In the latest story arc of Spectacular Spider-Men, writer Greg Weisman and artists Andres Genolet and Emilio Laiso introduced a new hero in the form of Elementary, who can manipulate the elements ala Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is a tricky balancing thread to pull off: introducing a new hero in a long-running superhero’s series is commonplace, but you run the risk of the new hero overshadowing the premier hero (or in this case, heroes.) Spectacular Spider-Men #10 ends up falling into that trap halfway through its run.
What’s even weirder is that at first, Elementary doesn’t want to be a hero – she even tells Peter Parker and Miles Morales at first! And yes, she does tell them later on that she felt she had to help them, but it still feels like too abrupt of a change. The issue also teases an appearance of a character from Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti’s G.O.D.S., which more or less amounts to “giving Elementary a magic costume”. (I still recommend reading G.O.D.S.!)
Marvel
Despite Elementary taking up most of the page time, Weisman does feature some great character moments for Peter and Miles, especially during their weekly Wednesday coffee run. Peter runs into his friend Sally Avril (who died and came back to life as a clone because, well, comics) and Miles meets up with Kamala Khan. Weisman gets to showcase how both Spider-Men handle romantic entanglements; Peter is trying to make it work with his new girlfriend Shay, but still wants to be friends with Sally while Miles has issues reconnecting with Kamala due to what he went through in the previous arc. In contrast, Weisman writes Electros Max Dillon and Francine Frye as constantly bickering; killing the Spideys is the only thing they agree on!
The book’s flashback structure continues to work, thanks to Genolet and Laiso. Laiso handles the flashback sequences, continuing to draw in a style that hews close to Humberto Ramos. Genolet handles the current sequences and gets the chance to draw both classic Spider-Man web-slinging action as the Spideys evade the Electros, with some newfangled superpowers once Elementary takes them down. The color work from Delgado highlights the difference between past and present, with Laiso’s artwork having a lighter, sunnier hue and Genolet’s taking on the darker hue of night.
Spectacular Spider-Men #10 excels at introducing a new hero, but it needs to find the balance between Elementary’s origin story and the Spideys’ battle with the Electros. This book has lived up to its promise before, and I know it can do it again.
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