the plot: As Spidey begins to realize that his life is a series of cliches (The police think he's a criminal, he's attacked by a mysterious group of super-villains, he considers throwing away his costume, et al), Venom attacks the Daily Bugle and as part of his revenge plot against the Sinister Six, he takes a bite out of Sandman. Meanwhile Aunt May surprises Peter by taking care of herself and visiting with a gentlemen caller.

the review: Although I read this book for the first time a year ago this month, I still have the same reaction to it. The idea of having a story centering around the many repeated things that happens to Spidey is interesting, but the idea is poorly executed here. It's hard to explain why that is, since all of the elements of Spidey's cliched life show up here, but something is just missing here. It's possibly the fact that many of the cliches named in this book are sadly a regular part of the book, or something completely different. Anyway, while an interesting idea, Howard Mackie unfortunately misses something here, and as a result the book feels incomplete.

An interesting thing to note is that this issue features the introduction of the Squid, a villain to show up later in Amazing Spider-Man #26. I the Squid's return in ASM #26 interesting and in that regard this issue becomes enriched. Unfortunately this issue was so spotty some readers may have given up Spidey after reading that issue, missing the Squid's return later.

John Romita jr. again proves his worth as a classic Spidey artist this time around. The art is clear and easy to follow, but not in the least simplistic. The art is very detailed and the regular people look average (as opposed to bodybuilders in street clothes) and Venom looks positively frightening.

So Peter Parker: Spider-Man #16 had a good idea, but was poorly executed though nice to look at. I give it ** out of *****.

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