King Kong in Spidey?

Still trying to catch-up with my back issue reading. So here's a few more....

Amazing Spider-man #216 by the regular team of O'Neill, Romita Jr. and Mooney was another average issue. The story was a bit silly especially all those accidents that Spidey had to help out on whilst trying to prevent a murder. Nice to see Madame Web again.

Rating 6/10

Issue #217 picks up right at the end of #216. It's a better issue as it features both Hydro-man and The Sandman. It's a slightly unusual story as it features a love triangle between those two villains and a "lady". It's an original story and the motivation of the bad guys trying to impress the girlfriend is certainly different to "I'm going to take over the World".

Nice cover by JR Jr.

Rating 7.5/10

Unfortunately in issue #218 the story deteriorates into a King Kong homage as both Hydro-man and Sandman combine into a big mud monster. As the mud monster can't talk this takes away a good deal of the interest which was included in the previous issue. The Hydro-man is one of the better contributions to the Spider-man ethos by Denny O'Neill and it's a pity he didn't use him more effectively.

At least Spidey recognises the fact that the story had similarities to the movie King Kong.

I don't think Frank Miller thought too long about the cover though either. A poor(ish) effort all round.

Rating 5/10.