See above...

I'm torn between which books are better...the long-running traditional Spiderman, or the New & Improved Ultimate Spiderman

Tjoughts, discussions, opinions, ideas, etc. are wanted and appricated

At this point the best SpiderMan is Marvel Knights, the first 11 issues have been amazing. The only other Spiderman book I get is Ultimate so I guess you could say it really just depends who's writing it...

i tottaly agree, marvel knights spidey is terrific

Depends what you want. If you want a Spider-Man whos gone through a lot (including going into space, fighting gods etc...) and has moved through life and is now a teacher and married to a super model then 616 spider-man is the one for you.

If you want a more innocent Spider-Man who's still in school, has to hide who he is from his aunt, and his homework is just as big a problem as the newst super villian trying to kill him, then Ult. Spider-Man is what you should be reading.

if ur a new reader just go with ultimate less continuity to deal with and the writting is great

Sorry to disappoint you but the two don't even compare.

616 Spidey the whole way. Continuity makes characters even more fun to read.

Ultimate tried and failed in my opinion. Gwen Stacy anybody??

As a character, 616 Spidey all the way. However, the Ultimate Spidey book is a lot more fun to read than the 616 stuff.

what's the deal with this number 616??
I don't get it...can anyone enlight me???

Back in the day, Captain Britain met all the other Captain Britains of the alternate universes and the MU Cap was designated:

Captain Britain 616.

There ya go.

Kudos Bubblehead!

I prefer Ultimate Spidey.

I still read reg. spidey but I only buy Ultimates right now.