Rhino Gets Smarter!
I didn't care about this one. It started off great, but it just bogs down after that and falls apart with a pretty lame conclusion I was must have been too naive to see coming.
Rhino's operation is a success! He's gotten smarter! He gets the girl! He's able to outsmart Spidey! And to make it even better, his intellect will only go up! Life is good! But as time progresses, he starts to lose sight of everything. He forgets why he ever fell for Stella now that he's light years more intelligent than her. He starts seeing all of the wealth and knowledge he's gained as pointless and futile. He doesn't even care that he knows Spidey's secret identity.
When he's about to kill himself, he suddenly remembers the operation and returns to the scientist to have the process reversed. So a dumb Rhino returns, happy being back to the way things were. I hate stories like this. Absolutely nothing was accomplished.
Most of the story bothered the heck out of me. But the most of it stems from the generic "signs of intellegence", at appears so much in fiction. It's as if the type of entertainment you enjoy somehow makes you smarter. Classical music, opera, as well as the appreciation of museum art are signs that you're smarter than the ones who don't. I've always hated this idiotic idea and even with a great starting issue, this ruined a great amount of the story for me.
Second would be some of the illogical developments. Apparently Rhino used his now incredible mind to create a powerful crime syndicate that amassed him alot of wealth. So did he lie to Stella about it the whole time and she never questioned where all the money is coming from? It was established in the last issue that Stella wants to stay away from crime altogether. But she was cool with Rhino's millions magically appearing?
For another, Rhino discovers Spidey's secret identity.While it would be fine if he simply put two and two together, (Who keeps getting Spidey's picture in the newspaper? Duh.), but no, Rhino apparently created an algorithm that reveals the secret identities of super heroes. So you can discover secret identities with math. That makes so much sense.
I guess you get why I was disappointed with this issue. I still love the beginning though, as well as the art.