Well, at the grand old age of 28 I have just signed up for my first ever comic subscription. I am going to be receiving copies of Ultimate Spiderman and Amazing Spiderman for the next year at least. I assume I am going to end up joining mid story-arc. Could anyone fill me in on what I need to know for the current story arcs for these two comics?
What happend to Spidey’s hyphens?
He had his colon removed, so they took the hyphens too.
Wish I could help the OP, but I’ve been reading Ultimate Spidey in TPB form, so I’m behind the curve - and I haven’t read Amazing in years.
Not sure about Amazing, but in Ultimate, here’s what’s happened.
-Mary Jane and Peter are going out again
-Gwen Stacy lives with Aunt May and Peter
-Aunt May’s been seeing a therapist about Peter’s constant leaving in the middle of the night (because she assumes he’s going to see MJ)
-Peter just fought Doc Ock, who kidnapped Spidey and brought him to Brazil
-Peter made it back before Aunt May got back to Queens
-Gwen found out who Peter was (and now no longer blames her father’s death on Spider-Man)
-Doc Conners knows who Peter is (I forget why), but he’s been patching Pete up after his battles
-After analyzing Peter’s blood, Doc Conners proposed to Peter that they go in 50/50 on any scientific discoveries they make because of the extraordinary properties of his blood
-Carnage is somehow spawned from an experiment with Pete’s blood and is going around killing people
Oh, and Pete’s been getting pissed at Sam Ramai for not giving him any cash for making a movie about him.
People who currently know Peter is Spider-Man in Ultimate:
Norman Osborn
Harry Osborn
Doc Ock
Nick Fury
The Wasp
Eddie Brock
Curt Conners
The Ultimates
The Fantastic Four
X-Men
MJ
Gwen Stacy
Possibly more…I got this list from one of the comics.
Cheers! heh looks like it might be a shorter list for people who DON’T know who he is 
Slight highjack: I haven’t read Spiderman since they took him out of my local papers - no doubt the influence of Harry Osborn.
What happened to Spider/Peter and MJ? Have they changed MJ any? One of the kids on the bus says she is no longer as much of a babe as she used to be?
Did Peter graduate yet?
In Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Pete and MJ have gotten back together after their seperation (MJ having left because he couldn’t stop being Spidey, I believe). MJ is a supermodel, and the Torch has a crush on her, telling Spidey that MJ would be the girl of his dreams (making Parker more than uncomfortable). Parker’s a high school science teacher.