OMIT or Origin of Species. Then, you can read the Big Time arc.

I like Ultimate Spider-man. It's one of the first ongoings I have ever read. The dialogues are excellent and realistic, the redesings are...... acceptable and the story is great. It's one of the best series Bendis has ever wrote.

@xScorchedx: I agree with xScorchedx, Ultimate Spidey is a very good story, they have it all collected, otherwise you can usually find a lot of the issues in the 25-50 cent boxes at comic shops, so you can get the entire run fairly cheap.

@MetropolisKid41 said:

But I also recommend Avenging Spidey #1 & 2 if you have room for it in your budget.

I second that recommendation.

Check out Scarlet Spider when it hits the shelf

@xScorchedx: That's likely. all the classic villains will be appearing in the next AMS event "End of the Earth" so I would suggest that

@xScorchedx: It may or may not be an event in the traditional sense. We know the avengers have been mentioned but it more than likely will not cross over into enough other marvel books to actually be an event. If it is largely restrained to AMS then it looks good because I heard that the last AMS centric event was really good but the last marvel as a whole event was awful. I suggest that you check it out and if you don't see the names Bendis or Fraction than it is probably not a traditional event and will be really good.

You have to read Joe Kelly's Rhino issues (617 and 625). They are too good. If your looking for somewhere to jump on 600 or 648(big time) are good places to start.