the plot: Reflecting on his defeat at the hands of the new villain Fusion, and the explosion released by Fusion that caused the deaths of three hundred innocents, Peter is saddled into looking after his new neighbour Caryn's dog. Meanwhile Fusion has released a threat to Spider-Man to meet him at the site where Fusion's son died imitating Spidey. After some careful checking, and a chance encounter with Flash Thompson, Spidey arrives at the docks where Fusion's son died and Spidey is soundly defeated by Fusion. Will Spidey be able to stop Fusion's reign of terror? Not with a broken neck, that's for sure.

the review: In simplest terms, this was an okay issue. Not too bad, but not very spectacular really. It struck me as odd at first that Spider-Man tried to forget the fact that three hundred people had been murdered by Fusion, and that he was actually soaking in a tub when he could have gone after the power-stealing fiend. I suppose it's the cop syndrome; you try to forget about what goes on at work when you're at home to hold on to your sanity, though if Aunt May or Flash had been killed Spidey would have gone after Fusion right away. The massive loss of life was really unnecessary, and you would think that with a guy like Fusion around, more than a single hero would have gone after him, or in the very least, Spidey would have gotten some help.

Speaking of Flash Thompson though, it was nice seeing Flash show up here, and in character. Under the pen of Howard Mackie Flash was portrayed as a tough goon, seemingly forgetting his years of friendship with Peter and the fact that he and Peter got so close Flash was actually Peter's best man at his wedding (How many of you remembered that?). It was nice seeing that though Flash and Peter get along, they really are different people and the references to Flash's growth during J. M Demateis' run on Spectacular Spider-Man were appreciated.

Mark Buckingham's artwork was great, benefitting fully from the addition of new inker Wayne Faucher and the vibrant new coloring. I could probably best describe his style as a curious blend of Steve Ditko and Mike Wieringo. Classicly dynamic. His work on the fight between Fusion and Spidey was a standout this issue, though his having made a bunch of scenes full of talking heads work (Re: pages six through nine or so) was great. He is really shaping up to be a great Spidey artist, though his characters do get overly cartoony at times.

So, though this issue was kind of so-so as far as issues go, I am looking forward to next month's concluding chapter. Peter Parker: Spider-Man #31 gets *** out of *****.

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