the plot: When a mutant named William with an ability to shoot energy draining beams out of his eyes leaves his monestary, it's up to Spidey to stop him from harming those around him, and save William from killing himself in the process.

the review: This was a nice issue, good I suppose. It didn't really strike a strong cord with me as far as things go though, but it was nice to have an issue with a villain who wasn't really all that villainous. William's story was tragic marred only by the weak inserts of humor. If the story had been more serious it may have flowed a little better since some of the humor fell flat right away (the monkmobile, Peter hitting the prize bear with an arrow). The sequence at the carnival where Peter tried to hide from Jill Stacy and Randy wasn't terribly clear either, and I had to reread the pages to get what was going on. It was nice to see Jill and Randy though, since I thought that they'd been all but forgotten when Howard Mackie left the books. it's nice that Peter's friends are still around, and Jill's encounter with Peter's carnival date Caryn should lead to an interesting sub-plot.

One last thing that irked me was the retro edge this book had. While I don't mind the retro style on Spidey, it seemed a bit odd that Peter and Aunt May both looked like they were right out of a Stan Lee and Steve Ditko issue. Peter with his clean haircut, vest and dress shirt and one stray hair and Aunt May in her sweater and dress and bun in her hair seemed out of place, well for me at least.

I loved the sequence at the end though, with the stars. Very emotional, but mildly out of place for a story with so many humerous elements.

It's become apparent that seriousness and humor don't always mix well in this title and as a result Peter Perker: Spider-Man #34 gets **1/2 out of *****. It wasn't perfect, but wasn't that bad either.

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