Solid writing, and *seriously* solid portrayal of MJ. ( )

The final volume in Duane's Spider-Man trilogy. Works pretty well, wraps things up nicely. ( )

In Spider-Man: The Octopus Agenda, Diane Duane concludes the trilogy that began with Spider-Man: The Venom Factor. Back in New York following his Florida trip (covered in Spider-Man: The Lizard Sanction), Spider-Man/Peter Parker investigates the role of Russian mobsters in the money laundering and toxic waste smuggling crimes of the previous two installments. Venom returns once again as an unlikely ally to aid Spidey. This novel best sums up the trilogy when Spider-Man muses to himself, "It was a big, tangled web, and now here was another strand of it, while he remained the same small spider in the middle, trying to make sense of the weave, trying to unravel it, and at the same time doing his best not to be strangled by it in the process" (p. 74). Like the previous novels, Duane ably adapts the 1990s Spider-Man continuity to this prose format, though a great deal of the story will feel dated to modern readers. Duane's portrayal of the role of the Atomic Energy Commission and the government's generally laissez-faire attitude toward international crime and arms smuggling seem almost charmingly naïve when viewed through a post-9/11 lens. With that in mind, readers familiar with the 1990s comics can still enjoy this story and the twinge of nostalgia it brings. ( )

Diane Duane's Spider-Man novels are some of my favorites. I've read all her Spider-Man novels numerous times. Doc Ock is overdone in my opinion but she stays true to the characters and I found myself enjoying this book more than I thought I could! Great writers can do that and Diane Duane is just that! ( )