From his earliest stories Peter Parker's life is tinged by tragedy, and what makes Spidey such an enduring and beloved character is his ability to carry on in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, in situations which would cause your average to just tap out. But more than anything, his superhero side is defined by his indomitable spirit. Teenage drama, the difficulty of balancing high school crushes with crimefighting and hip lingo are all important parts of Spider-Man as a character. The teenage slang and dialogue are a lot better than Stan “The Man” Lee ever managed, too. Instead of fifteen pages, the origin is told over seven issues, which allows us to really get to know Peter and all his high school tormentors, his friends and family – which makes everything that happens later all the more exciting, amazing and tragic.
For a more modern and involved take on the hero's early days, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man is a good place to start. It's also clearly an early version of Spidey before all of Peter Parker's foibles were properly decided upon. That is a rather condensed version, and not the easiest to read for modern audiences. All of that gets explained succinctly in the character's first appearance, 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15.
Even the greenest Spider-Man novice knows the basics of the friendly neighborhood hero's origins: A radioactive spider bite gives high school nerd superpowers and he has a sense of responsibility instilled in him by subsequent murder of the uncle who raised him.
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