Amazing Spider-Man reaches a landmark 600th issue this month -- a supersizer that will feature a wedding, an old foe and the return of Mary Jane Watson.

Issue No. 600 is expected in comic book shops July 22. The 104-pager includes a mammoth 61-page lead story, a 12-page story written by Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man, and short stories by the regular team of Spider-Man writers affectionately dubbed Web Heads.

''I knew I wanted it to be as big a comic as possible, since I figured it might be my only chance to do a Spidey anniversary issue,'' said Amazing Spider-Man editor Steve Wacker.

Editing Lee, he acknowledged, was more than a bit intimidating, but the legendary comic book creator put him at ease.

``He had pretty much what he wanted to do right out of the gate. It was a good idea and it was a perfect sort of anniversary kind of story, because it looks back at all sorts of weird things that have happened to Spidey.''

The lead story by writer Dan Slott and artist John Romita Jr. focuses on the wedding of Peter ''Spider-Man'' Parker's beloved Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson Sr. -- father of the irrascible J. Jonah Jameson, who recently become mayor of New York City.

There's also the return of Doctor Octopus, as well as Mary Jane. MJ has been largely absent since the controversial One More Day, a story a year and a half ago that saw her marriage to Peter -- and all memories of it -- erased by the evil Mephisto.

Her return to Spidey's world is played out further in Red-Headed Stranger, a story line starting in the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man immediately following No. 600. That story will also feature the return of another longtime Spider-Man villain, the Chameleon.

And more classic villains are waiting in the wings. A story arc titled The Gauntlet kicks off in November -- and spells big trouble for Spider-Man.

''Starting in The Gauntlet, you're going to see one villain after the other,'' Wacker said. ``We're going to kick off with Electro. You're going to see Sandman. You're going to see the Lizard. You're going to see these villains start returning.''

And then there's Spider-Man's greatest foe -- Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Osborn now occupies a place of great power in the U.S. government, operating his version of the Avengers team. Osborn and Spidey are squaring off in American Son, a story wrapping up just before issue No. 600, and another round in their battle looms in the fall with Dark Reign: The List -- Amazing Spider-Man. It's among a series of one-shot specials spinning out of Osborn's to-do list as he crafts his vision of the Marvel universe. At the top of his list, apparently, is Spidey.

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