Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #3 Review

“They are converging! The Earths are converging! Only one will remain! We’re all %$@$#@!”

 Just as Miles has resolved to tell his girlfriend, Katie, the secret of his double life, the original Spider-Man’s murderer escapes custody. Which event will cause more havoc on Miles’ already complicated life?

 Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: David Marquez

Color: Justin Ponsor

Lettering: VC’s Cory Petit

Cover Art: David Marquez with Justin Ponsor

Variant Cover Artists: Sara Pichelli with Justin Ponsor

Assistant Editor: Emily Shaw

Editor: Mark Paniccia

The Story: Ned Leeds is pitching a story to Jonah about the “Spider-Men” who are running rampant on a crime spree. Ben Urich runs in, announcing that Norman Osborn not only is alive, but on the loose. The NYPD investigation on the “Spider-Men” case gets turned over to former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill. Miles reveals his identity to Katie, who promptly runs away.  Miles then finds out that Norman is alive and heads to Aunt May’s. Osborn turns into the Goblin and kills S.H.I.E.L.D. director Monica Chang and her team. As Miles arrives at a darkened Parker house, he sees a giant fireball crashing down. The Goblin emerges, apparently ready to repeat history by murdering another Spider-Man on that spot.

Thoughts: Bendis’ opening line is “Spider-Men”, effectively recalling the mini-series of the same name and whetting my appetite for news of its sequel. It’s nice to see that the Ultimate version of Jonah’s character continues to develop and that he is staying strong in his loyalty to what Peter has done for him and the city. I like the framed newspaper headline behind him reading “The Spider-Man Menace”, serving as a constant reminder as to what the Bugle was and what Jonah wants it to not be again. 

The Captain Marvel in drag raving about the Earths converging makes me wonder if Bendis is teasing those who think the Ultimate Universe is going to converge with the 616 or if this is an actual case of foreshadowing. Whilst I was ready to write off the Ultimate U some time ago, I no longer feel that way, and hope that this cast gets to continue, not only Miles’ supporting cast, but Ultimate May, Gwen, MJ, and Jonah, too. It would be a shame to lose all that they’ve  built, but the Ultimate Universe has shown no one is too sacred to be spared.

 The officers who have to give Maria Hill what little info they have bear a striking resemblance to the creative team, methinks. I had to Google search a photo of Marquez, but what I found seems to resemble the partner of the detective who looks exactly like Bendis. I wonder if Bendis sent him photo reference? If so, I found it to be a fun little nod.

 Speaking of artist Marquez, he knocks it out of the park on this issue. I never thought anyone could replace Bagley on Ultimate Spider-Man, especially after he was so long associated with it, but when the title relaunched with its new main character, I thought Sara Pichelli was a great replacement. When she gave way to Marquez, he picked up the torch effortlessly, bringing all the expressiveness to the characters that his predecessor did. Look at the layouts to page 5 and 6. So much is in those glances that the characters give the camera and I love how he breaks up the art on panels 3-5 on page 5. Miles is effectively torn in two by Katie and what he is about to say, finally coming together in the last panel as he resolves to share his secret. I’m not sure of his longevity on this title, but I hope any gaps are few and far between. Having read his work also on Comixology’s Guided View, it works very well and comes off very cinematic.

Bendis is his usual Bendis-y self here, lots of wordiness followed by periods where there is not a lot of dialogue and the art tells the story. Whilst we see no forward movement on who the person claiming to be Peter Parker is or where Miles’ father is at, we do get development on the Miles/Katie front. Katie hasn’t had too much screen time as of yet, and she definitely didn’t take the revelation of the dual identity as well as MJ did back in the first series. Hopefully, we’ll see more next issue, but I doubt it, given this issue’s climax. Maybe she and Ganke can have a moment, maybe even with Ganke’s beloved Legos.

 It’s nice to hear Miles’ mutterings in his head as he gets to May’s. I particularly liked Miles ranting about how much he grew dependent on the web shooters in such a short period. It’s something that differentiates him from Peter and as a long time Spider-Fan I take for granted. Seeing him bus surf reminds me of the Amazing Spider-Man issue where Peter had run out of web fluid in suburbia.

 Finally, the writing and art combine in perfect harmony as we lead up to the final splash page as we are reminded that the Goblin killed Peter in front of his very home, a Peter who had web-shooters and far more experience than young Miles. Whilst slightly disappointed that the cover is really the next panel of this issue’s final page and that we have to wait a month to get to this most epic of throw downs, I really enjoyed the issue overall.

My Grade: A-

Javi’s Huh?

-Why are these guys continually referred to or seen as Spider-Men? Outside of having eye lenses on a mask that have a passing similarity to Spidey’s, there is nothing else in the design that screams “spider” to me. Nothing. No-thing. No webs, no spider, not even similar color. Why not be The Ultimate Beetle Bandits or some such? At least some of the characters in the story question this is as well and hopefully this gets wrapped up soon.

 -Why did Norman return to May’s? I’m assuming he read the internet since his incarceration and that if he wanted to call out the new Spidey he could just as easily threaten Times Square as go back to the scene of the crime unless he is counting on a long response time from police out in Forrest Hills? Maybe he developed a Spider-Blood tracker? Or maybe just kill off Aunt May for good measure?

-Does Scooby Doo live in Forest Hills, too? He almost got smooshed by the Goblin’s arrival!

-The Parker home is for sale by Alison Blaire, aka the X-Man Dazzler, who died during Ultimatum #1. Perhaps this is further proof that the earths are converging and a different Dazzler has wound up in the Ultimate U?

P.S. This review written before podcast 318 recorded and DCMarvelFanGuy revealed more about identity of the “Spider-Men” in the replies.