Valentine Special

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Jem and the Holograms Valentine's Day Special 2016
JemCoverValentines2016.jpg
"Valentine Special"
First published February 10, 2016
Written by Kelly Thompson
Art by Jen Bartel
Colors by Paul Reinwand
Letters by Shawn Lee
Edits by John Barber
Chronology Between Rio Pacheco: Boy Reporter and Dark Jem: Part One, presumably after Holiday Special 2015.

Kimber's attempt at easing the tension between The Holograms and Misfits goes awry.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

Having sought out a fortune teller, Kimber is distraught when the results of her tarot reading seem less than positive. Though the fortune teller tries to calm her, she does admit that her results seem to point to an uncertain future, which Kimber is quick to attribute to The Misfits and Pizzazz. Begging the fortune teller for help, the old woman gives Kimber a vial containing a special mixture she’s made that can ease conflicts if consumed after being mixed into a drink. However, as the fortune teller turns her back to get a smaller container and warns that the mixture can serve as an extremely potent love potion in larger doses, Kimber has already left by the time she turns back around!

As she runs into the 5x5 Records lobby, Kimber is chewed out by her sisters for arriving late to their meeting with The Misfits regarding their upcoming tour with them. Inside the conference room, Harcourt warns the bands that she doesn’t want a repeat of all the trouble they got up to during the Misfits VS! competition as Kimber sneakily pours the entire vial into a pitcher of water she brings to the table. Pizzazz begrudgingly accepts Kimber’s offer of a drink but then Jetta also asks for some and before too long, Kimber has given everyone except Jerrica and the Synergy controlled Jem a drink, including herself! True to the fortune teller’s word, as each member of the two bands go their separate ways, they begin to fall wildly in love with the first person or object they see once the potion takes effect!

Realizing her mistake, Kimber decides she needs to find Stormer before either she or her falls in love with someone else. As she rushes to find her girlfriend, Kimber quite literally runs into Rio just as the love potion hits her and professes her undying love to him! Just as she begins trying to kiss him, Jerrica arrives and gets between her sister and boyfriend, demanding to know what’s going on. Once Rio and Jerrica restrain her, Kimber explains what she did to Jerrica's shock. Realizing this must be happening to Aja and Shana too, Jerrica and Rio take off looking for them, leaving Kimber tied up in the back of The Holograms’ van.

First, Rio finds Shana harassing a married hardware store employee who’s more than happy to let Rio take her. Jerrica then finds Aja and Jetta fighting over a ramen chef who was much more receptive to both of their advances. Though she tries to break up the brawl, an evil eyed glare from Aja gets Jerrica to back off and notice Stormer desperately trying to woo a barista across the street! Thinking quickly, Jerrica has Synergy project a hologram of the barista to lure Stormer into the backseat of her car. Jerrica then notices Roxy passionately scarfing down a plate of bagels, barely able to tell that there’s anything different about her behavior. Meeting back up at the van, Jerrica asks for Rio’s help dealing with Aja and Jetta. With those two taken care of, Jerrica and Rio both notice Pizzazz and Eric lovingly holding one another in a coffee shop and agree that they aren’t dealing with that.

After the potion has worn off, Kimber is again thoroughly chewed out by her sisters as they watch a news report explaining away the bands’ behavior as a guerrilla marketing stunt. Kimber tries to defend herself by saying nobody got hurt, though Aja considers having kissed the kind of guy she kissed extremely painful. As punishment, Jerrica puts Kimber on dish washing duty for a month. As Kimber gripes, Aja realizes Shana never said what the love potion made her do and Shana intends to keep it that way.

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes[edit | edit source]

"It's wearing off."
"Yeah. Let us out before we murder Kimber."
"Seriously, Jerrica. My mind is racing about ways I can use the interior of this van to kill Kimber."
"And I've already thought of six ways."

-Shana and Aja are none too happy about their sister's behavior.


"No harm?! I kissed a hipster who makes organic locally sourced vegan soup... for a hobby.
"Well, I had to kiss a boy."

-Aja and Kimber

Notes[edit | edit source]

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

  • Though published after the first issue of the arc, this issue takes place before the events of Dark Jem, with The Misfits/Holograms tour having not yet begun. There is some evidence, however, that at one time this special was meant to tie more directly into that story arc.

Real world references[edit | edit source]

  • The two fans who capture Stormer professing her love for the barista resemble Brock and Misty from the Pokémon franchise.

Notes[edit | edit source]

  • According to it's solicitation, this special was supposed to tie into the Dark Jem story arc that began the previous issue, with The Misfits and Holograms on tour and all the shenanigans with people falling in love resulting from Synergy's glitching rather than a love potion.

Covers (3)[edit | edit source]

  • Regular cover: Jerrica/Jem and Rio, by Sara Richard
  • Valentine's Card cover: A Jem Valentine's Day card with dotted line, by Jen Bartel
  • Fried Pie cover