Miles Morales vol. 1: Straight Out of Brooklyn

This is the first volume of Miles Morales’ solo adventures not to be written by Bendis!  Those of you hoping for a dramatic departure from the kind of stories we got with the character before, however, should check their expectations.  New writer Saladin Ahmed does a good enough job of putting the title character through the traditional Spider-paces. He’s struggling to balance saving people in the city with trying to get enough sleep to make it through a regular schoolday.  Oh, and to try and balance his responsibilities with having an actual social life. There’s no mistaking Miles from being the kind of friendly neighborhood Spider-Man we all know and love, and that’s part of this first volume’s problem.

While I enjoyed the stories Bendis wrote which featured Miles Morales, it never really felt like he was doing anything other than plugging the character into the kind of stories we’d already seen Peter Parker in.  Ahmed continues that trend here as the longer stories have Miles breaking up a gang of mind-controlled kids turned supervillains and teaming up with a new vigilante who has it out for Tombstone. They fit the established “Spider-Man” formula of seeing the hero tackle street-level crime in the neighborhood just fine, but without any real surprises.

There are some twists that give me hope, however.  I liked seeing how Miles worked things out with the Rhino in the first arc, especially after Peter had to leave him out to dry when they teamed up in “Amazing.”  New character Starling has an interesting Black Cat vibe to her even if she’s more ruthless and interested in challenging Miles’ notions regarding his secret identity.  Then there’s the issue in the middle which is a fun riff on “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and features the most inventive spread of the volume from the impressive Javier Garron.  It’s the volume’s final scene which represents the biggest break with established convention and something I hope Ahmed dives more into for vol. 2. “Straight Out of Brooklyn” works well enough, it’s just that I’m still waiting for the definitive Miles Morales story to be told.