The Spectacular Spider-Men # 4

by Mark Rodriguez

Peter and Miles agreed to hang out once a week at a cafe called the Coffee Bean. Along the way they fought against a mindless monster version of the Jackal, and the battle led them to find a mysterious corpse in Warren's old lab. After some of the people at the cafe started acting strange and have gone missing, the Spider-Men went to investigated. The heroes are captured by Arcade and Mentallo and are trapped in idealized fantasies, similar to their missing friends. How will the Spiders escape from a situation that is literally too good to be true?

Arachnobatics Chapter 4- The Pitch opens some time ago with Arcade and Mentallo pitching their idea of the Arcadium to an investor. As new clients come in, Mentallo uses his psychic powers to tap into the fantasy center of their brains. Then Arcade connects Mentallo's helmet to his computers to bring the experience to life with realistic androids and environments. At first they'll try it on low income folks, but soon they will offer it to the wealthy, which will be very lucrative due to the addicting nature of the program. They ask the investor what he thinks. The mystery man seems very interested.

The only thing missing was a Powerpoint presentation

In current day as Seymour Frapps is seen storming out of the Coffee Bean, feeling judged by detective Sebben's questioning. Warren says he's surprised he acted that way since Seymour usually doesn't act that way. Sebbens asks if he means that maybe the real Seymour was the corpse and the one they just talked to was a clone. Warren says he doubt his younger brother Miles would do that to his old friend. 

Just then Sha Shan walks in asks Sebbens if she's a police detective. She tells her about the missing people at the cafe, namely Kenneth Kong, Rochelle Conklin, Cedric Harrison, as well as Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Warren is surprised to hear that that Peter is missing as well.

Back to the simulation, Peter returns home to tell Gwen that he got nominated for a Pulitzer. Elsewhere, Miles meets up with Kamala on a rooftop telling her that he reached a 4.0 average with his grades, since the city has been quiet in regards to super villains. Gwen asks Peter if he misses being Spider-Man, while Kamala asks Miles if he misses the action.

Arcade and Mentallo watch over Peter's and Miles' fantasies, being completely bored out of their minds. Last names have not been mentioned yet, and Mentallo doesn't want to risk tampering with their minds since it might tip them off to the fantasy being exposed.

Peter sits with his wife, his kids, Aunt May and Gwen's father George. Peter suddenly feels this isn't right since the 'old Parker luck' usually isn't so happy. He has flashback of tragedies in life, such as the deaths of Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy.

Miles and Kamala are still hanging out when suddenly Shift arrives. Shift apologizes, and Miles asks what he's apologizing for. Shift suddenly socks Kamala Khan, showing that she was actually an android. Peter and Miles both realize that their current lives aren't real.

Peter stands up and tears roll down his eyes as he tells his family he loves them. He gives his wife and kids a final hug. Peter goes to put on his Spider-Man costume and tells Gwen that he has to face the truth and make whoever created this pay. 

Arcade and Mentallo are surprised, since no one has broken free from their fantasies before. They are also confused by Shift, having no idea where he came from.

Miles looks upon the broken Kamala robot and remembers that's currently with Tiana Toomes and had no idea he liked Kamala that way. Miles realizes he had feelings for her and when Kamala died, he felt it was too late. However things changed now that Kamala had come back to life. Miles suits up and wants to go after whoever set this up. 

Arcade activates 'Turntables' as Miles and Shift swing off into the city. Miles suddenly crashes into a sheet of metal being held up by a crane. Arcade tells Mentallo to 'brain blast' both Spider-Men, and he make them both collapse with mental pain. 

The Spiders now remember that they were in the sewers looking for Cedric, Kenny and Shelly. They found a high tech lab and then everything went black. Arcade asks Mentallo why he didn't just kill them. Mentallo says they messed with their minds so much they built up a bit of resistance to it.

Miles sees Peter swing towards him, asking him if he's OK. Miles senses that something is off as Peter suddenly attacks him. Likewise, Peter runs into Miles, and also senses something is off. Miles swings at him with his electric sword, which Peter narrowly dodges.

Both Spider-Men are confused, calling each other Queens and Brooklyn to tell each other apart. Mentallo asks if their robots can actually take out the Spider-Men, but Arcade says he has a plan. Mentallo calls their backer. Arcade makes the robot Peter and Miles fall apart, and then turns the scenery around. Peter and Miles land near each other, but they both think the other is another robot. Both Spiders decide to take each other out.

Mentallo tells the backer than maybe he called prematurely since they now have things handled. The mysterious backer turns out to be Hammerhead. Hammerhead says he wants to stop by and check in on his investment. He says if they managed to capture two Spider-Men, then he also has a few wishes he wants fulfilled. 

My Opinions- 

So we learn a little more about Aracadium, though I am confused how the robots factor into everything. I originally thought everyone was trapped in some sort of super-realistic VR, but now that I know that robots and sets are involved, I'm confused how things work. Peter's fantasy is mostly in a fake house, so that can be replicated with a fake room or so. But how did they replicate Miles and Kamala traveling through the city, or Cedric driving on the open road with Shelly?

I like the idea of super villains without capital coming to another super villain to invest in their plans. I'm assuming it's just smarter and safer to get Hammerhead to invest in your devices, then risking robbing banks and getting caught by superheroes before your plan can even get off the ground. The whole scene with Arcade and Mentallo explaining their plan while exchanging banter among themselves was a lot of fun. You can almost hear themselves think 'we got his attention, don't blow it' the whole time.

The other characters start running into each other as we see Detective Sebbens run into Sha Shan at the Coffee Bean and is made aware of the missing patrons. I am still curious about this mystery corpse since it's a plot that buried in the background but continues to come up to remind us that it's still a thing. Could Seymour be a clone? Could the corpse have been the real Seymour?

While mentioned, we didn't get see Cedric, Shelly and Kenny in this issue. I do hope we see more of them. I am actually curious how Cedric will act around them once all is said and done. Shift also seems to be a random wild card since he wasn't part of the villains' plans. It's.... convenient that he happens to be lurking around the sewers underneath the Arcadium?

The final thing I want to mention is for the sake of any readers that aren't 100% up to date on Kamala Khan. While Kamala started out as an Inhuman, she was killed by a villain named Rabin who was out to kill Mary Jane, but killed her instead. Kamala was revived by the X-Men where it turns out she had a latent X-Gene, so she's a mutant and with the X-Men now. Of course there's a conversation to be had if the real Kamala is dead forever and this clone doesn't really count as her coming back, but we can save that for some other time.

I do wonder how Miles' secret feelings for Kamala will come into play and if they will carry over into his own series. 

Overall, I'm interested to see where this goes. I'm also glad to see Hammerhead get into the mix. I know he's in the comics for years but this is the first time I see him as a major part of the story. I mostly remember him from the 90's cartoon though I know he appeared in later cartoons and videogames.