Spider-Man: Miles Morales vol. 4

It’s been great to see Miles Morales become a significant part of the Spider-mythos over the years.  Not only has he been embraced by fans, but he’s also found his way into mainstream culture as well — he’s appearing in the “Spider-Man” game coming out next week and has the lead role in the “Into the Spider-Verse” film hitting theaters later this year.  While I’ve generally enjoyed the adventures his creator, Brian Michael Bendis, has put him through over the years, I don’t think he’s done the character any favors by putting him through many of the same stories that Peter Parker has been through as Spider-Man himself in the past.  As Bendis bids farewell to Miles, he doesn’t do it by delivering a definitive “Miles Morales as Spider-Man” story, but a fun crime caper involving an ersatz “Sinister Six.”

The setup here is that the new Iron Spider has roped in five other supervillains — Sandman, Hobgoblin, Electro, the Spot, and Bombshell(‘s mother who we see being released from prison) —  for the heist of the century. With S.H.I.E.L.D. currently disbanded all of its tech is lying dormant in warehouses across the country. As it so happens, one of these warehouses in New York is currently housing a never-been-used helicarrier.  The Iron Spider has a plan to get this helicarrier and believes that he’s recruited the right people for the job.

Unfortunately his decision to involve Bombshell(‘s mom) introduces a significant wrinkle to this plan.  Because her powers work a lot better when she’s near her daughter, Bombshell the Elder wants to bring Lana in on the job.  Lana wants nothing to do with her mother anymore and asks Miles to back her up when she goes to turn down this offer. This leads to Bombshell v. Bombshell and Iron Spider v. Spider-Man and delivers a big reason for Miles to stop this heist.

The thing is (and this is a minor spoiler for the plot, but it’s impossible to avoid talking about given its significance to the story) that this new Iron Spider is Aaron Davis, career criminal and uncle to Miles Morales.  Readers of Miles’ original “Ultimate Comics” series will also know that Aaron was a thief — the Ultimate Universe’s version of Spider-Man villain Prowler — and Miles’ uncle who died as he died in a fight with the boy after trying to bring him under his control.  While it’s not explained how he wound up alive in this universe it’s safe to assume that the multiversal merge that took place at the end of “Secret Wars,” that also brought back Miles’ mom is the reason for it.

I was prepared to take Bendis’ shaky grip on continuity to task again, until I was reminded that the Prowler in the Marvel Universe is Hobie Brown — not Aaron Davis (Thanks Wikipedia!).  As it is, Aaron’s appearance is more of left-field surprise than anything else. It’s honestly hard to get excited about it because I thought that this character was completely out of Miles’ life for good.  Yes, I know that no one ever really stays dead in comics, but I was at least hoping that the writer who killed Aaron in the first place wasn’t going to reverse himself some years after the fact..

At least Aaron makes for a good ringleader to this particular band of super-criminals.  He’s charming and sinister in equal measure and thankfully not a ruthless psychopath. I actually liked how he tried to talk things out with Miles and even showed him a measure of respect when it came to dealing with the boy’s parents.  More importantly, Aaron’s presence gives this story a personal connection to the title character that helps to raise the stakes of it accordingly. While not at the level of an all-time great tale, the end result is one that’s perfectly fine as far as stories where the main character confronts their most significant antagonist.

The rest of the story plays pretty well when it comes to Bendis’ knack for crafting engaging dialogue and characterization.  Things like the encounter between Miles and Fabio “Goldballs” Medina at the beginning of the volume play out like you’d expect disagreements between guys would.  The members of this new “Sinister Six” also have a decent amount of personality between them all and it actually winds up being kind of fun to watch them bicker at first before coming together to pull off the heist.  Even Bombshell’s Mom, though she’s given a singularly awful portrayal that still winds up being affecting because it’s still feels believable.

Oscar Bazaluda is back as the main artist for this volume and he does more good work here.  He’s great with all of the many conversation scenes between the characters, capturing the details in their body movements and facial expressions that help to sell the content of the dialogue.  Whether it’s casual hangout stuff or exclamations being shouted during fight scenes. Speaking of fights, Bazaluda’s have a great energy to them which is good because this volume has plenty. He may not be sticking with Miles after this, but “Mr. & Mrs. X” will certainly benefit from his work.

The volume ends with Miles in a hospital with a number of encounters that play out like multiple epilogues for Bendis’ run.  I can understand him wanting to cover all the bases here and they wall work to provide a decent amount of closure. Except for the last one which positions Miles for some kind of role in whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. replacement Bendis has left Marvel.  Vagueness doesn’t really work here, which is why it’s nice that the story breaks from this by ending on a full-page illustration from Miles’ co-creator Sara Pichelli showing him having a good time with Ganke. It’s a nice reminder of how the relationship that those two share is one of the core parts of the series.

As for what the future holds for Miles, I guess it’s something to do with international espionage?  I’ve heard worse setups but I’m willing to withold judgement and see where new writers take the character in the future.  While Bendis came up with a great character, the limit of his imagination for Miles’ adventures was essentially to put him through the same paces that Peter Parker went through as Spider-Man all those years ago.  Bendis was at least smart enough to realize this issue, but wasn’t able to really do anything about it in the end. He gave us some good stories featuring Miles Morales, but now I want to see who can take the character to greater heights now that the future of his solo adventures is up for grabs.