Note: This blog post is written for SLIS 672 at IU, Spring 2013
I’m going to preface this post with saying: It’s hard for me to critically analyze something when I really love it. And I LOVED the Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man comics (vol. 1 & 2) that we are reading for class this week. I don’t know if anything else in this class from here on out will be able to live up to these in my opinion.
So here’s where I try to explain why I love these comics so much and I’m sorry in advance for all the fan-girling…
1. The humor. The action is all great and fun, but what makes these comics so stellar is how they balance the action with humor. For example, in vol. 1 when Miles is wearing the Halloween costume of Spider-Man and numerous people remark how wearing the costume is in bad taste. I was actually laughing out loud.
2. The art/ layout. I am far from an expert in comics or in art. So just the fact that I noticed it enough to think about it means something. The variations in the sizes of the panels, overlapping panels, art not in a bordered panel… I just loved all the variety, and I felt it was all really tastefully done. The layout made sense with the action that was happening in the story. It seemed to me like it was a very polished piece of work.
3. Superhero/ villain cameos. Once again, I haven’t read a lot of comics, but I am familiar with a lot of characters through movies as well as from the other Spiderman comics we’ve read for this class (Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection Vol.1 & The Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Masterworks Vol. 1). It was so fun for me to see Nick Fury and Iron Man. And I’m sure for people who are avid comic readers, it’s even more enjoyable because they’d recognize many characters.
4. Family. The supportive loving mother… the father who is a good guy, but doesn’t like superheroes… and then there’s the uncle. The uncle responsible for Miles becoming the new Spider-Man. The uncle with a dark past and unclear motives in the present. The family dynamics in this story are so interesting and drew me in completely.
5. MILES MORALES. I am so satisfied with the new Spider-Man. He is relatable and sweet and so easy to root for. I think he is an amazing character and so worthy of becoming a superhero.
Okay so I could go on about why I love this comic, but I think the above list pretty much sums up the main reasons. Since I loved vol. 1 & 2 so much, of course I immediately looked up information about vol. 3… and found out it’s already out! It collects issues 11-18 and was released in hardcover on January 22nd. I am so excited to get my hands on it. Also, I discovered Spider-Men in which Peter Parker and Miles Morales meet! (“How??” you may ask… well I haven’t read it yet but I guess there’s something about a portal). I’m definitely interested in reading that one as well.
I also really enjoyed the family dynamic. The uncle was probably my favorite character besides Miles just because he does so much changing. It starts off where we kind of get the feeling like he’s a sorta bad guy but not really since it’s so obvious that he loves his nephew. Then all of a sudden, we learn all of this stuff about his past and about his current means of employment and everything changes. The shift of this character from volume 1 to volume 2 was intense and I’m really excited to see where this goes in the future.
I found the first issue to be especially intriguing because I just recently watched the documentary “Waiting for Superman,” where several children who are hoping to get into charter schools (via lottery, just like Miles) are followed and their parents are interviewed about their choice to put their children into a charter school. The public school system took a lot of flak after that documentary came out. After watching “Waiting for Superman,” I was able to understand Miles’s family’s position a bit better.
I agree that Miles Morales is a sweetheart and that the family background and realism aspects are particularly intriguing. I ended up liking Miles a lot more than I liked Peter (not that I DIDN’T like Peter, of course) because of these aspects and because of the relative freshness of his story. Like everyone’s been saying, I’d like to keep reading these to follow the story. And since I can’t afford to buy all of them, this is where libraries (shocker) become super relevant. I wonder if graphic novel selections are so important to libraries because it’s so hard to afford to buy a whole series on your own, especially as a kid?
Even though I’ve seen a couple of the movies and used to watch the Saturday morning Spider-man cartoons, I just don’t have a very detailed knowledge of who’s who and what the backgrounds of each character mean to the current story. So I’ve found reading all these different versions of Spider-man pretty confusing and not always very fun. I agree that Miles is a breath of fresh air. He actually has parents who are alive and love him, which seems to be a rarity in superhero comics. It’s nice that his real life persona away from being Spider-man is a more average kid, he’s not a super genius, he’s not super rich, and he’s not super moral. A lot more relatable than Peter Parker/Spider-man, Bruce Wayne/Batman, or Clark Kent/Superman.
Jenn:
Great list of here. I was one of those who felt that it was disrespectful when Miles wore the Halloween costume. But I also think that comes with the writing, urging me to feel that way. While I like Miles and hope his begins to add more to the Ultimate universe, both in issues and proactive commentary, I’m still, after two years, mourning for Peter Parker. I see the humor with Miles and I think of Peter. I see Miles’ mom and dad and I think Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I see Ganke and I think how Peter was so alone – a barrier between him and his friend (Mary Jane and Harry). Miles is haunted by readers (or at least reader – me) comparing and contrasting him. Perhaps Miles’ most difficult task is not defeating some villain or saving someone from a burning building, but to live up to Peter as Spider-man – not to those in his world alone but to us.
-Mike