Miles Morales: Spider-Man vol. 3 — Family Business

In this volume, Miles becomes a brother!  Uh… I mean this in the sense that his sister is born.  Yes, this happened really fast after it was announced that his mom was pregnant in the previous volume.  This may seem like a big issue, but just wait until current writer Saladin Ahmed, or some other writer from Marvel’s stable, shoves the poor girl into a pocket dimension to age her up so that she can go on adventures with Miles as well.

Until that happens, we’ll just have to content ourselves with the title character’s pretty good solo adventures.  There’s nothing in “Family Business” that tops the Assessor story from vol. 2, but it still has its moments.  Particularly in the three-part story at the front of this volume that has Miles tracking down the people behind a new drug on the streets.  The one lead he manages to get leads him into a head-on confrontation with his Uncle Aaron, a.k.a. The Prowler.  It’s a fight based on ideologies, but it doesn’t lead to a permanent falling-out thankfully.  It does lead to a pretty entertaining race for the two to get downtown to safety, and some heartwarming reconciliation at the hospital for the birth of Billie Mariana Morales.

Brotherhood doesn’t immediately change Miles’ life as the next arc brings the Miles “Ultimatum” Morales business that was introduced in the previous volume to the fore.  Miles winds up fighting the (Ultimate) Green Goblin after he goes looking for his lost journal and the villain winds up tracking him back to his school.  It’s a decent enough fight which is more notable for how it puts a pin in the adversarial relationship the title character has with Vice Principal Dutcher, which was a pleasant surprise.  I’m still waiting to be convinced that bringing back the other Miles Morales was a good idea, and this volume mostly punts on that business here.  Even if vol. 3 is slight on any forward momentum for the main plot it has chosen for itself, it still manages to provide some enjoyable stories that show why having an actual family around him is good for this Spider-Man.