Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 1, Amazing Spider-Man 1.1

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 1
Bendis (w) and Marquez (a) and Ponsor (c) and Petit (l)

Miles Morales has been through a lot in a really short time. After the death of his mother, the events of CATACLYSM have left the world without a true superhero team and unsure where they stand. Likewise, Miles has lost seemingly an entire support structure with the destruction of the senior team he was starting to gain acceptance with and the disappearance of his father, who left and hasn't been heard from since discovering his son is Spider-Man. Miles' life is a little in the air as he stays with Ganke and his parents and debates telling his girlfriend Kate Bishop about his double life. Things get more complicated with the emergence of two twin criminals dressed similarly to Spider-Man and with the surprise appearance of none other than possibly Peter Parker in Miles' room.

Story
Bendis is sowing some seeds here as the new series picks up while also making sure to establish the old ones (like how you always establish old seeds). Miles has reached the time where he has to decide whether or not to tell Kate he's Spider-Man and now has to debate everything that comes with that age-old decision (it's a very important time in a young boy's life when he has to decide whether or not to reveal his secret identity). On top of it, we've established a couple new villains (though Miles is dutifully ignoring them right now) and seen a twist at the end. Bendis is setting this one up to welcome in new readers (helped by a pretty neat cover) and kick off a new era in Miles' life. 5/5

Character
We get a decent look at Miles Morales here as he reacts to the disappearance of his father and he tries to figure out what he should do in regards to Kate but there are too many things to set up here to really go deep into character in the first issue of the new series. Marquez helps Bendis out here as he draws plenty of emotions for Miles that give us a sense of him despite space limitations. I'd have liked to see a little more out of him in the first issue here instead of the wavering (which is warranted but doesn't create the strongest first impression). 4/5

Writing
Despite the new villains (who back-and-forth it up) and the last page reveal, this is very clearly more of a resting issue, acting less like a Marvel superhero comic and more like...well, more like ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, I guess. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN won over a lot of fans when it kicked off and continued to surprise because it focused on Peter Parker every bit as much as it focused on Spider-Man. Bendis is sure to kick this new volume off with that same expectation for readers. It moves a bit slower than a purely action-based issue but that's what this book wants. 4/5

Art
Marquez's art really helps the book along, as I mentioned in the character section, by letting us see Miles' emotions in scenes where the space is too limited to really tell us what's going on. His emotions and action are both strong, though we don't see as much of the latter here. Can't complain. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I really like that cover.

Total score: 4/5


Amazing Spider-Man 1.1
Slott (w) and R. Perez (a) and Herring (c) and Eliopoulos w/Caramagna (l)

Flashback to Peter's early Spider-Man days as he flaunts his skills for money to help around the house. He's doing some minor crime fighting on the side but, in the wake of Uncle Ben's death, he feels responsible for bringing in money for the family (not to mention, of course, responsibility over Ben's death). While he tries to navigate the world of entertainment and begins to learn more about power/responsibility (and which must come with which), fellow high school prodigy (though, perhaps, even more prodigious than Peter) Clayton Cole continues to be inspired by the webslinger and develops his own web-tech, eventually donning a costume himself and calling himself Clash.

Story
Continuing on from one of the backing stories to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1, we see a little of Peter's past, a time where he continued to work in the entertainment business to make some more money before being called away to full-time crime fighting (and being a real Peter Parker). On top of it, we see our first glimpse of the new superhero/villain Clash, the brilliant young Clayton Cole in full costume. It's interesting to see Slott go back and retool the history a little bit, tying up some loose ends we didn't really know were there. 5/5

Character
Plenty to see from Peter here as we get the mix of pre- and post-Uncle Ben turning point. He's trying to learn the lessons his uncle taught him while also trying to establish where he'll go next and negotiate it with who he was before. There's a lot happening and a lot for Peter to react to and all of it works at establishing exactly who Peter was at the time. Pretty strong stuff. 5/5

Writing
Mostly strong writing here as Slott has a lot to set up and not a lot of time in which to do it. We get a sense of tons of characters (everyone from Aunt May to Peter to Liz Allan to Flash to Clayton Cole and a few other new characters) and of our entire story. Still, thanks to Slott's writing and the switch to Ramon Perez on art and Ian Herring on colors, the story carries a slightly darker tone than the typical Spider-Man story. Good work all around. 5/5

Art
As I intimated above, Perez and Herring do pretty phenomenal work to create a real tone for the book beyond everything great artists like Humberto Ramos have done with Peter recently. The book ends up having a tone like something illustrated by Francisco Francavilla or colored by Bettie Breitweiser, which is a pretty drastic tone change, certainly enough to show us a big difference between this story and the main series. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Certainly worth a read, even as something labeled as merely a .1.

Total score: 5/5