Peter and Miles have fallen at the hands of the two Electros, as has their new super-powered friend, Elementary. With Dr. Connors and the Lizard (now split into two distinct entities) arriving on the scene bearing a grudge against the Electros, it’s down to the spectacular Spider-Men to somehow put down these villains before things turn truly chaotic.
Narratively, The Spectacular Spider-Men #13 is somewhat of a blunder, but first, let’s start with some positives. Emilio Laiso’s art is incredibly clean and dynamic and Edgar Delgado’s color work is really effective, especially in panels that feature the variable lighting cast by the Electros electricity powers. It’s a pretty book with a strong flow that feels kinetic.
There’s also some nice resonance in the doubling up of both the heroes and villains. Two Spider-Men, two Electros, and the Connors/Lizard duo. A big hurdle with a team-up concept like The Spectacular Spider-Men is finding a reason why these two heroes need to work together in the first place (when, historically, they’ve each gotten by just fine on their own), but combining the threats like this is effective.
Marvel
Unfortunately, The Spectacular Spider-Men #13 won’t prove all that memorable, even for fans of the series. The story completely disregards the core appeal of a team-up book like this, relegating the two Spider-Men to background players and instead putting a heavy emphasis on the villains and supporting cast.
While it can be sometimes quite exciting for a story to put aside its main player to focus on something else for an issue, The Spectacular Spider-Men #13 is far too directionless to achieve success in this regard. For starters, there’s nothing emotionally captivating about the Electros. Their argument over which one of them gets to use their moniker is a bit of silly fun, but their realization that they’re in love with each other is groundless and has no impact on the story.
Elementary’s problems are also lacking in weight. She’s after nearly accidentally killing her love interest, and while she is upset, she isn’t nearly the level of devastated or angry that this incident should incite. Writer Greg Weisman introduced the character at the beginning of the series, and while I understand his impetus to spotlight his own creation, the fact that it’s pulling focus from Peter and Miles in order to give us not much in return is a huge problem. There’s nothing wrong with giving a supporting character their own arc, but when it comes at the cost of disregarding the main characters entirely, the story will suffer.
Marvel
The book is, after all, called The Spectacular Spider-Men, but apart from some moments of quippy banter towards the end of the issue, the Spider-Men in question barely make an impact, nor are they challenged in personal or emotional ways by the story’s many villains. This, combined with the issue’s many splash pages (which, admittedly, look very good), makes The Spectacular Spider-Men #13 feel disposable — a quick, action-packed read with about as much narrative depth as a kid smashing her action figures together.
The combination of Peter and Miles is ripe for potential. There’s a great buddy-cop dynamic somewhere in this series that #13 fails to tap into. How do these heroes differ? How do they clash and resolve their differences? What can they learn from each other? At the moment, The Spectacular Spider-Men is interested in none of these questions.
The plot also feels interstitial — a breakdown of how characters go from being in location A to being in location B without much in the way of stakes or tension. The highest point of conflict in the book is the Lizard taking Electro Prime’s arm hostage between his teeth, holding him under the threat of dismemberment unless certain requirements are fulfilled. Does anyone really care if Electro gets his arm bitten off? Electro does, I suppose, but the reader certainly won’t.
The Spectacular Spider-Men #13 makes the mistake of not putting Peter and Miles in the (shared) driver seat. While there’s no benefit in being prescriptive over what the book should be about, there’s no doubt that the story would’ve benefitted from being more concerned with the Spider-Men in question rather than a slew of supporting characters. The art works and the action is fun and dynamic, but overall, the story is forgettable.
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