Maximum Carnage may just be the most divisive Spider-Man story ever. There are plenty of readers who downright hate it. But it's popular enough that it's consistently in print, and more impressively, appears on best of lists voted for by the fans.

http://marvel.com/news/comics/23034/...cs_of_all-time

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources...master-list/3/

So, what do you guys think about it?

Right now, I've reread the first half, and one takeaway is how much quality varies issue to issue. Some thoughts...

Spider-Man Unlimited #1 shows one odd structural decision: Tom DeFalco is asked to write the first and last parts. His take on Carnage is more silly than menacing, but he does highlight a difficult time in Peter's life (Harry Osborn's just been buried) and has a cool cliffhanger with Carnage confronting Jonah at the Daily Bugle.

Web of Spider-Man #101 dashes that cliffhanger as Carnage just leaves the Bugle figuring he sent Spider-Man a message. The previous issue had ended with Spider-Man collapsing post-beatdown, and this issue oddly opens with Spider-Man getting menaced by random thugs before superheroes show up. There's an inevitable rematch with the bad guys, although the good guys suffer a casualty, which does raise the stakes pretty well.

The scene in the cover does not happen, which is a dumb move.


Amazing Spider-Man #378 has some nice art by Bagley, a really generic fight between Peter and MJ, but it also conveys the chaos caused by Carnage pretty well.

Spider-Man #35 by David Michelinie and Tom Lyle is pretty decent, with a nasty fight scene between the assembled heroes and Carnage's forces. It also gets the discomfort of Spider-Man fighting alongside Venom.

Spectacular Spider-Man #201 by DeMatteis and Buscema is the best issue so far. There's a nice issue where May tries to give Peter advice, and her optimistic view of the world differs from that of Peter's father who claims to have spent a generation in a Soviet labor camp. The heroes split up due to disagreements between Peter's world view, and Venom's willingness to kill. A riot by people panicking about Carnage (which would have been stronger if we've seen more of ordinary people's reactions to the chaos, but that's a quibble) leads to a powerful cliffhanger in which Spider-Man, admittedly under a lot of stress, snaps.

Web of Spider-Man #102 by Kavanagh and Savuik forgets that cliffhanger completely. The heroes reconcile for no more reason than that the plot called for it. A pissed off Mary Jane goes to a club to dance with a lot of guys, and the club gets attacked by Carnage, a potentially powerful plot point that isn't taken advantage of. This really rates pretty low as far as single issues of Spider-Man go.

Amazing Spider-Man #379 highlights the ridiculous padding with an opening where the heroes waste time at Cletus Kassidy's old house. There are some further additions, which aren't particularly meaningful, as Carrion joins the bad guys and Deathlok gets involved. Due to Carnage's weakness to fire, and the Fantastic Four being out of town, the heroes make a smart move and get Firestar's help, while also raiding the Fantastic Four's headquarters for weapons, leading to one scene which cuts to the F4's busted security system.

Unlimited #1 also had a pretty good 22 page story by Mike Baron and Jerry Bingham that I'm guessing was meant to be an inventory. It's got an interesting hook with Peter suddenly waking up as a teenager with vague memories of his life as Spider-Man (a concept that's been done in a lot of sci-fi but is done pretty well here.)