x35's The Spectacular Spider-Man #158 - The Paste and the Power (or a Very Sticky Situation) review

    Avatar image for x35
    • Score:
    • x35 wrote this review on .
    • 4 out of 4 Comic Vine users found it helpful.
    • x35 has written a total of 163 reviews. The last one was for TPB

    One More Vengeance

    AF Reviews: Acts of Vengeance
    AF Reviews: Acts of Vengeance

    The Paste and the Power (or a Very Sticky Situation) is the 2nd entry into the Acts of Vengeance crossover featuring Spider-Man and is written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Sal Buscema. The story sees Spider-Man receive another defeat and also the origin of his brief Cosmic power-up.

    We open sharply to Spider-Man fighting the Trapster. Trapster gets angry when Spidey calls him Paste Pot Pete and turns out Trapster's paste and grease is the perfect weapon to combat Spider-Man because Spider-Man is utterly defeated and nearly drowns. It's kinda silly that of all the villains, Trapster defeats Spider-Man with ease but there is kinda some logic behind it. After another defeat Peter is bummed out and while he is at University working with a professor on an experiment he gets caught in a blast of energy which gives him new and heightened powers. With these powers, Spidey goes back and makes short work of the Trapster.

    Meanwhile, we also get to our first glimpse of the cabal involved in Acts of Vengeance although not all the players are in place yet (so far only Doctor Doom, the Kingpin, Magneto, the Wizard and their benefactor are present). We also get a few continuations to sub-plots concerning Robbie Robertson and J. Jonah Jameson and more lovely moments between Peter and Mary Jane.

    The main part of the story is without a doubt Spider-Man's new powers. His power-up seems completely out of the blue, and this is the second time I've read it so I even knew it was coming. There's nothing really wrong with the Cosmic Powers saga, it just feels particularly random. Some of his new powers, especially the ones shown in this issue, are borderline ridiculous. Stuff like making a giant fist out of his webs or shooting lasers out of each finger take Spider-Man very far away from the hero we're meant to be reading about. I'm sure at the time, this was absolutely despised but in retrospect - and knowing it was only temporary - it does seem a lot less horrible. In fact, now, it's actually enjoyable to see a powered-up Spider-Man.

    Again, this is another tie-in that's enjoyable and since it features the first published appearance of the Acts of Vengeance Cabal and the origin of Spidey's temporary Cosmic powers, it's actually pretty important to the Acts of Vengeance storyline. There's some awkwardly parts of the issue that stand out as just weird, but other than that, this is again another entertaining offering from Spider-Man's Acts of Vengeance tie-ins.

    Other reviews for The Spectacular Spider-Man #158 - The Paste and the Power (or a Very Sticky Situation)

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.