Peter Pan Peanut Butter: (3) Spider-Man "Like A Volt From The Blue"

Background

These promo mini-comics are circular about 2 1/8" in diameter. Each has eight double-sided pages. They are glued at the spine rather than stapled. They were released sealed in rectangular plastic bags approximately 2 1/8" by 3 1/4" in size. I'm presuming that they were wrapped with Peter Pan peanut butter products.

Story 'Like A Volt From The Blue'

Peter and Mary Jane are having a picnic at Niagra Falls, when they see police helicopters flying overhead and heading for the generators. Cue Electro, sucking all the power out and planning to drain juice from the Eastern Seaboard and ransom entire cities. Hooookay.

Well, Spidey arrives and fights Electro. MJ meanwhile looks beautiful and frets in an anguished fashion... "Please be careful Peter". Spidey does the old "Insulated Glove to the Jaw" trick, but Electro is too powerful. But wait, MJ has seen a "cord" connecting Electro to the generator. She snips it with "wire cutters". Electro is weakened, and Spidey delivers the Coup-De-Gracie.

MJ hugs Spidey (in front of the policeman) and says "can we finish our picnic now". Hmm... that's a bit of a giveaway.

General Comments

I don't know where to begin criticizing this story. A power cable that can take the entire electrical output of Niagra Falls, but can be cut with wire cutters? Cutting a live cable with wire cutters and not getting burned? Electro can't store any charge, so he's weakened when he loses his connection? All pretty nonsensical.

How about MJ hugging Spidey and basically giving away his secret identity? Or Peter actually taking MJ into the generator room where she's totally vulnerable? What about the fact that the police didn't take them in as witnesses afterwards? Everything about this comic is just daft!

Overall Rating

Ten out of ten for cool collectible factor, nothing out of ten for story. That means that we barely scrape in with an uninspiring three webs.

Footnote

The Peter Pan Peanut Butter reference is simply Peter spreading peanut butter on bread at the start of the picnic. No Peter Pan Peanut Butter logo appears in the comic.