Miles Morales Spider-Man #10

[Cable]

In this issue Spider-Man does what all the superheroes should probably do: seek some therapy

Full Spoilers:

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Miles Morales is getting ready for the day and his parents tell him to take out the trash. His mind is preoccupied though because today is his first therapy session to help with his out-of-control spider-sense. He webslings over to Misty Knight's empty apartment, puts on his mask, and activates a device. Doc Sasquatch then appears remotely to counsel him. They first go over breathing techniques, and then Miles wonders if lack of focus is his problem. Doc says too much focus might actually be it: that Spider-Man is constantly afraid he won't be able to react quickly enough to save someone and so he is always on alert. He should try learning what threats he needs to deal with now and what are things he can process later and find a healthy balance. He says he is glad that Spidey is letting him and his protege Ms. Kwan offer their counseling, and then the session is done for the day. Miles feels better afterward, though as he webslings away his spider-sense seems to be alerting him all over the place again. It turns out this is because Hightail is zipping around and she confronts him, saying Agent Gao sent her to keep an eye on him. He objects and she says it isn't personal, it is just something she has to do to pay off her jail sentence. And since he is webslinging around in his mask, it clearly seems like he is doing vigilante activity. Morales insists that isn't why he had the mask on, but Hightail says Gao will want to hear about this. He tries to web her up but she is too fast and knocks him on his butt. He tags her with a strand when she has her back turned and says he thinks she is a good person and he doesn't want to fight her. She isn't listening to him and drags him all over, then presents the handcuffs. He uses one last trick: turning invisible. He leaps on a train and loses her. He makes it home, and then remembers he never did take out that garbage. He takes it to the dumpster but then comes under attack by someone. He uses his new venom-sword technique to defend himself, but overdoes it and slices a dude's arm right off. Much to his surprise, the man begins to regenerate...that is until a sword cuts the guy down. The attacker was a vampire, and now standing before Miles happens to be vampire hunters Blade and Bloodline!

I like the concept of the Cape Killers and wish they would be used in other titles too. More could be made of the tension between their anti-vigilante role in NYC and Luke Cage as mayor. In fact Luke Cage as mayor is a criminally underwritten story in the MU right now. But that is a topic for another day. Here Ziglar finally gets around to fleshing out the one original character that he introduced with the Cape Killers. Though still not much more about her except some hints and that she is Dominican. I thought it was odd when Morales said he knows she is good. The only thing he really knows is she hangs out with a bunch of villains because she is serving prison time. It felt like something the author wants us to know rather than an organic line from Miles. Or maybe Ziglar is just showing Morales has a good intuitive sense about people?

Regardless I do like the subtext of this run about how there should not be a stigma for seeking mental health counseling. Even Spider-Man has a therapist!

And that final page sets up a delightful Halloween theme for October's issue!