In this review of The Spectacular Spider-Men #9, Peter, Miles, and the folks from the Coffee Bean face the fallout from the last story arc.
THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN #9
Written by: Greg Weisman
Art and Main Cover by: Emilio Laiso
Variant Covers: Dave Johnson, Josemaria Casanovas
Page Count: 21 pages
Release Date: November 13, 2024
This Review Contains Spoilers
After collapsing into a puddle in the last issue, it’s discovered that not only is Juliet okay, but her body can turn into all four elements. She can’t control it well, and every time her emotions shift, she changes elements, struggling to change herself back into her regular body. After calling in Viv Vision, Sophie Cuckoo, Ms. Marvel, and Prodigy to ensure that Juliet is not a mutant, clone, or robot, it’s decided that she needs training.
Hydro-Man is called in to teach Juliet to control her water form, and all is going well until their water mixes, and they take on some of each other’s memories. Hydro-Man requests to be returned to Ravencroft. The Human Torch and The Thing arrive later to teach Juliet to control her Fire and Earth forms, and she flies off the Human Torch to begin her training with him.
Meanwhile, Max Dillon confronts Francine Frye in a bar about using the Electro name, but a bartender stops them before they break out into a full-blown fight, marking the last we see of them for the rest of the Issue.
Analysis
The cover of The Spectacular Spider-Men #9 is excellent. Peter and Miles’ pose is dynamic, with the moon, night sky, and lit-up skyscrapers framing the background. My favorite part is the closeup of the web shooting out of Miles’ wrist. There is also a moment right at the beginning where Peter looks at the puddle that Juliet has turned into and is posed, kneeling just like he would be climbing up a wall like Spider-Man. I thought it was a funny visual moment, showing that, in his shock, the line between Peter and his secret identity had blurred.
Another thing I liked is the different forms of Juliet. Each one is unique, with varying patterns based on the elemental form, but it’s still easy to identify who it is and what’s happening to her. The only real negative is that most of the events of the issue occur at the coffee shop, which makes the backgrounds very repetitive. Still, so many people enter the story throughout the issue that it’s not very noticeable.
The story for The Spectacular Spider-Men #9 is mostly set up, but it doesn’t seem like we have gotten any closer to the main conflict. Other than the two Electros fighting, there aren’t any big supervillain appearances. Many superheroes appear, including Ms. Marvel. I was curious to see if she and Miles would have any conversation about his fantasy in the Arcadium, but they don’t speak at all other than inviting her to join him at the coffee shop. And after just a few panels, most of them disappear for the rest of the story.
There was a lot of good humor in this issue. The writing was fun but natural. It finally felt like Juliet got some real closure, and seeing her with Hyrdo-Man and The Human Torch was undeniably cool. Even so, I can’t help but wonder if it was necessary to spend the entire issue with that as the focus. I’m curious to see if the heroes assembled to help with Juliet’s power problem will be regular cameos for the rest of this arc. Otherwise, it felt like too long of a sequence.
Final Thoughts:
The Spectacular Spider-Men #9 had a good story and nice art, but the rest of the arc will have to work hard to make the time spent on this part of the story worthwhile.
Editor’s Note: Marvel Comics provided The Comic Book Spot with an advanced copy of The Spectacular Spider-Men #9 for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support us in the process by ordering this issue digitally on Amazon.
