Your eyes do not deceive you, it took 4 different drawings to get through 1996. The apex of the glut that was the 1990s. ASM 421-425, TAC 242-251, SM 79-84 & Annual ’97, SSM 16-20, SMU 15-17, SMTU 7, MTU Vol. 2 1-3, Spider-Man: Dead Man’s Hand, Batman/Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men 346. That’s a lot of stuff. In Spectacular, JM DeMatteis is now 13 issues into a seemingly endless story that acts like it’s the only Spider-Man comic being published despite… all the above. MJ is mad that Peter spends too much time being Spider-Man. Martha Robertson is mad that Robbie spends too much time at The Bugle. JJJ is brutally beaten and forced to sell The Bugle to Norman Osborn. Flash Thompson becomes a fall-down-drunk alcoholic literally out of nowhere. Kraven the Hunter’s SECOND previously unmentioned adult son shows up to take his place since the first one was killed, and doesn’t even have the courtesy to come up with a new name and outfit like his brother did. Electro stops wearing a mask because comics are becoming embarrassed of themselves. Gwen Stacy’s uncle Arthur and cousin Jill develop another cousin, Paul, as Arthur’s hunt for answers about the Stacys continues and MJ befriends Jill over Peter’s objections. Team ups with The Thunderbolts, SHOC, Dr. Strange, Puma, Elektra, Silver Sable, The Cat, X-Man, Marrow, Calisto, Generation X, Hercules & Sandman. Encounters with Chameleon, Vulture, a guy who stole Prowler’s gear, Vulture, Shocker, Calypso, Carrion, The Tinkerer, The High Evolutionary, Juggernaut, Jack O’ Lantern, Crown, Morbius, Hammerhead, The Living Pharaoh, Bastion, Spot, Grizzly, Gibbon, Kangaroo, The Rose, Delilah, Ra’s al Ghul, Talia, Don Fortunato, Razorfist, Shockwave, Bastion, Robot-Master, Major Love, Dr. Zeus and Flag Smasher, and I forgot to draw a couple villains, even, like Kingpin and Dread Knight. Whew. Too much. A whole lot of stuff for a clutch of generally pretty unenjoyable comics. The only major title of the 4 worth reading at this point was Spider-Man. Spider-Man loosely based on the style of Joe Bennett. Originally drawing #37.