Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man: Volume 3

Just as with the previous Spectacular Spider-Man volumes, this one treats its readers with an all-star lineup of talent: Roger Stern, Bill Mantlo, Jim Mooney, John Byrne, Frank Miller, Al Milgrom, Rick Leonardi, etc. While the talent is without question, I considered knocking my rating down to four stars due to the lack of consistency. It seems no two consecutive issues were produced by the same creative team. In the end I stuck with the five star rating because it is still so enjoyable. The highlight of this volume is the work of Ed Hannigan. Hannigan is a highly underrated artist in comics history and the proof lies within these pages. He is known primarily as a cover artist and for his contribution to the creation of the characters Cloak and Dagger. The stories that he draws are the best in this volume. His cover designs, page layouts and Eisner-esque splash pages are second to none.

Some people are turned off by the black and white reprints like these essentials. But you get so much for the money, and there's hours of reading enjoyment. These essentials are a great way to read or reread comics from the past, without having to fork out the large bucks that the after market sellers are asking. Granted some of these issues are corny, but they're still enjoyable to a 40 year old like myself, who grew up reading these issues.