Spider-Ham was first featured as star of the 1983 humorous one-shot
Marvel Tails, with a backup cast of other anthropomorphic talking-animal parody versions of popular Marvel superheroes, such as Captain Americat (a cat version of
Captain America), Hulk-Bunny (a rabbit version of
Hulk) and Goose Rider (a goose version of
Ghost Rider). Two years later, a solo series, titled
Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham debuted under Marvel's Star Comics imprint. The series, published bi-monthly, lasted seventeen issues before its cancellation in 1987. With the cancellation of
Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, the character became a backup feature in
Marvel Tales, a monthly reprint series showcasing Spider-Man's past adventures. Beginning with issue #201 (
cover dated July 1987), these new Spider-Ham stories appeared in issues #201–212, 214–219, 223–230, 233, 236, 237, 239, 240, and 247 before ceasing altogether. In issue #3 of
What The--?! (cover dated October 1988), Porker meets with Raven the Hunter (a parody of Spider-Man's nemesis
Kraven the Hunter) in a story that satirized the popular "
Kraven's Last Hunt" storyline which had been featured a year earlier in Marvel's Spider-Man titles. Spider-Ham also makes appearances in issues #18, 20, 22, and 24 of
What The--?! The 26th issue of
What The--?! (cover dated fall 1993) features "Spider-Ham 15.88", a humorous take-off on Peter Parker's future counterpart, Miguel O'Hara a.k.a.
Spider-Man 2099. The "15.88" is not seen as a year, but rather a humorous take on the price of a ham (the cover states that it was marked down from the original price of $20.99). Spider-Ham has also appeared on the cover of
Wha...Huh? #1, and was referred to as a fictional character in the
Earth-616 Marvel Universe, in
Generation X #52.
Spider-Man Family #1 (2005 one-shot) features a sixteen-page
Spider-Girl story, in which May Parker (
Peter Parker's daughter) watches a
DVD showing a small portion of a fictional Spider-Ham animated series, discovering that it was created by one of Spider-Man's enemies,
Jack O'Lantern. Here, Spider-Ham appears to mostly be a parody of
Batman. Also in the issue, there is a partial reprint of
Marvel Tails #1. Spider-Ham was selected by fans and retailers to be the focus of the final variant cover by Mike Wieringo to the
Spider-Man: The Other crossover,
Amazing Spider-Man #528. In January 2007,
J. Michael Straczynski authored the
Ultimate Civil War Spider-Ham one-shot, featuring Spider-Ham's attempt to find his missing "thought balloons" against a Civil War parody. The story does not fit in with previously established Spider-Ham continuity. Tom Defalco returned to Spider-Ham's world in 2009, in the pages of
Amazing Spider-Man Family #4–5. He introduces Swiney-Girl, the daughter of Spider-Ham and counterpart of Defalco's other creation
Spider-Girl. Once again, the story strays away from the established, albeit loose, continuity of the original Spider-Ham stories by altering the character's origin and supporting characters, most notably in establishing Peter Porker as a natural-born
pig bitten by a radioactive spider (directly mirroring Spider-Man's origin) and altering his love interest (a counterpart of
Mary Jane Watson) from a
water buffalo to a
crane. He fights alongside the
X-Babies in issue #4 (March 2010) of their four-issue miniseries from 2009 to 2010. To mark the anniversary of
Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #1, Marvel released the
Spider-Ham 25th Anniversary Special in July 2010, with Tom Defalco writing both Spider-Ham and Swiney-Girl stories. These stories feature most of Spider-Ham's original cast and origin, but incorporates the Mary Crane Watsow character from
Amazing Spider-Man Family rather than her original counterpart. In 2022, a graphic novel was published called
Spider-Ham: Hollywood May-Ham. The book features Spider-Ham and Mary Jane Waterbuffalo attempt to make a documentary about his status as a superhero with Alfred Peacock (a parody of
Alfred Hitchcock). After noticing mysterious happenings on set, he realizes Peacock is actually Mysteriape and attempts to defeat him and the Swinester Six. Mary Crane Watsow also makes a background appearance, establishing Watsow and Waterbuffalo to be two different red-haired women named Mary []ane whom Spider-Ham has dated. ==Fictional character biography==