Artwork by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Dan Kemp amazes and delights. The fight scenes excite, and the scenes with Peter and M.J. evoke a tenderness that belies the more stylized comic book look that certainly supports the lighter, comical scenes. I'm constantly awed at how much emotion Mr. Romita can weave from Spidey's face even when covered by a full-face mask. Were you merely to leaf through the book and ignore the crackling dialogue, you can just by observing the artwork still understand the emotions at play. Read Full Review

This book is equal parts amusing & annoying, as while J. Michael Straczynski has delivered several genuinely funny moments in this series, he's also delivered several duds, and the general sense that I get from this book is that he's simply trying too hard to keep maintain the comedy. I like the idea that Spider-Man is delivering a steady stream of amusing banter, and there's a couple amusing throwaway moments in the issue. However, there's also a sense that the plot is simply a framework to hang these various amusing situations upon. There's also the fact that this issue has Spider-Man investigating a mystery that was already explained in the previous issue, so the final pages of this issue felt like a big waste of time. Then there's the moments during the issue where J. Michael Straczynski uses his characters to address the social ills of society, and while in don't really have a problem with this, I do wish it wasn't so patently obvious that this is what he was doing. Read Full Review