MARCO SPEAKS SPIDEY: Amazing Spider-Man #34 Review

Family Matters—and Peter Is Feeling the VoltageAmazing Spider-Man #34 places Peter Parker between two equally dangerous forces: Electro’s high-voltage attacks and a family revelation he cannot simply punch, web or science his way through. Cormac Crane is Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s biological son, secretly taken from them after birth and raised by another family—and he already knows Peter is Spider-Man.Naturally, Peter would rather get electrocuted.PROSThe quiet family scenes carry the greatest chargeThe issue begins with Peter having breakfast with Aunt May, and Joe Kelly gets plenty of emotional mileage out of something as simple as badly burned pancakes. Peter’s food is practically charcoal, May’s home is being overwhelmed by gifts sent by Cormac, and their conversation keeps circling a subject neither of them fully knows how to discuss.May admits that Cormac seems generous and kind, even though someone else raised the son who was taken from her. Peter, meanwhile, cannot shake his suspicion. He does not outright accuse Cormac of anything, but his discomfort is written all over him.It feels believable. Peter’s entire understanding of his family has suddenly changed. Aunt May has a s...