Thoughts, Reactions, and WTFisms: Spider-Man volume 1

Spider-Man: Miles Morales vol. 1
Hi lovelies! So I'm trying this new bi-weekly post (...I hope it's bi-weekly, but we'll see how it goes) called: Thoughts, Reactions, and WTFisms where I'll react to my read-of-the-week. *waits for the interwebs to applaud* No? really? Rude.

Anyway, on this page I'll focus on one comic and share my thoughts and analysis on the book. In all honesty, I tried Jen's Current Reads formula, but it didn't work out for me. I'm just not a speed reader, you guys! >__<

But anyway, for my first book, I'll be reviewing Brian Bendis' Spider-Man: Miles Morales vol. 1, and I'll be following the same rating system that I did over on my Current Reads page. Hold comments and questions for the end :p.

I must admit though that my exposure to Miles Morales has been limited to animated versions of him, so I was excited to pick this title up after Jen recommended it. I was cautiously optimistic, and overall I will admit that I enjoyed the book--that said there is a lot to discuss and plenty of room for improvement.

The teaser at the beginning shows Spider-Man in the middle of a superhero wreck looking noticeably small next to Blackheart, a warrior demon who seems to have downed Hawkeye, Falcoln, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and a few other Avengers. We follow Miles' vantage point as he takes in the scene only to be thrust back to the beginning with Miles at school being rejected by a girl. Miles is having trouble balancing his superhero life with his normal life and the academic demands of his school. He talks with Ganke, clearly the inspiration for Spider-Man: Homecoming's Ned Leeds, and is visibly frustrated. Once in class, Miles can't answer his teacher's question; instead our boy is distracted by the sound of sirens outside the classroom. Y'all know how this goes. Miles leaves the classroom to answer the hero's call, and as a result will have to face adult fury later on in the narrative.

So this page. Omg. This page. Maybe I'm just a fangirl, but I absolutely love the composition of this page! Miles is centered with the siren sounds dividing the panels on the page. Miles is literally caught between two lives: his regular teenagedom and his superhero reality. It's a little on the head, yes, but I really dig it. It's visually compelling while simultaneously comfortably familiar. Props.

So anyway, there's a battle with Blackheart. We get a Peter Parker Spider-Man scene in which he demands to know what Miles did. Miles assures old Spidey that he didn't cause the devastation and destruction, and the two engage in mild banter about the Spider-Man identity. Now I understand that it's basically a genre convention at this point to have the older sage-y superhero bestow the new blood with some pearls of wisdom--that said, I'm not here to read about Peter Parker's Spider-Man, if I were interested in that, then I'd be reading his comics. While this scene helps Miles establish his ethos as a hero and while it was executed a little better than some other books), I felt like conversation dragged a little. It felt more like Peter trying to remind us that he's still relevant--which he is, but we really don't need him to show up in this book to remind us of that fact. That said, the scene offers a bit of humor, which I appreciated. Parker does point out that Miles' suit is torn so I guess this conversation is fine....I guess.

Now the torn suit is important. Someone captures Miles on camera and realizes that the new Spider-Man is a person of color. This leads to an interesting discussion between Ganke and Miles in the book. Miles is bothered by the fact that the internet is going crazy over his complexion while Ganke doesn't see the big deal and points to his own intersectional disadvantages (is that the correct word?) as a source of anxiety.

There’s a sense of competition between Miles and Ganke—a veritable: who’s got it worse? The skinny Blatino kid whose parents are wildly concerned about his grades slipping or the over weight intellectually unimpressive Asian kid whose background we know little about. The candidness of this conversation between two friends is refreshing, but the fact that this honest conversation goes nowhere is an utter and complete let down. It’s like saying it’s important to spread awareness about a disease or a crisis, and then ignoring the purpose of spreading that awareness. Call me old fashion but I believe our fiction is meant to help us strategize and model these conversations so that we have a variety of models to follow in real life. I think this discussion between Miles and Ganke acknowledges intersectional social limits that each character must contend with, but it offers no real consideration for what that means for each individual character. I’m not suggesting that Miles and Ganke solve racism in this conversation, of course, but that this scene is a missed opportunity for audiences to see how people of color have honest discussions about race, body image, and cultural expectations.

That said, the book does its best to acknowledge some of the disadvantages associated with coming of age while simulatenously being a person of colors, but instances like the one mentioned above highlight the writer's limitations in understanding varied experiences. At some point, Goldballs, an X-Men team member, joins Miles and Ganke's school and Ganke straight up betrays Miles' secret identity, which just seems...odd and contrived? Like drama for the sake of drama, if that makes sense? Given Ganke's characterization in the book, I have a hard time believing that he would betray Miles' biggest secret without at least first consulting it with his best friend--like that just seems mean. Other stuff happens, but that scene, in particular, is infuriating. Ganke, thinking that all superheroes belong to the same family is comparable to lumping all minority experiences in one basket and calling them all the same--that's not how it works and it's hugely problematic.


I will say that I found Miles' family compelling, and I'll give props to the writer for capturing some of the conflicts that Miles is forced to contend with--specifically, with his overbearing grandmother, who clearly crosses a few lines. She assures Miles' parents that Miles' grades are slipping because he is on drugs. At the end of the book, we see that the grandmother has hired a private detective to investigate Miles--which we can all agree is a MAJOR invasion of privacy, but not all that surprising. I think a lot of us in minority communities can speak to this constant sense of surveillance that we have to contend with, or is that just me?

I do appreciate that we get this image of a kick ass grandmother who isn't afraid to speak her mind, but who thinks its her place to impose her will and perspective on everyone. Miles' father doesn't agree with his mother-in-law, so we see a little of the tension between the parents on this matter. I do think the depiction of family is a strength of the book. We get to see just how many family voices and opinions that Miles has to appease, and in trying to appease them all, he can't make anyone (including himself) happy.

Overall, I'd recommend the book, if only so that you see a version of Miles Morales. I'll give this book a 3/5. The art and composition of the pages played into the narrative well enough for me to continue the series, so I do hope you'll pick it up.If you've made it all the way down here, thank you for reading. Join me two weeks (hopefully) when I'll be reviewing Tom King's Heroes in Crisis. Until next time lovelies.