Spider-Man first appeared in issue #15 of the comic book Amazing Fantasy (Aug. 1962). The series was cancelled with that issue, but response to the character was so positive that a solo title, The Amazing Spider-Man was launched in March 1963.

The character was created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, and the pair produced 38 issues of Amazing from 1963 to 1966. Since then, many writers and artists have taken over the monthly comic over the years chronicling the adventures of Marvel's most identifiable hero.

The Amazing Spider-Man is considered to be the “lead” Spider-Man title, as it was the first (and for many years, the only) regular Spider-Man comic, and it has been in print since 1963. Most of the major characters and villains of the Spider-Man saga were introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man, and many (but not all) of the key events occurred in the title too. The title was published continuously until 1998 when Marvel Comics decided to begin it anew by renumbering the title with a new issue #1 published in January, 1999. In 2003, Spider-Man's 40th anniversary, this new title reverted to using the numbering of the original series, at issue #500.

The initial years of the book, under Lee and Ditko, chronicled Spider-Man’s nascent career with his civilian life as hard-luck (yet perpetually good-humored) teenager Peter Parker. Peter balanced his career as Spider-Man with his job as a freelance photographer for The Daily Bugle (under the bombastic J. Jonah Jameson) to help support himself and his frail Aunt May. At the same time, Peter dealt with public hostility towards Spider-Man, the antagonism of his classmates Flash Thompson and Liz Allan at Midtown High School, as well as embarking on a tentative, ill-fated romance with Jameson’s secretary, Betty Brant.

By focusing on Peter’s everyday problems and hard-luck crime-fighting career, Lee and Ditko created a flawed, self-doubting superhero readers could more readily identify with. Ditko’s quirky, woodcut-like art provided a stark contrast to the more cleanly dynamic stylings of Marvel’s most prominent artist, Jack Kirby. Ditko’s Spider-Man, slightly sinister yet affectionately cartoony, combined with the humour and pathos of Lee’s writing, laid the foundation for the entire Spider-Man saga. Most of Spider-Man’s key villains and supporting characters were introduced during this time. Issue # 1 (Mar. 1963) featured the first appearances of J. Jonah Jameson, John Jameson and The Chameleon, as well as Spidey’s first encounter with The Fantastic Four. # 2 (May 1963) featured the first appearance of The Vulture, and it was in this issue that Peter began his career with The Daily Bugle.