TANGLED WEB #5

By: Arnold T. Blumberg
Date: Wednesday, August 22, 2001

I never really thought he was the stupidest villain in Spider-Man's rogues' gallery after all, there was always the Gibbon or Lightmaster if you wanted enemies with truly embarrassing personalities but for some reason, this new outing makes it very clear that the Rhino is so useless that he's actually the butt of jokes for the New York people as well as his arachnid arch-foe. And I do mean "butt."

But (heh heh) for all his seeming stupidity and abrasive personality, the Rhino is after all merely a human being, and like all human beings he wants a little respect, a little peace but most of all, he wants to be human again. He's tired of burnishing his horn, using a blowtorch on his rock-hard flesh where others might use a washcloth, and repeatedly falling in humiliating defeat to a guy who leaps around in red and blue spandex and calls him "bunky." He's had enough; the Rhino wants out of his own skin.

This won't be easy. When the Rhino was first encased in his hideous hide, it was intended as a permanent modification, but he thinks he knows someone who might be able to help. He also has a girl in mind, someone that perhaps would see him in a different light if he were less...rhinoceros-y. But there's one other problem he just isn't that sharp. Ah, there are ways around that as well...

Continuing to offer stories that look at Spider-Man's effect on the world around him, TANGLED WEB kicks off a two issue examination of one of Spidey's least popular and unluckiest sparring partners. First introduced early in John Romita's classic run on THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, the Rhino is a rather simple fellow who benefits from his moment in the spotlight. While villains as sympathetic types yearning for another way of life are rather common these days (Killer Shrike underwent a similar change of heart in a recent Hulk story), writer Peter Milligan manages to make the Rhino an almost likeable, dare I say pitiable guy with a major skin condition. Fegredo's artwork, the very definition of "grim 'n' gritty," only adds to the atmosphere of despair that hangs over the man with the horny protuberances.

One finds it difficult not to root for Rhino when he decides that his only hope may be to put his brain in the path of a massive drill bit. That's right, the Rhino is going in for experimental brain surgery. Will he suffer the same fate as Algernon, as the title of the tale ("Flowers for Rhino") suggests? I doubt it in the end, he's just too stupid to die.

TANGLED WEB

Grade: A-

Issue: No. 5 (part 1 of 2)

Author(s): Peter Milligan, Duncan Fegredo

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $2.99