Last week on New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website, yours truly brought up the extremely controversial topic of comic book relaunches. If you missed that sizzling and non-award-winning blog post, you can read it here at your own leisure.
If you’re a street-fighting man or a woman who has boots that are made for walking, you would have remembered that I was going to start showing various comic book titles that have been relaunched, for one reason or another; mainly to point out the insanity of it. This is to welcome yet another ongoing project on Some Geek Told Me, because, well… why not?
You’ll also remember that I said I was going to start with titles starting with “A”, which covers Marvel and DC. This is important stuff to say, because details and facts matter. They matter. Now, because I have a reputation to uphold, and by reputation, I mean a tradition of being pedantic, there are some rules I need to cover:
1.) To be considered a relaunch, the title must be an existing or pre-existing monthly comic book.
2.) The relaunch must be for a monthly title, not for a mini-series.
3.) The relaunch must be a reset with a brand new #1, not realigning itself with any legacy numbering.
4.) With the images I will be showing, they will not be variant covers, only Cover A.
5.) A title can only be relaunched if it contains the same original title name. So Superior Spider-Man does not count. My blog, my rules. Also, I wouldn’t be counting annuals or specials.
That sounds fair, right?! I hope so. With that important and special information explained, let’s get on wth the job of detailing The Amazing Spider-Man’s and Aquaman’s relaunches, plus some geeky statistics to go with it. Allons-y!
The Amazing Spider-Man
I’m starting with Marvel first, because I can. The Amazing Spider-Man series can be confusing to follow because of many relaunches and the multiple readjustments to the legacy numbering. Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962, and not in The Amazing Spider-Man #1, though The Amazing Spider-Man has been pretty much a monthly publication ever since 1963.
To the best of my understanding, there have been seven different The Amazing Spider-Man #1s. So, let’s look at our Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man’s flagship title.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 #1 (March 1963)
Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Steve Ditko. Script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko.
This series lasted 442 issues (430 months/35 years and 10 months) before the relaunch.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 #1 (January 1999)
Cover by John Byrne. Story by Howard Mackie, art by John Byrne & Scott Hanna.
This series lasted 58 issues (58 months/4 years and 10 months) before the legacy numbering was brought back for #500 in December 2003, and ended with #700, when it turned into Superior Spider-Man in 2013 for 33 issues.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 3 #1 (June 2014)
Written by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Christopher Yost, Joe Caramagna and Peter David. Art by Humberto Ramos, Javier Rodriguez, Will Sliney, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Chris Eliopoulos, David Baldeon, Ramon Perez and Victor Olazaba. Cover by Humberto Ramos.
This series lasted 28 issues (16 months/1 year and 4 months) before another relaunch, a month later.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 4 #1 (December 2015)
Written by Dan Slott, Peter David, Robbie Thompson, Dennis Hopeless, Mike Costa and Christos Gage. Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, David Baldeon, Cale Atkinson, Javier Rodriguez, Stacey Lee Phillips, William Sliney and Paco Diaz. Cover by Alex Ross.
This series lasted 32 issues (23 months/1 year and 11 months) before the legacy numbering was brought back for #789 in December 2017, and ended with #801. These issues were idenitftied as Volume 5.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 6 #1 (September 2018)
Written by Nick Spencer. Art and Cover by Ryan Ottley.
This series lasted 93 issues (42 months/3 years and 6 months) before yet another relaunch the next month, for Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 7 #1 (June 2022)
Written by Zeb Wells. Art and cover by John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna.
This series lasted 70 issues (35 months/2 years and 11 months) before, you guessed it, another relaunch a month later.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 8 #1 (June 2025)
Written by Joe Kelly. Art by Pepe Larraz; John Romita Jr. Cover by Pepe Larraz.
After 35 issues (16 months) the legacy numbering was brought back for the landmark #1000. This series is currently ongoing.
So, to sum up The Amazing Spider-Man series, after 1,000 issues, we are left with:
- Seven different editions of Amazing Spider-Man #1, from 1963-2026 (63 years).
- Six relaunches from 1999-2025 (26 years).
- Five relaunches from 2014-2025 (11 years).
- Four relaunches from 2015-2025 (10 years).
- Three relaunches from 2018-2025 (7 years).
- Two relaunches from 2022-2025 (3 years).
- This works out to be a new #1 on average, every 9 years, or 106 months, or 142 issues.1
For me, the most damning piece of information was four relaunches of The Amazing Spider-Man from 2015-2025. That’s a new #1 every 2.5 years, or 30 months. That’s insane. I know Spider-Man is one of the world’s most recognisable superheroes, but even three relaunches in 7 years is excessive. And after six relaunches, just so we can get to #1000? Come on, Marvel, what are you doing?!
Aquaman
Now it’s DC’s turn. The monthly Aquaman title has been in publication since February 1962, with Aquaman Vol 1 #1, which predates Spider-Man’s first appearance. However, Aquaman has not had a consistent monthly title, with gaps over the years. Like Spider-Man, Aquaman made his debut in another title, which was More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941).
He appeared in several monthly titles until, eventually, he was given his own solo series. Not counting a mini-series, there have been seven different Aquaman #1s, though the title has changed its name during different runs. And with that, let’s look at the King of Atlantis’ relaunches.
Aquaman Vol 1 #1 (February 1962)
Cover art by Nick Cardy. Script by Jack Miller, art by Nick Cardy.
This series lasted 63 issues (199 months/16 years and 7 months) before the title was cancelled, and then relaunched 13 years later.
Aquaman Vol 2 #1 (December 1991)
Written by Shaun McLaughlin, with art by Ken Hooper and Bob Dvorak. Cover by Kevin Maguire and Joe Rubinstein.
This series lasted 13 issues (12 months/1 year) before the title was cancelled, and then relaunched 18 months later.
Aquaman Vol 3 #1 (August 1994)
Written by Peter David, with art and cover by Martin Egeland and Brad Vancata.
This series lasted 76 issues (77 months/6 years and 5 months) before the title was cancelled, and then relaunched two years later.
Aquaman Vol 4 #1 (February 2003)
Written by Rick Veitch, art by Yvel Guichet and Mark Propst. Cover by Alex Maleev.
This series lasted 39 issues (38 months/3 years and 2 months) before being renamed Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, starting with #40, under the 1 Year Later movement, before ending with #57. It was relaunched four years later, as a part of the compay wide, The New 52 campaign.
Aquaman Vol 5 #1 (November 2011)
Written by Geoff Johns. Art and Cover by Joe Prado and Ivan Reis.
This series lasted 53 issues (56 months/4 years and 8 months) before relaunched a month later, under the Rebirth initiative.
Aquaman Vol 6 #1 (August 2016)
Written by Dan Abnett. Art and Cover by Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessy.
This series lasted 66 issues (54 months/4 years and 6 months) before being cancelled and relaunched four years later, in part of the ALL IN campaign.
Aquaman Vol 7 #1 (March 2025)
Written by Jeremy Adams. Art by John Timms. Cover by John Timms.
This series lasted 14 issues (13 months/1 year and 1 months) before being renamed as Emperor Aquaman the next month, continuing with #15.
So, since the first Aquaman monthly solo series, in 1962, we are left with:
- Seven different editions of Aquaman #1, from 1962-2026 (64 years).
- Six relaunches from 1991-2025 (34 years).
- Five relaunches from 1994-2025 (31 years).
- Four relaunches from 2003-2025 (22 years).
- Three relaunches from 2011-2025 (14 years).
- Two relaunches from 2016-2025 (9 years).
- This works out to be a new #1 on average, every 48 issues.2
In regard to the publication of Aquaman, DC’s model for relaunches has been different to Marvel’s with The Amazing Spider-Man. Firstly, Aquaman has been cancelled several times and then relaunched years later, but also, at least three relaunches have come about because of a company-wide campaign, which reset or relaunched the titles the next month, starting back at #1. The shortest series was only 13 issues, while the longest lasted 76 issues.
Still, just like The Amazing Spider-Man, but for different reasons, Aquaman has had six relaunches, meaning there have been seven different #1 issues. I guess, whatever Marvel and DC do, the other will do it as well; now whether that’s a positive or negative thing is up for you to decide.
Have you ever read an Amazing Spider-Man or Aquaman relaunch comic book? Do you like relaunches? As always, let me know. After those awesome questions, that brings another blog post to a close for another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, remember that Mogo doesn’t socialise, and I’ll see you next week for something different. Cool.
1 With the statsitics, I have rounded down, not up.
2 Because Aquaman has not been in consistent monthly publication, the calculations are different from those of The Amazing Spider-Man.
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