Al offers his take on the Flashback issues for the four main titles, in roughly the order in which they occur. Full reviews are down below in the reviews section, of course!
Sensational #-1: This one is probably the weakest of the lot. First of all, it's a continuity buff's nightmare. Secondly, it's essentially a story about nothing with a weird Nightmare tag-line. What the heck is the deal with DeZago? He started out strong but with things like the Savage Land and this issue, I just don't know.
Amazing #-1: You know, I liked the whole Kingpin/Fortunato story but, as a continuity freak, I don't know how to fit this into what we thought we knew about the mob world. Where do the Big Man and the Crime Master fit into this revamped history? Once you put the Kingpin back at the beginning, you start to mess things up. (And putting a newbie like Fortunato at the start seems a bit forced.) Call it number 11 on my Top Ten Unsavory RetCons list.
Peter Parker #-1: Yii! Speaking of retcon madness! I didn't like this one at all. Don't even want to talk about it.
Spectacular #-1: I have heard high praise for this book. One fan I know even said it's the best Spider-book he's ever read. I enjoyed it BUT I am sorry that Flash Thompson has now been saddled with the abusive/alcoholic father story. There has been too much of this in comics, I think.
So what was my favorite? Would you believe..
Venom: Seed of Darkness #-1: Great homage both to the old monster books and to the old Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV show. Barney Bushkin appears. A nice little bit on why creatures like Goom apparently exist in the Marvel Universe but no one seems to know about it. The gimmick of the story actually surprised me too. I didn't like the last two pages. (Thought they changed the tone of the whole story and were superfluous.) Without them I would have given this book five webs.