Miles Morales. In just a short amount of time he has stepped into the role of Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe without much problem. Well, except for his Mom dying, Galactus coming and killing everyone and his Dad abandoning him. Other than that, no problems. Oh, and the whole being bitten by a radioactive spider, becoming Spider-Man and trying to live up to the legacy of Peter Parker. Geez. This kid must have shoulders made out of adamantium too. That’s a lot to heap on anyone and Miles has taken it all and still manages to be an amazing, no scratch that, the Ultimate Spider-Man!
With issue #1 of the relaunched title, Miles is getting his groove on in the stairwell of Brooklyn Visions Academy with one Katie Bishop. At the same time, one of Peter’s old foes, perhaps his biggest foe of all, is being moved from a S.H.I.E.L.D. security facility. Miles is struggling with a decision and turns to the one person that he knows with experience about it to ask for advice. He then runs into another spectacular guest that will leave everyone amazed until issue #2.
If you’ve been reading Miles’ adventures then you should know what to expect here. Bendis has a firm and controlling grasp on his creation, but I am still surprised by how much Peter is brought up. By now, Miles IS Spider-Man, we don’t have to be convinced that he is worthy anymore. It is time for him to step out of Peter’s shadow and take on the mantle and create his own legacy. Even with the name change on of the book, it still reminds me of Peter Parker: the Spectacular Spider-Man so much that I can’t read it without thinking of that title. Perhaps this is all just setting up for the direction to eventually go that way, but Peter is all over this book.
Marquez is still delivering in every way on art. He took over the old title and it is hard to imagine anyone else drawing Miles now. His facial expressions are amazing and the book just feels alive. His MJ is striking, I mean, she is seriously beautiful. There are a series of panels with her that have me making a mental note to find a way to get him to draw me an MJ someday.
A lot is established and set-up in this issue that will pave the way for the future of the series. Bendis hasn’t missed yet with Miles and I know that the few nitpicks I have will be long forgotten as I get tangled up in the web of Miles’ life. It’s a good time to be a Spider-Man fan with back to back #1 issues of Amazing and Ultimate and a new movie in theaters. I’m a little concerned about the Ultimate universe as a whole with so many changes, but Miles Morales has never looked better.
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