Miles Morales: Spider-Man #7 // Review
It’s interesting to see the effect that last year’s blockbuster movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has on the Miles Morales character in the comics. Last month’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man #6 featured cover art that was clearly inspired by the look of the film, with its pastel colors and Ben Day dots. This week’s issue #7 includes another cover that clearly homages the film (check out the sound effects towards the bottom), and also redefines Miles’ uncle, Aaron Davis, in his first comics appearance written by someone other than Brian Michael Bendis, as the hip mentor figure that he was in the film.
This issue features four smaller vignettes, each from the perspective of someone different in Miles’ life. The first is told from Aaron’s perspective, as Miles confronts him about a photo of him in his Iron Spider suit found on Tombstone’s desk. The second is told from the standpoint of Lana Baumgartner, aka Bombshell, one of Miles’ crime-fighting allies from the Ultimate Universe, as they stop a giant robot terrorizing Brooklyn. The third vignette centers Miles’ mother Rio, as she and her husband Jeff sit down with Miles to give him a piece of life-changing news, and the fourth is from the perspective of a mysterious new character (who may be a robot?) as it kidnaps Miles.
The first six issues of this series have all been stories told from Miles’ perspective, so it’s exciting to see writer Saladin Ahmed get into the heads of some other characters. He makes all of their voices distinct from each other and from Miles, and this conceit manages to give us insight into other people in Miles’ life while still keeping Miles in the center of his own comic.
Each vignette has its own artist or art team, each with their own style. Penciler Ron Ackins and inker Dexter Vines make the Uncle Aaron sequence look almost like an indie book, focusing Miles and Aaron’s facial expressions and body language. Alitha E. Martinez makes the Bombshell sequence look the most like a traditional superhero book, which is appropriate as it’s really the only big superhero action sequence in the comic. Vanesa R. Del Ray makes the Rio Morales sequence seem gritty and photorealistic, an appropriate choice as it starts with Rio at her job as an ER nurse. The final sequence is drawn by the series’ regular artist Javier Garrón, making it feel almost like returning to the ordinary Miles Morales story after the brief interlude of the other three vignettes. Coloring by David Curiel and Eric Arciniega and lettering by VC’s Corey Petit keep the issue unified.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man continues to be one of Marvel’s best titles right now, and issue #7 is a solid entry that ends with a great cliffhanger. Highly recommended.
