The Spectacular Spider-Men # 9

 By Mark Rodriguez

After the events dealing with the simulated reality of The Arcadium, Peter, Miles and the rest of their friends and associated at the Coffee Bean have been meeting up for therapy. One of them, Juliet Marcos was in love with someone she admired from afar who didn't even know she existed. When the woman, Anna Romney, just so happened to visit the Coffee Bean, Juliet introduced herself to her. When Anna  didn't recognize Juliet.... Juliet suddenly turned into vapor... and then into water! Elsewhere, the female Electro was recently defeated by Spider-Man and Silk. Upon seeing this televised, the original Electro wants to teach her a lesson for 'cheapening his brand'. What will happen now?

 

"Strange Love Part 2 Gone Girl" opens with both Spider-Men swinging towards the Coffee Bean. Miles asks Peter if he has any idea on what to do about this, and Peter has none. Peter says it will be strange to walk into the cafe in full costume and Miles said he didn't think of that. Peter opens the door and asks if anyone called for two friendly Neighborhood Spider-Men.

We flashback to the moment the incident happened. Peter is confused as their friend Juliet suddenly turned into air, then water and then melted into a puddle. Anna is in shock, saying that Juliet was just standing there and then she dropped her drink and the rest happened. Max the barista, also in shock, asks if Juliet died. 

 

The puddle of water that was once Juliet is starting to spread out close to her spilled coffee. Peter asks if they should stop them from mixing and Miles asks how. Anna blurts out to use towels or napkins or something. The water and coffee mix and Juliet takes shape again, as a being made out of water. Juliet says 'Death by Chocolate' is her favorite, and Peter remarks that it looks more like 'life by chocolate'. Juliet asks what is happening to her.

The Coffee Bean crew wonder what happened to Juliet and why she's made of water. Cedric wonders if she's a new Inhuman. Shari Sebbens says there hasn't been a Terrigen cloud and she hasn't formed into a cocoon. Kenny wonders if she obtained the cosmic power. Seymour says she might be a clone but it wouldn't explain her transformations. Juliet yells at them to stop talking as if she wasn't there. She yells that she's right there and bursts into flames. Fire Juliet sets off the water sprinklers. The sprinklers makes Juliet feel worse.. and then she turns to dirt. 

 

Juliet asks if she's dirt because she already feels like dirt. Adam tells her calm down and Anna recognizes her. Juliet is surprised that Anna knows Adam. Anna says Adam lives on the same floor as her. Juliet yells that she also lives on the same floor. She says she really is invisible to her and turns back into her air form. Shelly tells Juliet that they all see her. Juliet feels their comfort and suddenly pops back into her normal human form.

Juliet is happy to be back to normal. The therapist says her powers seem to be dictated by her emotions and tells her to stay calm. She also tells Max to turn the sprinklers off. The therapist says this is beyond her expertise and they need help to help Juliet. Sha Shan asks Peter if he still knows how to contact Spider-Man.

We return to the present where the Spider-Men arrive, not knowing how they're going to handle this, and trying show off confidence.. that they don't have. Juliet keeps changing between her several forms and says she can't stop. Peter tells her that everything is alright and they see this sort of thing all the time. They'll take her under their webbed wings. Juliet is happy and turns back to normal and Miles says she's doing better already. Their first job is to find out exactly what's happening to her.

Elsewhere, Max Dillon, Electro steps into the Bar with No Name and asks the bartender for a dry martini. Deke asks if he's taking it to go. Max asks why, and Francine, the second Electro, says Dke must figure that one Electro is plenty. Max says he's glad he ran into her, though he wishes he was driving a mack truck when he did. Francine says he's as subtle as always. Max says he wants her to stop using the Electro name as his eye crackle with electricity. Francine's eyes also crackle and she asks what will happen if she refuses to.

 

 

Back to Juliet, Viv Vision, one of Miles' friends, scans her over with her powers and asks her to transform. Juliet says she can't do it on command. Viv says she can at least determine that she's not a robot. Juliet gets angry that they thought she was a robot and turns into her fire form. Peter narrates they still needed to make sure that Juliet wasn't a robot created by K.N.A.I.V.E, the living AI embodiment of the Arcadium. Viv says Juliet might be a mutant, and says she'll call in Miss Marvel. This makes Miles nervous.

Later on, Miss Marvel shows up alongside Sophie Cuckoo and Prodigy. Sophie takes a look to see if Juliet is a mutant. Juliet says it would sense since she felt like a mutant all her life. Miles tells Miss Marvel that she got there quick. Miss Marvel explains that she's taking a class at E.S.U. Spider-Man says his friend Miles has coffee at the Bean every Wednesday if she ever wants to stop by. The others determined that Juliet is not a mutant, but Sophie says she will need training. Just then Anna  shows up and asks if it's OK for her to show up.

We flashback some time earlier as Anna is blaming herself for what happened to Juliet. Anna feels bad that she never noticed her. Adam tells her that her name is Juliet Marcos and this isn't her fault. Anna asks what should she do. Adam and Shelly give each other a look and says maybe she should leave. Anna asks if she's supposed to abandon Juliet at a time like this. They say at least for now.

Currently, Anna and Juliet hang out at the Coffee Bean, a table for two. Anna says she wasn't sure if she should come and Juliet jokingly asks if she was swearing off coffee. Juliet asks if the others told Anna about what happened to her. Anna understands that she was some sort of fantasy girl to Juliet. Juliet admits she had a crush on her, but the Arcadium made everything feel so real. She freaked out when she bumped into her for real, but now she has things more under control. Anna asks if they can be friends, and Juliet says she would like to. Just then the Spider-Men call Juliet to step outside with them.

 

Peter introduces Juliet to Morris Bench, Hydro Man, who will help her control her water powers. Juliet says she's not sure she should be training under a super villain. Hydro Man says he asked the same question. Peter says he's got it under control and Hydro Man will be a good help to control one fifth of her powers. Juliet isn't sure she wants to train and even be a super hero. Peter says she doesn't have to be a hero, but she has to at least know how to safely control her powers. Juliet says that makes sense and Anna gives her a thumbs up.

Juliet goes through her forms until she turns into her water form. Hydro Man works with Juliet as they spiral around, using their water forms. Hydro Man says she's catching on quick. Peter is glad this worked out and Miles says he's glad he was wrong on this one. Anna says she's doing amazing. As Juliet turns to see her, she sees that Anna has a girlfriend named Rickie Lund, that shows up and kisses her on the cheek. Juliet gets distracted and crashes into Hydro Man. Both them burst into rainfall hitting the ground as one huge puddle.

 

Juliet and Hydro Man regain their regular forms and Ann asks if she's OK. Juliet says their minds merged and she can see that Hydro Man did some very bad things. Hydro Man feels emotional, having sensed all of Juliet's unrequited passion. He asks to be returned to Ravencroft.

Later on the Fantastic Four arrive, or at least Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm do. Peter asks about the rest, and Johnny says they were busy. Peter says Juliet has four power sets and each of them could have helped with each of them. Johnny isn't sure Ben would help much since he's not actually made of Earth but just looks like 'a pile of crusty old rocks'. Ben gets angry hearing that. Ben and Johnny are about to fight when Max Vinck gets in between them and tells them to not destroy the Coffee Bean. Peter comments that Vinck is brave. Max says he's not brave, he just needs this job.

Likewise at The Bar With No Name, both Electros are about to throw down. Deke, the bartender, tells them not to fight since he has rules. Francine says he has guts. Deke says they just rebuilt the place and he needs this gig.

Peter tells Johnny that he's supposed to be setting an example. Johnny says he brought something more practical for Juliet, and adjustable jumpsuit made of unstable molecules. He explains when she transforms her clothes won't burn up or fall off or anything. Peter and Miles explain that whenever Juliet transforms, it seems her clothes change along with her. Ben is surprised and Johnny says it sounds like magic. Peter and Miles facepalm and forgot to consider that maybe Juliet's powers are just magic. Johnny says while they look into that, he wants to try something.

Later on, we see Johnny as the Human Torch flying alongside Juliet's fire form. Juliet says flying rocks and is enjoying herself. The Spiders swing after them and Peter thinks that Juliet really does look like a superhero and they might have scored a powerful ally. He wonders if she does decide to become a super hero, what would she call herself?

 My thoughts-

I've been enjoying the story so far. Even though this feels more like Juliet's story with the Spiders as side- characters, it is a different perspective and it works in this case. I still find it funny how people in the Marvel Universe are so used to all the weirdness after decades of it, they aren't as phased by things as much as any of us would. Once the initial shock of Juliet's transformations passed, the Coffee Bean crew start theorizing about if she's an Inhuman or something else. Things like how the Terrigen Mist turns people with latent abilities into Inhumans are just common knowledge anymore.

Juliet acts like a relatively relatable character if any of us were to suddenly turn into water and fire and so forth. Her reactions to everything so far, as well as her own emotional hang ups, gets me invested into her story and makes me want to keep to keep turning the page to see how she deals with whatever happens next.

We also get to meet the real Anna, and all things considered, she seems pretty chill and willing to support who is pretty much a total stranger to her. I do have to say, she took the fact that this random person fantasized about her rather well. I guess since Juliet seems harmless it's ok, but I don't see many people having as chill as a reaction as Anna did if they were in a similar situation. She is very empathetic, blaming herself for Juliet's predicament despite the fact that she was, for all intents and purposes, a total stranger. I have to say, what were the odds that Anna was also gay? Sadly for Juliet though, Anna already has a girlfriend. We'll see what further effect Rickie Lund will have on Juliet as well as the rest of the story.

I'm enjoying this series very much and I'm glad it didn't end in issue 7. The Coffee Bean crew is growing on me. I'm also curious to see what happens next, especially once the Electro situation starts to boil over and the Spiders will have to step in.