the plot: After Congressman Bradley Miles is attacked by a mind controlled octopus, he becomes the topic of much discussion when it's discovered that Biotechnix, the company who outfitted Miles with a new bionic arm, has ties to the congressman. As Miles gives a speech later, unbeknownst to Peter Parker and his science class, two shadowy figures observe the proceedings. These two are Fusion and Dr. Octopus, the latter of whom seems to be in the former's employ. While Fusion ponders his revenge against Spider-Man, J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson debate the value of investigating Miles business with Biotechnix, Spidey tracks down Ock at a Biotechnix lab and the two foes engage in battle, until Dr. Octopus tries to get away, and Spidey goes after him. Thinking he's found Doc Ock, Spidey leaps in, but it turns out that Fusion has simply assumed Ock's form and the two villains stand over their fallen enemy.

the review: After months of self-contained, mainly out of continuity issues, Peter Parker: Spider-Man returns to a multi part action oriented format that fans have been clamoring for. The prospect of Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham weaving their magic on Dr. Octopus is an interesting one, and the possibilities for this arc are very intriguing.

Jenkins does a nice job adding touches of cross-pollenation between the Spidey books by addressing Peter's teaching job which he has over in Amazing Spider-Man, and rather unexpectedly brought back one of the more interesting villains of recent years, Fusion. Plus, and somewhat more importantly, Dr. Octopus returns, albeit as Fusion's lackey. This seems like a blatent way of making Fusion seem more powerful by having Ock as his underling, but there's still two more issues to explain this in greater detail than they did here. There was also no mention of Stunner (Dr. Octopus' comatose girlfriend), who I had hoped would be appearing in this arc, but again, I'll wait to see what happens.

As for the art, I've noticed in recent months a trend towards more retro-stylings in this title, as far as art goes. From Spider-Man's design, to Doc Ock's mop-top and green jumpsuit, the art seems trapped in the 1970's, and I would much rather see more designs like Buckingham did early in his and Jenkins run. In my opinion the artwork sort of peaked at issue 30, and has just been moving backwards since, which is a shame.

Still, despite the unnecessarily retro-art, I still liked this issue and am eager to see where the creative team goes. Peter Parker: Spider-Man #39 gets ***1/2 out of *****.

continued in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #40

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