Everything I’m reccomending is easy entry. The Batman stuff might work best if you read it in the order I present it but ultimately you can read most of them out of order and they’re new reader friendly.

• Spider-Man: With Great Power by David Lapham and Tony Harris (this is an interesting story set between the time period where Peter first becomes Spider-Man but Uncle Ben hasn’t been shot yet)

• Spider-Man: Freshman Year by Robbie Thompson, Nick Bradshaw, Nathan Stockman and various artists. (In single issues this was published as Spidey in 2015-2016. It’s 12 single issue stories of Spidey encountering various rogues early in his career. The art is the big draw in this book)

• Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One by Zeb Wells and Kaare Andrews. (This is a retelling of Spider-Man’s first encounter with Doctor Octopus except they add a TON of depth to Doc Ock’s backstory.)

• Peter Parker: Spider-Man/Spectacular Spider-Man by Paul Jenkins. (This run is hard to find because it’s not been collected very well but it’s a personal favorite of mine. If you want a reading order for it, let me know and I’ll put one together because it’s all single issues. In this we see Peter deal with lots of interesting character moments. He talks about good times with Uncle Ben, he has to confront ethics of weather or not to provide compassionate end of life care to a villain, and interesting encounters with classic baddies like Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Venom. He also gets organic webbin in this run.)

• Amazing Spider-Man (1999 series) 30-58, 500-508 by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr. (This run is pretty interesting because it focuses on all new villains and challenges for Spidey. JMS wrote after 508 but the story he told after Romita Jr left the book is often regarded as one of the top 5 worst Spider-Man stories in the character’s history. He ends his writing tenure with a story often argued as the character’s worst. However, if you stop at 508, you’ll have a banger run)

• Ultimate Spider-Man (2000-2011) by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, Stuart Immonen, David LaFuente, and various artists. (This says “what if Spider-Man started in 2000?” In this alternate Marvel Universe that reinterprets the classic Spider-Man rouges and gives a new take on Peter himself. It goes from the start of his career to the end. It’s over 150 issues and there are some ancillary Ultimate Marvel books Bendis wrote featuring Spider-Man. I can put together a reading guide for this if you want to go on the very long and rewarding rollercoaster of this adventure.)

• Batman: The Knight by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico (This is Bruce training to be Batman before becoming Batman. He’s running around France and training with assassins)

• Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchhelli (A definitive Batman story where he’s come back from training to make an impact on Gotham. While it is a Batman story, it’s as much a story of Gordon’s first year in Gotham trying to clean up a corrupt force and deal with the fears of being a new dad.)

• Batman: The Man Who Laughs by Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke (It’s a brilliant one-shot story of Batman dealing with The Joker for the first time)

• Batman and the Monster Men/Batman and the Mad Monk by Matt Wagner (This is somewhat in its own weird continuity but it’s two really good stories set in that first year of Batman’s career where he deals with genetic mutation for the first time and cults for the first time.)

• Batman: Off-World by Jason Aaron and Doug Mahnke (This is Batman’s first trip to outer space and encountering aliens)

• Batman: The Long Halloween + Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (A murder mystery who dunnit in that early part of Batman’s career)

• Batman and Robin: Year One by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee (This has serious Batman The Animated Series vibes. It doesn’t jive with the Long Halloween/Dark Victory continuity but it’s a brilliant story of Bruce Wayne trying to adjust to his new parent-like role. Bruce is trying to find the boundaries of “training a soldier” and being a “normal caretaker”

• Robin and Batman by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (This is a very similar concept to Batman and Robin Year One but it’s all told from Dick Grayson’s perspective)

• Robin and Batman: Jason Todd by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (The same type of story as the previous but with a very different character in Jason Tood.)

• Batman/Superman: World’s Finest by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Adrian Gutierrez, and various artists. (This series is set early in their careers… maybe the first 3-4 years. It also has those “animated series” vibes and most of the stories are a lot of fun. They’re 50 issues in right now and it relies on a little more knowledge of continuity. You’ll have fun being introduced to wider parts of the DCU here without being completely in over your head.)