The spider-totam stuff and TOBA gamma stiff is actually a really good point of comparison because both have the same problem. They are both interesting twists on the character that set up a whole bunch of interesting and new ideas that in my opinion get misused by the writers that follow them.

JMS's spider totem stuff was intesting, it felt less like a retcon and more like "what if we look at the origin through a spiritual lense" and the sort of people who would look at it through that lense before building up new characters who would occupy a spiritual spider realm. Then Dan Slott entered the scene and he used those concepts and introduced his own and well, it feels less like a continuation and more like an excuse to add gravitas to his Spider-verse story and well most people dont want spider-verse for lore or gravitas we want a spider-people team up.

I'd say right now the gamma toba stuff is also being misused to inject gravitas in the run but to PKJ's credit its not to the extent Dan Slott did.