The Spectacular Spider-Men # 10

 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 named Anna Romney. Upon seeing her face to face, Juliet discovered that she can change in several different forms depending on her emotions. Hydro Man helped her with her water form and The Human Torch helped her with her fire form. Peter wonders what Juliet would call herself if she decides to become a superhero. What will happen next?

"Strange Love- Chapter 3- Elementary, My Dear Spider-Men" opens on the current Wednesday as both Spider-Men (Peter and Miles) are being chased by both Electros (Max and Francine) throughout the city. Francine asks why both Spider-Men are in the same area, and Max asks if they're attached at the hip. Peter and Miles both say 'only on Wednesdays'.

Earlier that Wednesday, Peter and Miles arrive at the Coffee Bean, as Shelly remarks that they're attached at the hip. Kenny says it's too early for Peter's latte, but Miles' drink is set to go. Miles tells Peter to use the pass next time. Shelly asks why they arrived so early and Peter says they both have dates. Miles says they're coffee dates and asks if coffee dates don't count as real dates.

Peter sits with Sally Avril while Miles sits with Kamala Khan. Sally tells Peter that she is not the same person that he went to high school with. She has all her memories and it feels like if was her, but she is actually her clone. Peter says he's fine with her being a clone, and she is surprised since she can barely handle it herself. Sally says her parents, or rather, the original Sally's parents, aren't OK with it. Peter says 'High School Sally' wasn't always nice to his nerdy self back then, but he does like 'Coffee Bean Sally' a lot more. Sally asks if Peter is seeing anyone. Peter says he's seeing a girl name Shay. It's the early days but he should still give her a chance. Sally says if things don't work out with Shay, he should look her up.

Meanwhile Miles is acting nervous around Kamala and is worried she heard anything about the Arcadium. Kamala thinks he's acting weird since she recently died and came back to life. Miles says she can talk to him about anything she wants. She is surprised since everyone gets uncomfortable when she brings it up. Kamala asks if Miles is still seeing Tiana, to which he says he is. Kamala pulls away.

Peter and Miles see Sally and Kamala walk off and discuss how complicated dating is. Just then Adam shows up and introduces Peter and Miles to his new boyfriend and girlfriend. Peter is surprised they're a throuple. Adam says he prefers the term 'triad'. As the trio walk into the coffee shop, Peter gives Miles a look and tells him not to think about it.

We return to the current time as the Electros are still chasing after the Spiders. Peter and Miles hit them with their insulated webbing. This time it has no effect as the Electros have a workaround. The Spiders say they have a workaround for their workaround as they take the fight to them. Max and Francine switch things up and fire electric blasts each others' opponents. As the Spiders fall they both blast them. Francine thought this was a competition and Max says they can keep score card later. Just then someone tells the Spiders to jump out of the way. A big splash of water washes over both Electros.

Earlier that day, Peter and Miles visit the Coffee Bean and see that Sha Shan has been teaching Juliet meditation techniques. Juliet is now able to control her forms at will. She turns from her water form, air form, earth form and then back to a human. She says she won't use her fire form so it doesn't set off the sprinklers. The barista thanks her for this. Juliet decided she doesn't want to be a super hero but she does like having her powers under control so she can stay human all the time. The therapist asks if everyone should form their circle.

Back to the present, both Electros are soaked. The puddle of water forms into a woman. Francine says this only worked because they were caught by surprise. They have also learned to overcome their weakness to water. Both Electros get ready to make things hot enough for the water woman to evaporate. The woman turns into fire and shoots flames at both them, asking them if things are hot enough for them. 

Sometime earlier, Juliet is sitting in the therapy circle telling the others how great a person Anna was, and how she wants to be friends. Adam reminds her that Anna only wants to be friends, and not a girlfriend. Cedric points out that Anna already has a girlfriend. Shelly says they're worried she's falling for Anna again and Kenny says they don't want to see her get hurt. Juliet appreciates their concern but says Anna and her are just friends. Just then a woman named Mia Dimaria steps into the coffee shop. She tells the crew that Doctor Strange sent her.

Back to the fight, the Electros fly away from Juliet, since she wasn't part of their game and return to zapping the Spiders. Juliet turns into stone and forms a stone wall separating the villains from the heroes. She yells out 'Grounded' and says she's still working on her hero banter. Miles says it works for him and Peter says it was perfectly legit quip.

Sometime earlier, Juliet changes into her several forms so Mia can study her. Mia is still new to her magic abilities so she can't get a read on Juliet. Juliet asks how Strange heard of her, and Mia says she heard it from one of the Spider-Men. Peter and Miles show up in costume.

Miles asks Mia what she found out. Mia says Juliet is like her, born with an affinity to magic, especially to the four ancient alchemical elements. Juliet is able to access her transformations without regard to mass or volume. Peter asks how and Mia says she can only guess. She says Juliet might have gone her entire life without knowing about her abilities. The trauma with the Arcadium and her sudden encounter with Anna triggered her latent abilities and there's no going back to normal. Juliet asks how weird her life needs to get.

A police officer runs into the scene and says everyone has to evacuate. When asked what's going on, the officer says some super villains are attacking nearby. Both Spider-Men swing off to investigate. Juliet bites her lip.

Both Electros are blasting each other, but there's nothing neither can do to hurt each other and thus decides to gets to keep the Electro name. The Spiders arrive and comment that they can share the name like they do.This gives the Electros an idea, whichever one of the two that kills a Spider-Man first can claim the Electro name. Peter and Miles don't like the sound of that.

Max calls for Miles, as he's lost to Peter several times already. Francine warns that the smaller Spider-Man has all the extra powers. Max chases after Miles anyway, saying that and arachnid will fry tonight. Francine goes after Peter, who she calls the Original Recipe Spider-man, saying he will be the first to fry.

Back to the present, the Spiders tell Juliet to bring her stone wall down since they're ready to fight. When she makes the wall collapse, the Electros are gone. Peter says she really came through for them. Miles says she went above and beyond since she said she didn't want to be a hero. Juliet says they helped her, so she figures she should help them too. She says it seemed right and was actually kinda fun.

Miles says being a hero can be fun but dangerous. Peter adds it can also be heartbroken. Juliet says her heart's already broken. Peter asks where her mask came from. Juliet says a lot of people know about her powers but she doesn't want to make it too easy for super villains to track her down. She says that Mia put an enchantment on her mask so nobody will recognize her when she wears it. It only works on people who don't already know her identity beforehand. The Spider-Men say if she's going to use a secret identity then she'll need a superhero name. Juliet says she thought of that and tells them to call her Elementary.

Later that Wednesday, Max and Francine explain that they decided to team up at least until they can find the right moment to finish their competition. They have to solve a couple of hero problems first, and they want some help. We see that Max and Francine are talking to Curt Connors....

My Thoughts-

The series continues to be fun and I enjoy seeing the rest of the Coffee Bean crew as well as Peter and Miles' lives outside of being superheroes. So both Peter and Miles had 'coffee dates' that didn't end the way Sally and Kamala would have hoped for seeing as Peter and Miles weren't single. At first I wondered why Peter and Miles even went out with them if they both had girlfriends. I remembered that Sally asked Peter out for coffee when they saw each other at the funeral, and Miles did tell Kamala to check out the Coffee Bean sometime.. so they weren't exactly dates.

Sally Avril had an interesting history. The original Sally Avril wanted to get better pictures of Spider-Man than Peter, and also went out as an inexperienced superhero named Bluebird that would unintentionally get in the way. The original Sally would die during a battle that Spider-Man had with the Black Knight. 

Sally Avril would return as the clone now during the "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" story line. It seems that while many of the clones would die or fall apart, Sally's clone lived on. However she is stuck with the reality of being a clone and all that entails. I'm not sure why she suddenly set her sights on Peter. It might be a way to make up for the how the original Sally treated him in high school. Even though she knows it wasn't her, her memories will still make it feel like that was her.

Interestingly, Sally has appeared in several forms of Spider-Man media. She appeared in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon and had small parts in all three of the MCU Spider-Man movies. She also had a cameo in the Amazing Spider-Man movie. Even though she was only credited as 'hot girl', the novelizations and the actress that played her, Kelsey Chow confirmed that she was supposed to be Sally Avril.

Another thing I didn't know was that Peter has a new girlfriend named Shay. We've seen Miles mention Tiana a few times during this comic run, but this is the first I've heard of Shay. It looks like we really won't be seeing much of Tiana and Shay in this series, as they'll be relegated to Peter and Miles' main comic series. It's a shame though, because I would be curious to see how things would go if Peter did date Sally.

Speaking of dating, I was surprised to see throuples get referenced. I've heard the term here and there, but I didn't know it was mainstream enough to make it into a comic book.

 

The rest of the story was fine as we got to see some action and banter between the Spiders and the Electros. I wonder why Miles hasn't tried his own electric powers on them, but I'd imagine they'd just absorb those kinds of attacks anyway. Mia is a guest star from the comic series G.O.D.S and I like the idea of the enchanted domino mask. Some of the Robins needed something like that to explain why nobody would recognize them as 'Dick or Jason wearing a domino mask'. I do find it funny how nonchalant everyone else at the Coffee Bean and their therapist are regarding one of their friends suddenly being able to turn into water or burst into flames whenever she wants to. But this is the Marvel Universe and I think by now all the regular people are used to superheroes, aliens, monsters, mutants and giant kaiju walk around. Just another Wednesday in New York.

I can't wait to see what will happen next, especially with the Electros trying to recruit the Lizard. I'm not sure how that will work since it seems Curt is trying to live his life and continue being a good guy. How will Max and Francine convince him?