Spider-Man #240 (2016) Review – Javi’s Take

“Well, there’s something I have to do the minute I get out of here. I made a promise.”

The cover headline says it all, “Bendis’ Farewell to Miles”. Does he stick the landing? How do you close out 18 years of story?

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis

ARTIST: Oscar Bazaldua

COLORS: Laura Martin with Matt Milla & Peter Pantazis (For J-Po)

FINAL PAGE ART: Sara Pichelli & Justin Ponsor

LETTERING: VC’s Cory Petit

COVER ART: David Marquez & Justin Ponsor

TITLE PAGE DESIGN: Idette Winecoor

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Kathleen Wisneski

EDITOR: Nick Lowe

Spider-Man Created by STAN LEE AND STEVE DITKO

STORY: Miles comes to in the hospital surrounded by his family and friends. He is admitted for several weeks as doctors and scientists try and cure an infection he has. He finally gets released and goes to the movies with Ganke.

THOUGHTS: Well, 18 years later, here we are. Before unpacking the issue, let’s dish about the cover. David Marquez returns for a special contribution to mark his time with Miles. On one hand, the black is a little bleak for an issue that is bittersweet at most, but the way the cast looks is incredible! I love Spidey being front and center and a mixture of the cast, old and new (looking at you, Judge!) surrounding our hero.

Oscar  Bazaldua is our main artist, as he has been for much of the second half of this volume. He endows Miles with a lot of shocked faces this issue, which is largely without action as Miles spends most of the story in his hospital bed. We do get some examples of dynamic art in the flashback to how our heroes vanquished evil last issue, but that’s it. That may seem like faint praise at best, but I really enjoyed how Bazaldua handled layouts this issue, particularly how he depicted Miles repeatedly going in and out of consciousness, coming to with a new set of visitors each time. My particular favorite was Miles finding Peter, in his classic Spidey duds, sleeping outside his window in a web hammock. There was something about how he depicted Peter’s mask that reminded me of Mark Buckingham’s art back in the day on Peter Parker: Spider-Man. It got me nostalgic.

Of course, the architect of this whole affair is one Brian Michael Bendis. This isn’t his first rodeo closing out a volume of Spider-Man, Ultimate or otherwise. After all that practice, is it his best, though? I think that’s all in the eye of the beholder. If you’re looking for a no holds barred battle royale, it’s not that kind of comic, bruv to paraphrase Kingsman’s Eggsy. This is a relatively quiet affair, celebrating all those (well, most) that Miles has touched. If you’re looking for an action packed finale high on drama, I heartily recommend Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160 featuring the death of Ultimate Peter Parker.

This is a relatively quiet, personal issue, particularly once you get to the end and read the letter from the author himself. It gives a new perspective on the preceding pages, making it even harder to render a critical judgement.

Prior to reading that, I did enjoy this issue quite a bit for what it was. Lana standing up to her mom was excellent and so was Aaron’s visit, revealing that not only did he survive certain death, but Miles’ love has in fact influenced him that he can be better. Could a reformed Prowler be his next guise or will the Iron Spider go hero once again? Will this thread even be picked up by the next team? I’d like to hope so.

I also liked Fabio hanging with The Champions and how his excitement at Miles’ revival caused him to pop out a gold ball. I also noticed he was standing very close to Lana in the room. Lana, for her part, was very grateful to Miles for his inspiration and heroism, but as for a Lana/Fabio romance, the issue is left untouched.

Part of me automatically bristled to see Tony Stark show up at Miles’ bedside to help out, just wanting him to leave this Spider-Man alone, but I can’t fault Bendis for having a character he has been recently associated with show up so he can add him in on the farewell, too (or again as presumably he got to part ways with the character over in the Iron Man title).

If you were wondering how the Danika cliffhanger was going to shake out, you needn’t have worried. Bendis does not blow up Miles’ world on his way out the door. In fact, things work out pretty well for Ganke as now he’s dating her and Miles couldn’t be happier, easily forgiving his friend for blabbing his secret YET AGAIN. That’s a true bro-mance. Miles does ask about Barbara, but nothing is revealed and she’s a no show. Mary Jane or Gwen she is not. At least, not yet. She’s not off the table, though…

Obviously, Rio and Jefferson make several appearances, but thankfully not Gloria. Bendis spares us that. Jefferson comes off a little on the threatening side to Dr. Claire Temple, but she naturally takes it in stride. At the end of the issue, his parents hint at what his future will be and it’s a big one, but left to whomever takes the reins next. However, right now Miles has other things to do than embrace his destiny. His parents, having almost lost their son, are pretty okay with Miles getting back out there. I’m happy to see Rio embrace her family after all the lies that have been between them and that she is fully on the team. Too bad we didn’t get to see more of that before Bendis left, but again, I’m happy he didn’t break things on his way out the door, so I’m not gonna complain that we didn’t get to see more of them as a happy unit.

Sara Pichelli returns for the final page, bringing Miles full circle with his creators. It’s an undeniably happy image, with an older (from when we were introduced to them) Miles and Ganke hanging out and having fun at the movies. I love this image as it highlights a major difference between Peter and Miles-friendship. Yes, Peter has friends, but no one like Ganke. Ganke has been in on it since the beginning, making Miles not an outsider like Peter was at the start. That brotherly dynamic has been key to this series and I’m glad to see the final page focus on this very important, distinguishing aspect. After all the sturm and drang they have endured, Miles and Ganke are still friends, celebrating their relationship. This isn’t Peter and Harry, this is their own thing, one that I hope remains in whatever stories come next for these besties.

Bendis ends an amazing eighteen years not with a whimper, but not with a bang, either. It’s more…quiet celebration that these characters will go on in some form after their creators have moved on to other projects and companies. There have certainly been more spectacular endings and Bendis has missed a landing or two (Ultimate End wasn’t a favorite of mine), but he really hit the sweet spot here for me. It’s hard to get closure when these properties are meant to go on ad infinitum, spinning off into movies, games, and tv shows. Bendis wraps things up, but not too much, leaving the toys in mint condition, ready for the next group of “kids” to play with.

At a time when I could no longer enjoy the 616 comic adventures of Peter Parker, Bendis stepped in and created Miles Morales. It gave me a current Spider-Man to share with my kids at bedtime and they ate it up. To them, Miles is just as much Spider-Man as Peter. I also have a special connection as reviewing Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #3 was the first work I got to do for the Spider-Man Crawlspace. Bendis himself was very gracious as he autographed that issue for me at this past SXSW, even though he was there promoting DC.  I’ve been a big fan of his work since my best friend, Eric, put a copy of Powers #1 in my hands and that got me hooked. Ultimate Spider-Man has certainly been a wild ride, one that I was glad to be on over these last two decades. Miles has come to mean a lot to many people and I would be unable to do it justice with words here. He certainly has detractors, too, but I’ve always found value to his story and a unique voice in the Spider-Verse. Whatever form he takes next it certainly will not be the same without Bendis at the helm and I can’t thank him enough for two decades worth of entertaining stories.

MY GRADE: A-

JAVI’S HUH?: Will we ever find out what Lego creation Ganke made Ultimate Gwen back in Ultimate Spider-Man #200???