the Amazing Spider-man #612 - Marvel

I have to say . . I was a little surprised by the story this issue. I expected to be a big slug-fest as Kraven's family has aligned all of these villains against Spider-man. As the title suggests, I expected it to be a Gauntlet in which Peter barely survives with his life. However . . most of this story was spent bringing us up to date on the life and times of Electro, Max Dillon. He's having problems with his powers and they seem to be going in and out. So he takes a job with the Thinker, hoping that he'll help him figure out some way to fix things. He doesn't. So then Max turns to the court of public opinion. He has a grief with Dexter Bennett. So, rather than attacking him head-on, he goes public and spouts what everyone else is feeling about Dexter's recent dip into the government 'bail-out' money. However when he and Spider-man do finally meet . . it seems as if Max's powers have been amped up a bit. He's doing things now that he could never do before. But the issue ends with Spider-man not fighting Max . . but rather he's thrown into the frenzied crowd gathered beneath him. I thought it was a decent story by Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta. But like I said . . not at all what I expected. There was also a back-up story about Spider-man and the Black Cat, by Joe Kelly and Jim Ken Niimura. I'd go into it, but . . it was really inconsequential. Well . . except for the fact that the Black Cat has begun working undercover in the Mayor's office . . Ashley Moon, Dept of Investigations. All in all I thought this issue was a decent chapter in Spider-man's life.