[JenB]

Ronin... was that made into a movie? Or is there just a movie by the same name?

I'm stepping into these waters one inch at a time. Read some spiderman in the bookstore the other day. Still can't spend the money on it.

[Fedora]

There was a recent movie called Ronin, but it didn't have anything to do with the comic.

On Spider-Man, the cheapest way to catch up on him is to read reprints of the originals. These used to be published monthly in a series called Marvel Tales, which you can find back issues of if you go to a comic store or if you search online--this site has most of them indexed for decent prices:

Index of /Reprints

Some reprints are also collected in this series, which is available at bookstores or used from Amazon starting at $5:

The Amazing Spider-Man (The Essential Spider-Man, Volume 1)

Essential Marvel Team-Up

This series reprints the stories in black-and-white, which is why they're so cheap. Marvel Tales reprints are in color. There have also been mini-sized paperbacks reprinting the first 20 or so issues very cheaply in color but in smaller size; these are hard to find but a comic store might have them. There are also more expensive reprints, but that's the cheapest way to catch up on Spiderman, along with reading summaries like Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide.

[Fedora]

On that first link I gave, actually this is the right page with the prices--the other one just had the covers:

Reprints: Sale Price In Black

It looks like most of them are 95 cents each. At #137 they started over reprinting Amazing Spider-Man #1, so that's a good place to start.