Web of Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #3

Story 'Iron Bars Do Not A Prison Make'

We begin with the Vulture in prison reading about the exploits of the Vulturians. He's not happy and escapes immediately (literally just like that) vowing to kill them all.

He soon catches up with them after yet another robbery and gives them a bit of a hiding back at their base.

Meanwhile, Pete and MJ are having a lunch date. They are discussing him dropping out of college and how badly Aunt May took it. The vulture and Vulturians' fight overspills into the restaurant though and so Peter quickly changes into the web-slinger and all three parties venture out onto the street for a three-way battle.

After a bit of his own bad luck (courtesy of the Black Cat which is examined in later issues) Pete is beaten by the Vulturians/Vulture and collapses unconscious on top of a building.

The next morning, MJ comes round to Pete's and is upset at the beating he has taken. She does tell him to make up with Aunt May though.

As the mail arrives at May's, she sees there's nothing from Peter and is upset but Spidey swings by and leaves the hat (from issue 2) on her doorstep with a note, before ringing the doorbell. Our final scene is of May getting the present and saying thanks while Pete (as Spidey) looks on from a nearby tree.

General Comments

First off, the Vulture's escape is appallingly dealt with.

I can understand wanting to get on with the story but to have him just escape with no effort and no explanation of how he'd rebuilt his wings is very, very slack. He can apparently fly at 100mph with his new wings (according to the pursuing helicopter pilots), so try explaining how you can create something like that in a prison cell without being noticed.

The storyline is along the lines of the same in issue two, as is the art. Simply put, it's not up to scratch.

The Vulture's reappearance could have been a big event - he hadn't been seen in a while - but instead is degenerated down to being a joke.

His fighting with the Vulturians is poorly done and the three-way battle is just confusing.

WHY WOULD ONE OF SPIDEY'S BIGGEST ENEMIES LEAVE HIM UNCONSCIOUS ON A ROOF?

Either the Vulture or Vulturians could have unmasked him, killed him or anything but no... they just leave him.

It's really poorly thought out and executed in an even worse manner. Plus, what's worse, the Vulturians are still at large and , presumably, just waiting to return to the action at some point.

Overall Rating

After a poor start, Web Of... issue three is the worst of the bunch. So many things just didn't work or, worse still, just weren't thought out properly. It comes across as rushed, yet the three-way fight scenes stretched across a good third of the book. NOT a good issue.