Looking to get into Spiderman.. Where should I start?

All this hype surrounding issue 700 and the end of the Amazing Spiderman has got me intrigued. I'm fairly new to comics and have never once read a Spiderman comic. Where should I start? I don't care about going back too far, just far enough to get me caught up on the current story line. Just far enough to get a little back story and enjoy the current arc through the ending. Thoughts? Thanks for the help!

Read Big Time, Spider-Island and Ends of Earth collections, and you should be caught up.

If you don't have the money, just start with Amazing Spiderman 298, it is new reader friendly.

Also, if you just want to read some fun Spiderman, I recommend Ultimate Spider-Man.

Going all the way back to ASN 298 is a bit far don’t you think? Anyway if I have understood it correctly there will be a new storyline with superior Spider-Man #1. It should be fairly reader friendly. However I would stick to the classic.

I would recommend you to read Ultimate Spiderman

616 Spiderman is just not very good

I would recommend reading Ultimate Spiderman...preferably the start of that. Also, I would highly recommend picking up the latest Spiderman 698.... fairly new reader friendly.

@tupiaz said:

Going all the way back to ASN 298 is a bit far don’t you think? Anyway if I have understood it correctly there will be a new storyline with superior Spider-Man #1. It should be fairly reader friendly. However I would stick to the classic.

I think he meant 698

@SlantedRoom: Start with big time or 698

Well, to get caught up with the current hyped up storyline, you have two options; you could go back and read Big Time, Spider Island and Ends of the Earth to really get a grasp of background on what's happening now, or you could just jump on at #698, because, as stated above, it is new reader friendly.