"Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Sitting in a Tree"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Sitting in a Tree” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Miles Morales was having difficulty with his dual life as both a student at Brooklyn Visions Academy in New York and as the superhero Spider-Man. He couldn’t keep a date and his grades were slipping. Miles didn’t have a lot of people he could confide in about his secret identity, just his best friend Ganke Lee, his father Jefferson Davis, and a few of his fellow superheroes. Miles’ declining grades were becoming a concern to Miles’ mother, Rio Morales, who was becoming suspicious that something was going on in her son’s life. Blackheart, Prince of the Underworld, came to Earth, intent on laying claim to it. The Avengers all fell in battle with the demon. Miles left school to fight the demon. Miles chased off Blackheart and was left standing alone over the defeated Avengers. Peter Parker/the Amazing Spider-Man found the scene and misread the situation. Peter expressed he wished to rethink giving Miles Peter’s blessing for Miles to go by the name “Spider-Man.” Blackheart returned and knocked Peter unconscious. Miles then fought and defeated Blackheart singlehandedly. The revived Avengers kept the cops from apprehending Miles, and Peter gave Miles Peter’s renewed blessing for Miles to be Spider-Man. Miles went to his parents’ house to find that Rio had called Miles’ grandmother Gloria to straighten Miles out. Gloria confiscated Miles’ phone, saying Miles could have it back when Miles earned it. Miles’ friend and fellow teenage superhero Lane Baumgartner/Bombshell came to visit Miles, but Gloria turned her away, convinced her presence there involved illegal substances. Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, concerned that Miles missed a meeting with their superhero team the Champions, came to visit Miles, and was almost caught by Gloria. Felicia Hardy/Black Cat, looking the secure her place as a leading crime boss, formed an alliance with fellow New York crime boss Hammerhead to go eliminate the new Spider-Man. Brooklyn Visions Academy welcomed a new student, former X-Men trainee Fabio Medina/Goldballs. Ganke was a huge fan of Goldballs, and Ganke told Fabio that Miles was Spider-Man, hoping to build a bridge between Miles and Fabio. This angered Miles, and Miles left to go web-swinging. Ganke invited Fabio to room with Miles and Ganke, and Fabio accepted. Black Cat and Hammerhead sent missiles after Miles and shot Miles down, then kidnapped Miles. Gloria, determined to find out Miles’ secret, hired private investigator Jessica Jones to investigate Gloria’s grandson. Black Cat and Hammerhead tried to learn Miles’ secret identity by scanning his fingerprints but were unable to due to S.H.I.E.L.D. placing a restriction on Miles’ personal information in case anyone was to ever try to identify Miles in exactly such a way. Miles broke loose from being tied up and took down and webbed up Hammerhead and left Hammerhead for the police, but Black Cat escaped. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill talked Jefferson into returning to his position as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

            Tony Stark/Iron Man called Miles to talk to him about Ulysses, a newly emerged Inhuman with the ability to allow people to view a potential future. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel wanted to use Ulysses’ power to take action to prevent crimes from happening, which Tony viewed as profiling, something that Miles sympathized with. Rio went to Jessica Jones, feeling that Gloria had gone too far by hiring a private investigator to follow Miles, and offered to pay Jessica to give up the investigation, but Jessica refused, saying she would only give up the investigation if Gloria called it off. Ulysses showed a vision of Bruce Banner/Hulk losing control and killing all the superheroes. Jessica Jones and her husband Luke Cage came to Miles to tell Miles that Jessica had figured out Miles was Spider-Man, but as a profession courtesy would not tell Gloria, but did tell Miles that Miles needed to be more careful with guarding Miles’ secret identity because Jessica had a very easy time figuring it out, and if Jessica could find out this easily, the wrong person could do so as well. Miles was called to the Triskelion with a gathering of superheroes by Captain Marvel to confront Bruce Banner. On the mission, Clint Barton/Hawkeye put Banner down. Ulysses had a vision of Miles killing Steve Rogers/Captain America on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Intent on proving this vision would not come to pass, Miles hopped a train to Washington, D.C. Miles’ teammates in the Champions Ms. Marvel and Sam Alexander/Nova came to Miles’ parents’ apartment looking for Miles and ran into Jefferson. Ms. Marvel and Nova informed Jefferson that Miles was missing. Goldballs went to Bombshell, concerned about Miles, but Bombshell told Goldballs that Bombshell was not worried about Miles. Ganke went to Spider-Man obsessed social media poster Danika Hart to inform Danika that Spider-Man was missing, hoping Danika’s influence could help locate Spider-Man. Jefferson went to Maria Hill to ask Hill about Miles’ location, worried that Hill may have already arrested Miles, but Hill informed Jefferson that Hill did not know where Miles was. After the climax of the second superhuman Civil War, Miles returned to Brooklyn Visions Academy and relayed the events of the final confrontation to Ganke, Fabio and Ms. Marvel.

            Hill called Jefferson in for a simulated S.H.I.E.L.D. test to see if Jefferson had the resolve to go back in the field. Jefferson passed, and Hill sent Jefferson on a real mission. Rio, concerned when Jefferson did not return home, called Miles to share her fears.

            Hill contacted Miles to tell Miles that Jefferson had been sent on an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. operation to obtain a piece of tech that allowed travel between dimensions but was now missing in another dimension. Hill told Miles that Hill needed Miles to rescue Jefferson because the mission Hill had sent Jefferson on was unsanctioned and Hill could not send any S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives because of this fact. Hill gave Miles a dimensional transporter that would get Miles to the dimension that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s science division last tracked Jefferson’s location to. Miles traveled to that dimension and ran into that dimension’s version of the supervillain the Ringer. Miles defeated the ringer and ran into that universe’s Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman, whom he had previously met in another interdimensional crisis. Miles told Gwen his situation. Miles and Gwen were confronted by Matt Murdock/Kingpin and the Hand. Murdock had been supplying Gwen with the serum that gave Gwen spider powers, courtesy of the evil organization S.I.L.K. Murdock told Miles and Gwen that Jefferson was causing problems for S.I.L.K., which also caused problems for Murdock and gave Gwen a VIP pass to Club Scorpion where Jefferson was known to be, instructing Miles and Gwen to bring Jefferson to Murdock. Gwen went to Club Scorpion, where an auction for the tech that former head of S.I.L.K. Cindy Moon had stolen when she traveled to another dimension. Gwen was recognized at the auction and was attacked. Miles came to Gwen’s rescue, and ran into this dimension’s version of Jefferson Davis, who was the crime boss called Scorpion. Miles called Scorpion “dad,” but Scorpion did not acknowledge Miles as Scorpion’s son and attacked Miles. Miles and Gwen defeated Scorpion and webbed Scorpion up. The police arrived and arrested Scorpion. Miles tried to go back for his father, but Gwen webbed Miles up. The cops came after Miles and Gwen, and Gwen activated Miles’ dimensional teleporter to travel to another dimension to escape the cops, then return back to Gwen’s dimension in a safe location. Miles got a signal of his dimensional transporter to return to origin point, so Miles and Gwen traveled back to Miles’ universe. Peter Parker had already webbed up a group of S.I.L.K. agents who had been attempting to steal batteries for Scorpion. Miles and Gwen came across the S.I.L.K. agents, who suddenly teleported away. Scorpion was trying to make his own teleportation technology and used it to help his agents escape and needed the batteries for Scorpion’s device. Scorpion was enraged his agents failed to obtain the batteries and sent another group to steal batteries. Miles gave his dimensional teleporter to Gwen and followed the S.I.L.K. agents through their portal, telling Gwen to follow Miles using Miles’ teleporter. Miles fought Scorpion until Gwen arrived, and Miles and Gwen were sucked through a portal. Miles and Gwen traveled through several more universes together, until they were separated. Miles arrived in Gwen’s universe, where he found his father. Gwen arrived in a universe where Gwen and Miles had been married for twenty years and had two children, Max and Charlotte, who were being babysat by Peter Porker/Spider-Ham while Miles and Gwen were celebrating their anniversary by going on a second honeymoon. Gwen had to return to her universe to have the ultimate team-up to stop Scorpion, save the multiverse, and help Miles rescue Jefferson. Miles and Gwen then had to decide where they wanted to take their relationship, seeing that there was a potential future for Miles and Gwen as a couple.

            Okay, we have the plot synopsis out of the way, let’s get on with my own individual bits of this review. We’re going to start with, as we always do, my personal opinions about this graphic novel. First off, let’s talk about the stories. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories in this book. As many of my regular readers know, I am a huge fan of the work of Brian Michael Bendis, and I feel like he was once again on the ball with writing these stories. I also enjoyed Jason Latour’s work in the Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen crossover. I will address some of my highlights from this collection. I loved Gloria, the nightmare grandmother. I actually thought she was the greatest villain in the whole book. Gloria’s extreme tough love that went too far could have been a true threat, and I like the resolve of how Jessica Jones extended Miles the professional courtesy of not ratting him out. I liked the addition of Goldballs to the cast. Ganke wanting to unite his two heroes by outing Miles was not well thought out, but it did give Miles a new confidante, so it balanced out in the end. Black Cat is one of my favorite Spider-Man costars, and her first meeting with Miles was entertaining. I enjoyed the “Civil War II” storyline with Miles trying to disprove Ulysses’ power. I loved that Miles’ father was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. And I loved the titular “Sitting in a Tree” story arc Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen crossover. Some of my longtime readers may recall seeing this story reviewed in “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice” a couple of years back, although admittedly I didn’t go into as much detail back then, and also back then I wasn’t as big a fan of it, possibly due to not having the same context then as I do now, because two years ago, I had not read the Spider-Man issues leading up to this storyline, so I didn’t have the same details then as I do now, so now that I know both sides of the story, I think I appreciate it better. Oftentimes when I revisit stories after a great length of time, I find my opinions on them change, and it’s been over two years since the release of “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice” and almost a year since the last time I visited this story, so that’s plenty of time for opinions to vary. Next up to discuss my opinions on is the artwork. I will say I enjoyed the majority of the artwork in this collection. My dislike comes from the three “Spider-Gwen” issues illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez. For the rest of the book, the artwork was adequate. It wasn’t the best artwork I’ve ever seen in a comic book, but it wasn’t visually off-putting and was still tolerable to the eyes. Next, I have to talk about my opinion on the title. Yes, for those of you who have never read one of my reviews before. I critique the title and cover and how appropriate it is for the collection. There were really only two obvious choices, “Civil War II” or “Sitting in a Tree,” and “Sitting in a Tree” was the only storyline in this entire volume given a title, so it seemed like the only real option. This storyline also took up six issues, which was over a third of the book. Given these facts, I won’t dispute “Sitting in a Tree” as an adequate title for this collection. However, I do find fault with the cover. The cover features Miles Morales/Spider-Man in the foreground, with an assortment of other superheroes in the background, including Iron Man, Captain Marvel, both Captains America, Thor, Ms. Marvel, Quicksilver, Deadpool, Medusa, and Spider-Woman. While most of these characters don’t play a significant role in the stories, some don’t even grace these pages at all. Therefore, I do not feel this cover delivers on what it depicts and cannot say it was a good choice for this collection. That said, I have more of a positive opinion of this book.

            Our next topic of discussion is accessibility. Some of you newbs who have never read one of my reviews before may be wondering what exactly do I mean by the word “accessibility?” I’ve explained this to my readers over seven dozen times by this point, but I shall do it once again because of said newbs who don’t know what I mean by my usage of the word “accessibility” in application to a graphic novel. Simply put, accessibility is how easy it is for someone who knows nothing about the source material (Miles Morales, Spider-Man, and Marvel in general) to obtain this book, read the book from cover to cover, and comprehend everything they have just consumed. This book is not easily accessible. There are a few things about this book that cause this. This volume is marketed as Vol. 4, but it is the first volume to take place in the 616 Marvel Universe, whereas the previous three volumes took place in the 1610 Ultimate Universe. However, this book ties in to “Civil War II,” a major event at the time, and has issues from a crossover with “Spider-Gwen,” a whole separate ongoing series. These require extensive outside knowledge of Marvel Comics outside what is just contained within these pages to understand the event, and the crossover expects knowledge of Spider-Gwen’s stories as well as Miles,’ which makes this book highly inaccessible. If you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before and are looking for a place to start, I would very much not recommend this volume as your first introduction into the Marvel Comics universe.

            It’s about time we moved on to one of the most essential segments of a Tim Cubbin review: the numeric score. I know this is not the only reason people come to read my reviews, but it is a very important part of my reviews to feature as it illustrates exactly how good I think what I am reviewing is. I’ll start off by explaining the system I use when I score media. It’s a fairly simple scale, exact whole numbers ranging from one through ten. One is my lowest score, and that means that this book is one of the worst things I have ever read and that this book deserves to be removed from circulation and never reprinted so no one else can purchase this atrocity and suffer the way I suffered by spending the money I did purchasing and reading this book. Ten, on the other hand, is my highest score, and that means that this is one of the best things I’ve ever read and if it’s not a comic bestseller, I will never understand that. I only give a book a ten if I feel like it is absolutely perfect. I can find no flaws in the story, no complaints in the art, and the title and cover fit the book adequately. So, when we take all my opinions about this book into consideration, the score I am going to give this book is… an eight! While I loved the story, there were a few issues where the artwork was not visually pleasing, and the cover just did not deliver on the prospect of what it depicted actually happening inside the pages of this book. Still, I genuinely found reading this book to be an enjoyable experience.

            Moving on, the next segment is the recommendation segment. This segment focuses on two major points, answering two key questions. The first question is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my readers? The second question is, regardless of if I would recommend this book to you or not, who is the best audience, and this goes beyond fans of Marvel, Miles Morales, Spider-Man, or the creators, I mean what qualities, characteristics, values, interests or types of readers would find this book to be interesting? In answer to the first question, yes, I absolutely recommend this book. If you’re reading this review and now, based solely on the words you’ve spent the past few minutes reading, you want to read this book, I would now tell you to hop onto your favorite online retailer, or head to your local bookstore, comic shop, or library, or try to find a friend or family member with this book, just somehow get your hands on a copy of this book and give it a read. I think if you enjoyed reading my words, you’ll enjoy reading the book even more. As for the best audiences for this book, Miles is African American and Latino, so those demographics can find Miles to be a relatable character. Also, Miles is a teenager, so that’s another demographic that might see themselves in Miles. This book may also be interesting to readers who enjoy spy/espionage stories. This book may be appealing to readers who like stories about interdimensional travel and alternate universes. This book could hold the interest of readers who enjoy stories about prophecies or predicting the future. And this is a book that might appeal to readers who enjoy stories where heroes fight other heroes.

            Okay, we’re nearing the end of this review. There are a bunch of more things I have to say before I hit publish. If you have more time right now, or if you want to come back another time, feel free to keep exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com for more of my posts. I am nearing the six-year anniversary of starting this blog. This is also my 200^th post. This blog features several types of content, including short stories, poems, essays, articles, editorials, and over nine dozen reviews. These reviews include prose novels, manga, graphic novels, comic events, and over seven dozen other Epic Collection reviews. The current focus of this blog is to review Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase all of these said graphic novels as soon as I can after they are published and at my earliest availability, I post a review on this blog. Since I do this, I post on a very frequent basis, at least once every two months. If you enjoyed reading this particular review and want more similar content, feel free to search for my posts “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training” “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Spider-Man No More” and “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Revivals and Revelations” for more Miles Morales content. As a heads-up, I’m announcing that my next post is going to be “The Ultimates: Gods and Monsters” which you can expect to see within the next three weeks following the posting of this review. I will tell you that I love doing this blog and will keep doing it for as long as I can, so don’t expect this to be done anytime soon. That’s really all I have to say for now. Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Revivals and Revelations"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Revivals and Revelations” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            After taking a year off to mourn the death of his mother, Miles Morales/Spider-Man found himself teamed up with the Ultimates’ Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman and new heroes Tyrone Johnson/Cloak, Tandy Bowen/Dagger, and Lana Baumgartner/Bombshell to shut down the evil Roxxon Corporation. Meanwhile, on another Earth in another dimension, a massive amount of time-travel abuses among the super-hero community created a series of rips in the space-time continuum that wreaked havoc across the galaxy. One such rip dropped into this universe a cosmic force, known only as Galactus, with a carnal appetite for entire worlds.

            Spider-Woman, after afraid of losing her position on the Ultimates, requested S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Monica Chang place her in charge of an investigation into the surviving Roxxon genetic experiments other than Cloak, Dagger, and Bombshell. Bombshell’s parole officer threatened her with jail time for using her powers as it violated the rules of her probation. Miles found out that some members of the NYPD were happy Spider-Man was back in action. Cloak brought Dagger to her old home, only to find it abandoned. Frustrated and wanting a big bad guy to hit, Cloak and Dagger witnessed the appearance of Galactus in New Jersey, which Galactus then proceeded to wipe off the map, but Cloak and Dagger discovered they were no match for Galactus. Spider-Man teamed up with the Ultimates to try to save as many people in New York as possible. Bombshell witnessed the carnage being caused by Galactus and decided to try her hand at being a superhero. Cloak and Dagger joined the rescue effort. Spider-Man found his father Jefferson Davis looking for his son and unmasked to his father. Jefferson then blamed Miles for the death of both Jefferson’s brother Aaron Davis/Prowler and Miles’ mother Rio Morales. Miles told his father to hide and that Miles would come back. Spider-Man found a crashed plane, carrying a surviving J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle and thebugle.com. As the heroes struggled to save lives, Jameson promised to change their lives. Miles returned home, looking for his father, but Jefferson was nowhere to be found. Miles was contacted by Steve Rogers/Captain America, who asked for Spider-Man’s help stopping Galactus.

            To commemorate the second anniversary of the untimely passing of Peter Parker, Peter’s Aunt May Parker and confidante Gwen Stacy hosted a small get-together at their house to celebrate Peter’s life. Miles was invited and brought his best friend Ganke Lee along as his plus one. Those in attendance at the get-together were Peter’s girlfriend Mary Jane Watson, Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, Lana Baumgartner/Bombshell, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Bobby Drake/Iceman, Liz Allan/Firestar, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Kenny “Kong” McFarlane. J. Jonah Jameson was invited, but he decided not to leave his limousine, and Tony Stark/Iron Man was unable to attend, but he sent catering from chef Chester Cebulski. Ganke brought Gwen a gift he made from Legos, which Miles feared would scare Gwen away, but which instead earned Ganke a kiss from Gwen. The guests discussed what they thought Peter’s life would turn out to be like should he have lived. Gwen decided to honor Peter that the party should do something nice, so the guests brought the catering to Queen’s Mission to offer food and comfort to the poor, homeless, and hungry. As the guests dispersed from May’s house, someone was watching from the bushes.

            Following the shut down of S.H.I.E.L.D., Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, who was believed dead and was being held in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, was to be transferred to federal prison. Burglars who came to be called the “Spider-Man Twins” began a crime spree. While being transferred, Osborn escaped custody as the Green Goblin. Miles consulted Mary Jane as Miles considered telling his girlfriend Katie Bishop that Miles was Spider-Man, asking how long Mary Jane knew Peter was Spider-Man and what Mary Jane’s relationship with Peter was like. Miles went to his father’s apartment to check if Jefferson had returned and instead found Peter Parker searching through the apartment. Peter wanted his web-shooters back, which May had gifted to Miles after Miles took up the mantle of Spider-Man after Peter’s death. Miles wanted Peter to tell May that Peter was alive. Peter knocked Miles unconscious and took back the web-shooters. Miles believed this Peter Parker to be a clone and went to Ganke with Miles’s suspicions. Ned Leeds came to Jameson with intentions to run a story on the Spider-Men, but Jameson refused to publish it. Reporter Ben Urich arrived with the story of Norman Osborn being alive and on the loose, which Jameson decided to go along with. A security guard attacked by the Spider-Men died in the ER, and homicide detective Maria Hill was put in charge of the case. Hill was already aware that Miles was Spider-Man. Miles confessed to Katie that he was Spider-Man. Her reaction was to run away from him. Hill arrived and asked Miles to get in the car with her, but Miles pulled a disappearing act. After Hill left, Miles and Ganke read Urich’s story about Norman Osborn. Miles decided to go to the last place Norman Osborn was seen alive: in front of Peter Parker’s house. Monica Chang led a unit into Osborn Industries to look for Norman Osborn, but the unit did not survive their encounter with the Green Goblin. Miles went to Peter Parker’s house, where he was confronted by the Green Goblin. Katie confessed to her sister Misha that Miles was Spider-Man. Miles fought the Green Goblin and was joined in the fight by Peter Parker. The media witnessed the arrival of Peter Parker, and May immediately knew this was the real Peter Parker by watching the news footage. Miles used his venom blast on the Green Goblin, who then fled from the two Spider-Men, who were then confronted by the police. During Miles and Peter’s escape, Miles was grazed in the leg by a police bullet. Miles was discovered by Maria Hill, who Miles got in the car with. The Spider-Man Twins decided to take advantage of the return of Peter Parker. Hill helped Miles treat his wound. Osborn went to Jameson to confess his story. Osborn had a theory that because of the Oz formula in their blood, Osborn and Peter were unable to die. Jameson attempted to end Osborn but only ended up meeting his own demise. Miles and Hill went to Mary Jane’s house, where they learned she had been helping hide the fact that Peter Parker was alive. May and Gwen arrived and reunited with Peter. The Green Goblin also arrived in front of Mary Jane’s house. Miles fought and defeated the Green Goblin with his venom blast. Osborn taunted Miles, saying Osborn had information about Miles’ father before turning back into the Green Goblin. Miles and Peter fought the Green Goblin again, and Hill joined in to make sure Norman Osborn would never menace the world again. Peter returned the web-shooters to Miles and gave Miles his blessing to be Spider-Man, but decided he had to leave for the safety of his family and friends, and Peter and Mary Jane drove off together. Miles returned to Brooklyn Visions Academy, where he was woken up by Ganke, who informed Miles that Miles had a visitor: Miles’ father. Jefferson revealed to Miles that twenty-five years ago, Jefferson had gone undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D., working to bring down Wilson Fisk/Kingpin from inside Fisk’s own organization and the reason he left Miles was because Jefferson didn’t feel worthy enough, and Jefferson and Miles reunited as father and son. Miles found Max Dillon/Electro and Victor Creed/Sabretooth engaged in a fight. He tried to let them defeat each other, until innocent lives were threatened, and he joined in the fight. Miles was aided in the fight by Cloak and Dagger, and the trio were able to defeat the supervillains. Miles went to Katie’s house to try to talk to Katie and was greeted by Katie’s father. Misha had revealed to her father that Miles was Spider-Man. Katie’s father drugged Miles. The Spider-Man Twins robbed a top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse. They were confronted by Jessica Drew/Black Widow, but the Twins were able to defeat Black Widow. Miles’ father attempted to contact Miles but was unsuccessful. Ganke and Miles’ roommate Judge revealed to Ganke that Judge knew Miles was Spider-Man. Miles woke up in a Hydra facility. Katie’s parents were agents of Hydra, and she was born into the organization. Hydra agents also abducted Jefferson and Ganke. Miles tried to escape but was blackmailed with Jefferson and Ganke’s lives. Judge was sent to look for Miles and Ganke and discovered their room was trashed. Victor Van Damme/Doctor Doom was in the process of making a merger with Hydra and arrived at the Hydra facility. Doom wanted to learn how to duplicate Miles and Jessica’s powers, make an army of super-soldiers with spider powers, then dispose of Miles and Jessica. Judge went to Miles’ father’s apartment to search for Miles and was greeted by Cloak and Dagger, who were also looking for Miles. Judge, Cloak and Dagger contacted Bombshell and Kitty Pryde, and the group recruited Maria Hill and Brooklyn Police Department Captain Frank Quaid to rescue Miles. As the group tried to make their escape, they witnessed their world about to come to an end.

            Okay, now that we’ve gotten that rather lengthy summary out of the way, let’s move on to my part of this review. We’re going to start, as always, with my own personal opinions on the book. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. As some of my longtime readers may know, one of my favorite comic book writers is Brian Michael Bendis, I usually love reading his work, and this time, he did not disappoint me. I do, however, have a major complaint with the “Cataclysm” storyline. As some of my longtime readers may know, Epic Collections do not actually contain the main issues of an event, rather they collect the issues of characters from around the time of the event pertaining to the titular series. “Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand” was an event that spawned several other limited series, including “Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man,” this latter limited series being the only part of “Cataclysm” included in this volume. Therefore, readers of this volume only get one part of the story, which is far from the complete story. The ending of my third paragraph was actually not me trying to be vague to avoid spoiling the ending of the story, that paragraph ends where the story ends. I will admit to a good deal of disappointment from this, but I was still able to find enjoyment reading what was contained in this volume. I found the storyline of Miles and Jefferson dealing with Miles being Spider-Man to be very emotional, having been abandoned by my father myself, and I thought the writing on that was excellent. It was established right at the beginning of the series that Jefferson hated mutants and superheroes and Miles was afraid of what telling Miles’ father that Miles was Spider-Man would mean for Miles, and the readers had been waiting for this to happen, and when it finally did Jefferson’s reaction was to abandon Miles. And the fact was that Jefferson really did this because he didn’t feel worthy whereas Miles was worthy, and I thought that was highly compelling, and the resolution between the two of them was extremely touching. I loved the celebration for Peter Parker; I thought that issue was fantastic. I especially loved the connection between Ganke and Gwen, I thought that was quite humorous. I was quite surprised by Peter Parker’s return and the fact that Oz grants immortality when I first read this storyline when it originally came out. I found it entertaining watching Peter and Miles team up against the Green Goblin, I thought their fights were pretty epic. I had forgotten over the years exactly how dark this storyline was and how many deaths and attempted deaths were caused by Osborn. Jameson’s fate in particular was extremely shocking to me, how he attempted to end Norman before meeting his own demise. This was also one of the few series of the comics where I found Maria Hill to actually be a likeable character. The way she took on Osborn was impressive. I enjoyed the Bishop Hydra twist. I totally did not see that one coming. I also enjoyed Miles’ father’s involvement in S.H.I.E.L.D., that was also unexpected. I liked Bendis’ subtle hints about “Secret Wars” with the arrests of the crazy people in costume, that was actually quite amusing. I do hate how the ending led directly into “Secret Wars” and the next volume of “Miles Morales: Spider-Man” will be in a different universe with no explanation of how Miles became part of the Marvel Universe because Marvel will not include “Secret Wars” in a Modern Era Epic Collection because of the whole not including events in Epic Collections thing and I don’t have a good recollection of that event from ten years ago. And the whole last issue in this book felt rather rushed, especially leading up to the ending, which was extremely inconclusive, by the way. I did like seeing the little team form together at the end, even though we’ll never see this team-up again. Moving forward, I will also say that I found the art in this graphic novel to be spectacular. I thought David Marquez did an exceptional job illustrating these issues and I found looking at this book to be visually pleasing. I thought this was amazing comic book artwork. As far as the title goes, I feel like it is a good representation of this collection. This book did have the revivals of Peter Parker and Norman Osborn, and there were a lot of revelations such as Jefferson being involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Bishops being involved with Hydra, so “Revivals and Revelations” perfectly encapsulates the essence of this volume, and I think it’s a spot-on title. Finally, we’re going to discuss the cover. The cover of this book shows a small Miles swinging in front of a large, roaring Green Goblin. I don’t feel this shows accurate proportions to the characters inside the issue. As such, I don’t find this to be the “perfect” cover to this book. However, the Green Goblin is a threat through seven of the sixteen issues contained in this collection, so featuring him so prominently on the cover is, in my opinion, adequate enough, but I do feel there are other covers from this collection that would work as well as, if not better than, the choice the editors picked for this volume. Overall, though, I did find this book to be a highly enjoyable experience, despite the few areas of disappointment at the beginning and end.

            Next up on our docket of topics to discuss, we’re going to cover accessibility. I know my longtime readers know what I mean by this, I have used this word in reviews over six dozen times by this point, but I know I always have first-time readers with every post I do, so I have to re-explain myself every time I do a review for the newbs who have stumbled onto my blog for the first time. So, when I say “is ‘Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Revivals and Revelations’ accessible?” what I am asking is, can a person who has never heard of Miles Morales before or never read a Marvel Comic before obtain this book, read it cover to cover, and understand what they have just read based solely on what is contained in this book and this book alone? The answer to that question is a big no. My reasoning for this is the “Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand” tie-in. First off, this is a spin-off series from an event that does not tell the full story of the event and all of the details of the event outside of Miles, Cloak, Dagger, Bombshell, and Spider-Woman’s actions saving the people in New York City are left out of this volume. On top of that, this event is multiversal, originating in the Marvel Universe and impacting the Ultimate Universe, the latter being the setting for this collection. Secondly, the “Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man” series continues directly from where “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man” left off, following twenty-eight issues of continuity, and reading this volume without consuming the previous storylines leading up to this point can be somewhat difficult to process. I would not qualify this book as one for someone who knows nothing about Marvel Comics. As for qualifications for reading this volume, I would say the reader should have read the previous two volumes of “Miles Morales: Spider-Man”, “Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand,” and know the essence of the original “Ultimate Spider-Man” and “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man” series, particularly Peter Parker’s death in order to optimally read this collection and completely assimilate what they have just read.

            Okay, moving on, we’re up to one of the key elements of my reviews: the numeric score. I know that it’s not the single most important part of my reviews to everyone, some people come so they can read about the story, but it is essential to state exactly how good I feel a book is when I write a review on a scaling system. So, my scoring system is extremely simple: I score media on a scale of exact integers ranging from one through ten. One is the lowest score I can possibly give, and that means that this book is not worth reading at all, and every remaining copy that hasn’t been purchased by unfortunate souls should be pulled off the shelves and destroyed, then the original plates should be wiped so this trash can never be reprinted. Ten is the highest score I can possibly give, and that means that this book is sheer perfection and one of the best things I have ever read in my entire life, and it should not be on shelves because everyone should be buying it, and the publishers should need to reprint this book on a regular basis because of the popularity that there just aren’t enough copies to satisfy the masses. Okay, I know, I’m being extra here, one and ten honestly should not exactly mean what I’ve just typed, but you get my point. Anyway, when I score an Epic Collection, I take every factor into account when producing my scores. This includes: the story: was it exciting, compelling, interesting, entertaining, and enjoyable to read from beginning to end? The art: was it visually appealing and nice to look at throughout the entire book? And the title: does it perfectly capture the essence of what the stories are about? The cover: does it adequately depict what to expect from the interior content of the collection? My longtime readers will know that I am extremely hard to please and that I don’t give out tens unless all of those factors are met exactly. So, I will say I did highly enjoy the story that was in the book, but the missing content hurts the quality of the read, and the last issue felt rushed and the story ended in an inconclusive way that will not be resolved in the next volume. The artwork was excellent. The title was a perfect choice to describe the stories in the book. The cover was adequate enough for the book, but it wasn’t the perfect representation for all the content in this collection. So, putting all of these puzzle pieces together, the score we are looking at here is… an eight! I feel like this was an exceptionally good book. While it did have its flaws, it was still highly entertaining.

            Next up, we’re going to do my recommendation segment. This segment answers two questions. The first question is: do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my readers, or to anyone unfortunate enough to get caught up in a conversation with me about this book, who are now interested in reading this book based solely on what I have just related to anyone consuming my words? The second question is: regardless of if I would recommend this book personally, whom do I think is a good type of audience for this book, besides the obvious Miles Morales, Spider-Man and Marvel Comics fans? To answer my first question, yes, I do recommend this book to you. If you’re reading this review and want to read this book now, I suggest you go to your favorite online retailer, or your preferred bookstore, or your nearest comic book store, or your local library, or your Marvel obsessed friend or relative and look for this book and read it as soon as you can. If you read this, feel free to comment to me your opinions on this book, I would love to hear from you. Everything I say on this blog is purely my own personal opinion, and I don’t expect anyone to agree with me at all. You’re entitled to feel however you want to feel about what you read, and if you feel the same or if you feel different, I want to know. Please drop a comment here to let me know what you thought of this book. As for an audience for this book, I would recommend it to readers who enjoy family dramas and trying to find acceptance from your family; readers who enjoy stories about legacy, trying to live up to being who you are, who you want to be, and who others expect you to be; readers who enjoy stories about immortality and the repercussions of such a gift and how it can be a curse; readers who enjoy stories about secrets and what those secrets can mean to your friends, family, and relationships; and readers who enjoy stories with lots of plot twists and twists and turns and unexpected moments.

            Okay, we’re just about done here, but there are a few more things I do have to say before I click post. First off, I have been doing this blog for over five years. I have done over 180 posts, so feel free to keep exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com for more content by me. If you liked this post and want more Miles Morales, feel free to check out “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training” and “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Spider-Man No More” for more content. I’ve done over six dozen other Epic Collection reviews similar to this one, so feel free to check some of those out too. I’ve also written reviews of Marvel Comics events posted on Marvel Unlimited, as well as reviews of prose novels and manga, but the current focus of this blog is on Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Marvel Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase every one of those as soon as I can after their release and if possible, put up a review as soon as I can after I’m done reading it. My next review is going to be “Young Avengers: The Children’s Crusade,” you can expect to see that within the next two months following the posting of this review, so if that sound interesting to you, keep checking back for it. Feel free to like, retweet, share, do whatever you can to promote this post and me. I do have a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in journalism, but due to life circumstances am unable to get a job in the professional field, but I do this blog in my spare time to do something to contribute to what I spent my time in college learning so my skills don’t go to waste, so I’d appreciate getting as much readership as I possibly can. That’s all I have to say for now, but until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Spider-Man No More"

 

                The following is a review of the graphic novel “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Spider-Man No More” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

                Months before Peter Parker was shot and killed, grade-schooler Miles Morales was about to start a new chapter in his life at a new school—when he was suddenly bitten by a stolen, genetically altered spider that gave him incredible arachnid-like powers.

                Washington was decimated. The government was a mess. The Southwest was in chaos. States were seceding from the union. America was falling apart. Steve Rogers/Captain America and Tony Stark/Iron Man met to discuss the existence of a new Spider-Man. Captain America blamed himself for Peter Parker’s death since Peter was young and untrained and wanted to shut Miles down, but Iron Man tried to convince him otherwise, until the news broke that Spider-Man was accused of murdering Aaron Davis/Prowler. Miles’ father Jefferson Davis broke the news that Spider-Man murdered Miles’ uncle to Miles. Miles’ best friend Ganke Lee tried to convince Miles he did nothing wrong. Miles received a phone call from May Parker, Peter Parker’s aunt, asking to meet with him. On the way to the meeting, Miles fought a robber called Batroc the Leaper and his crew, and though Miles was able to defeat them, the police on the scene tried to arrest Miles and Miles had to flee from the crime scene. At Miles’ meeting with May and Gwen Stacy, Captain America arrived to tell Miles if Miles went into action as Spider-Man again, Captain America would call Miles’ parents. Captain America was called off to fight the Rhino at the Lincoln Tunnel. May gave Miles Peter’s web shooters and encouraged Miles to do what he felt was the right thing to do. Miles assisted Captain America in defeating the Rhino, and Captain America agreed that Miles needed training.

                Miles was questioned by New York Police Department homicide detective Maria Hill about the death of Miles’ uncle. Miles pretended to know nothing about it and Hill informed Miles Aaron’s death might not have been Miles’ fault. Due to the outbreak of war in America, Miles’ school Brooklyn Visions Academy was closed until such time as the city felt it was safe for the school to open again, and the students were sent home. Miles hitched a ride to the Triskelion, base of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ultimates, and asked Captain America if Miles could join the Ultimates. Jefferson was on his way home when he was stopped at a S.H.I.E.L.D. blockade. He got into an argument with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and was detained in a S.H.I.E.L.D. van. Captain America told Miles to go home, when a Quincarrier hijacked by Gorgon and a squad of Hydra agents attacked the Triskelion. Miles assisted in taking down the Hydra squad, and Captain America, impressed by Miles, invited him to join the Ultimates, an invite Miles accepted. Captain America was elected as the president of the United States of America. The Ultimates fought Hydra outside Casper, Wyoming. Miles was assigned to team up with Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman. The S.H.I.E.L.D. van Jefferson was in was stopped by Hydra agents. Jefferson was freed and took down the Hydra agents. Miles was separated from the fight and had to contend with a Giant Woman Hydra agent, then was found by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and brought home.

                Daily Bugle reporter Betty Brant was investigating the death of the Prowler and made a connection between Prowler and Spider-Man. Betty went to Aaron’s apartment and found the dead spider that gave Miles his powers. She brought the spider to current Roxxon Industries scientist and former Osborn Industries scientist Doctor Conrad Marcus, who had worked on the Oz project. Marcus confirmed to Betty that this spider could, in fact, have created the new Spider-Man. Betty mistakenly concluded that Jefferson was the new Spider-Man. Betty brought this news to Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson, but Jameson refused to publish it. Betty was going to bring the news to another source, but she didn’t live long enough for that to happen.

                Miles ran out of web fluid. He and Ganke tried to figure out how to crack the formula Peter Parker left behind for Miles. Maria Hill interviewed Jameson about Betty’s death, and Jameson lied, saying Betty never revealed to Jameson who the new Spider-Man was. Reporters came to Miles’ apartment to interview Jefferson about his heroic actions against Hydra, but Jefferson did not want to comment. He went to the reports to ask how they found where he lived when a new Venom symbiote host arrived, looking for Spider-Man and believing Spider-Man to be Jefferson. Miles fought the monster. The monster, seeing both Spider-Man and Jefferson in the same place at the same time was confused, and after a brief fight with Miles, the monster retreated, but during the fight, Jefferson was severely injured. Jefferson was rushed to the hospital. Miles’ mother Rio Morales went with Jefferson but told Miles to stay behind. News of the Venom attack made the news, and Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker’s girlfriend Mary Jane Watson rushed to aid Miles. Gwen and Mary Jane told Miles what they knew about symbiotes and the potential reason why Venom might be looking for Miles. Maria Hill arrived at Miles’ apartment, aware Miles was Spider-Man and tried to spur him into action. Venom attacked the hospital, looking for Jefferson. Miles made it to the hospital and fought Venom. Rio came to Miles’ aid. Miles was able to defeat Venom, but at a terrible cost. Following a devastating loss, Miles decided to be Spider-Man no more.

                One year later, Miles had a girlfriend named Katie Bishop. Spider-Woman tried to convince Miles to be Spider-Man again, but Miles refused. While at a Chinese restaurant, Miles ran into Gwen, who was working as a waitress. Suddenly, the restaurant was caught in a fight between Lori Baumgartner/Bombshell and the team of Ty Johnson/Cloak and Tandy Bowen/Dagger. Ty and Tandy had been student council presidents of their high schools. They were on their way to their senior prom when their limo was in an accident. Doctors Layla Miller, Nathaniel Essex, Samuel Sterns, and Arnim Zola III, the Roxxon Brain Trust, procured Ty and Tandy, had Ty and Tandy pronounced dead, and injected Ty and Tandy with Dark Matter. Ty and Tandy revived with new powers and became Cloak and Dagger. Lori’s mother Lana Baumgartner had been arrested and transferred to Roxxon for experimentation in lieu of going to prison. Lana was pregnant when she was experimented on, and Lori was born with powers as well, and when she grew older, she became Bombshell. Ganke was mad at Miles for witnessing a superhuman fight and not getting involved. Spider-Woman came to Miles again and explained her connection to Peter Parker in an attempt to convince Miles to be Spider-Man again. Spider-Woman wanted to team up with Bombshell, Cloak, and Dagger to take down Roxxon. Despite being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and despite S.H.I.E.L.D. and Roxxon having business connections, Spider-Woman did not trust the company. Roxxon hired Anthony Masters/Taskmaster to bring Roxxon’s experiments back to the company. Miles then had to decide if he wanted to once again take on the great responsibility that came with his great power and be Spider-Man again.

                Okay, so we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, now let’s get to my personal part of this review. As usual, we’re going to start with my own opinions on this book. I will start by saying that I found the stories in this book to be highly enjoyable. First off, the fractured America storylines in Divided We Fall and United We Stand are extremely relevant in this day and age thirteen years later. But this blog does not discuss politics, so I will go no further than just saying that. I will say I felt like there was a contradiction between this volume of “Miles Morales: Spider-Man” and the previous volume. It seems like the “Spider-Men” storyline from “Hero in Training” was ignored in “Spider-Man No More” since in this volume, Miles met Aunt May and Gwen Stacy for the first time and received Peter’s web shooters, while in the previous volume, Miles also met Aunt May and Gwen and did not have the web shooters, so I’m confused about the timing/existence of the storyline. That said, I loved Gwen’s reaction to Captain America trying to shut Miles down. I also liked Miles’ self-monologue complaint about the lameness of his villains, particularly Batroc the Leaper. I liked the choice to make Maria Hill an NYPD homicide detective; Hill is a character I’ve loved to hate for almost twenty years now. Seeing her in a different role and actually helping Miles was refreshing. I liked Jefferson’s conflict with being a hero and not wanting to be one, it mirrors Miles’ conflict from the previous volume. I don’t quite get how Captain America got to be elected president of the United States, I read the story thirteen years ago in “Ultimate Comics Ultimates,” but I honestly don’t remember all the details. I loved Jameson’s rationalization for not wanting to out the new Spider-Man, not wanting to ruin a man’s life, I’m glad he learned something from the death of Peter Parker. I did not like this portrayal of Betty Brant, I found it completely uncharacteristic of any other depiction of her, I did not enjoy seeing her as a money-hungry, opportunistic… (word I’m not going to use since this is a G-rated blog). I found the Venom War storyline to be the best story in the book. It was written with so much emotion, and the ending was just heartbreaking. I enjoyed the Spider-Man No More storyline, it’s something that every Spider-Man goes through, and I thought Miles’ was a good one, particularly that he lasted for a year. I loved how even though Peter Parker was dead, Brian Michael Bendis still found use for Aunt May, Gwen, and Mary Jane Watson. I don’t know why Bendis picked to use Layla Miller as part of the Roxxon Brain Trust, since in the main Marvel Universe, Layla was not a doctor, the same as making Miles’ girlfriend Katie Bishop, who in other universes is Hawkeye, the choices to use those names seemed really random. I enjoyed the evil corporation plot with Roxxon, I know that’s a little bit of a cliché, but Bendis still managed to make this entertaining. I enjoyed watching Miles’ growth and maturation over the course of this book, both as a teenager and as a superhero, I thought the progression was brilliantly written. Unfortunately, I found some conflict with the artwork in this graphic novel. All of these artists just had a way of drawing faces that just didn’t appeal to me when they were close up, but their action scenes were all spot on. I especially did not like the Venom design. I thought it just looked horrible. As for the choice in title, I felt like it was an appropriate pick. Honestly, the best choices were “Divided We Fall,” “United We Stand,” “Venom War,” or “Spider-Man No More,” and the only two titles that would truly sell would be “Venom War” or “Spider-Man No More,” the latter of which, in my opinion, taking up enough of the book to be a more proper representation of the entirety of the book itself, although “United We Stand” would, in my opinion, be an adequate representation of the content of the book as well. But overall, I enjoyed reading the book, but I just wish I could have had art I appreciated more.

                Next up, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I’ve explained this over six dozen times before, and I know I’ll be doing this dozens more times over the course of this blog, but once again, there are people reading this post now who have never read a Tim Cubbin review before and are wondering what the heck I mean by accessibility. So when I use the word “accessibility” in this blog, I’m saying how easy it would be for someone who has never heard of Miles Morales before or knows nothing about Marvel Comics or otherwise has no prior knowledge of what they’re about to read to go to their local bookstore or library or favorite shopping site and pick up this book, and then read it and understand everything they’ve read. This book has two accessibility issues. The first is that this is Vol. 2 and it picks up exactly where Vol. 1 left off and continues a story that’s already begun and not having read the previous volume is extremely detrimental to understanding the content of this particular volume. The second issue is that Divided We Fall and United We Stand were event storylines in “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man,” “Ultimate Comics X-Men,” and “Ultimate Comics Ultimates” and the rest of the event, especially “Ultimate Comics Ultimates,” contains more details to the story that this book doesn’t have and leaves a great deal of confusion to those who haven’t read the other series. Heck, thirteen years later, even I practically need a refresher. So, I will say if you are new to Marvel Comics, this is not a good starting point for you. Even if you’ve seen the “Spider-Verse” films or played the video games, they are nothing like this comic series and it’s essential to read the first twelve issues of “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man” (2011) before reading this graphic novel.

                Okay, I’ve been going on for a very long time at this point, I think we’re ready to get to my numeric score now. Now, for those of you who have never read one of my reviews before, my scoring scale is extremely simple. I score on a scale of exact integers between one through ten. If I score a book as a one, that means it is a flaming hot pile of trash and that every single copy of this graphic novel should be taken out of sales, thrown on a pile, and set on fire, then never be reprinted again. If, on the other hand, I give a book a score of a ten (which honestly doesn’t happen very often), then that means this book is sheer perfection, and every copy should be bought and read again and again and demand should be so high that this book needs to be reprinted every year. Now, I’m a very hard critic, I don’t just give out tens for no reason. To get a ten, the book has to exceed expectations. The story has to be gripping, exciting, interesting, intriguing, and engaging, hold my interest from start to finish, make me not want to put the book down, be full of surprises, and make me wish the book had more when I get to the end, and the art has to be consistently appealing, if not blow me away, and make me want to look at each panel for longer than needed just to appreciate the artwork. On the other hand, I’m not fond of giving out low scores either unless I feel like the book honestly deserves it. I very rarely give ones, I can count the amount of times I’ve done that so far on one hand. Well, you can probably guess that this book doesn’t exactly hit either pole, and if you made that guess, you’d be absolutely right. So, let’s talk about what score I’m actually going to give this graphic novel. As my regular readers know, I have a metaphorical blender for making review scores. So I’m going to take this entire book, the story I found to be highly enjoyable, the fact that I do have some complaints about certain details, the art that I wasn’t a total fan of, and the title that I thought fit the book well, and I’m going to dump it into my blender. Next, I’m going to hit mix and keep it going until this book is completely blended. Then I’m going to pour it out into my cup and look at the score, and it is… a seven. I honestly did enjoy this book and feel like it deserves a good score, but there were a few faults, and I have to gripe about the art, so the point deductions are, in my opinion, fair, and this score is, again, in my opinion, fair. Had this book perhaps had different artists, this could have gotten an eight. I also had to take a strike at the score for the contradiction between the two volumes due to the “Spider-Men” story in the previous volume as I feel like the lack of continuity made the stories rather confusing and I’m not sure if/when this story was even supposed to take place. Otherwise, I felt this was a commendable effort and an enjoyable read and I had a blast consuming this graphic novel.

                New up on our agenda shall be my recommendation. I always do this segment in two parts, answering two questions. The first question is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to anyone reading this review or to anyone else I talk to such as friends or family interested in comic books? The second question is, regardless of the answer to question one, who do I think would be the best audience? You can probably already guess the answer, but I’ll say it for you anyway. The answer is yes, I would recommend this book to anyone reading this review who is now interested in reading this book based on what they have just read. I tried to keep the spoilers to a minimum in order to give you a reason to actually want to read the book to find out how it ends. As for who I think the best audience is, I’d say it’s most appealing to people who are fans of Miles Morales, or to those who are fans of the work of Brian Michael Bendis, but if you want to read this volume, I’d recommend reading “Hero in Training” in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format first.

                Okay, I think we’re getting to the point where we’re ready to just about wrap things up. Before we part ways, there are a few things I would like to say first. Firstly, I have been doing this blog for almost five years now. At this point, I have now done over 170 posts. Over five dozen of them have been reviews of Epic Collections, and I have done other book reviews and events reviews as well. If you liked this review and want more Miles Morales content, feel free to search for “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training.” I’ve also written other kinds of content on this blog, such as short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials. Feel free to keep browsing timcubbin.blogspot.com for more posts, there’s plenty to see. I can tell you that I post on a very frequent basis, usually at least once a month. I am a die-hard Marvel fan and purchase every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection that is released as soon as I can after they are released and if possible, put up a review. There are a few Modern Era Epic Collections I have yet to review, maybe one day those will be remedied. You can expect to see my next post within the next four weeks, it will be “Spider-Man/Deadpool: Road Trip” so if you are interested, keep an eye out for that. And that’s really all I have to say for now, so until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Following the revelation that businessman Norman Osborn was the monstrosity dubbed “the Green Goblin” created by one of his own experiments, Osborn Industries was shut down. One of their projects was the Oz formula that had been injected into a spider that was responsible for turning teenager Peter Parker into the superhero Spider-Man. There was also another spider that had been injected with the Oz formula that was not secured before the closure of the Long Island laboratory facility of Osborn Industries. When the serial burglar called the Prowler broke into the shuttered Long Island facility of Osborn Industries to steal an item and money, the Oz spider also snuck into his bag. Young Miles Morales won a lottery admission into the Brooklyn Visions Academy. In his excitement, he went to tell his uncle Aaron Davis the good news. Aaron and Miles’ father Jefferson were estranged due to a past criminal history that caused a riff in the family where Jeff had gone straight but Aaron did not truly give up his criminal ways, a fact Jeff could not forgive. While at Aaron’s apartment, Mile’s was bitten by the stolen Oz spider. Aaron had to call Jeff after Miles passed out in reaction, and while the two argued over Jeff’s suspicion Aaron had given Miles something, Miles ran away. While running, he turned invisible, showed feats of amazing acrobatics, and when held up by a gang of teenage thugs, he let off an electric discharge that stunned his accoster. Freaked out, he went to his best friend Ganke Lee to show him his new powers and share his fear that he might be a mutant. Jeff found Miles and told him off his criminal history, not wanting Miles to walk down the same path. Ganke equated the emergence of Miles’ powers with the spider bite and compared it to that of Spider-Man. Miles then discovered that he could also walk on walls. Ganke encouraged Miles to test out his new powers, but Miles was resistant to this, until while on a walk the two passed a fire. Miles rescued two people from the fire, but left the scene before he could be identified, but Miles insisted to Ganke that he didn’t want to be like Spider-Man. Miles and Ganke started at Brooklyn Visions Academy in a triple dorm room with their new roommate Judge. One night, news of a superhero fight called all the students out of bed, and the news broke that Spider-Man had been shot. Miles snuck out of school to see the scene for himself and watched teenager Peter Parker die. Watching the death of Spider-Man was the push that made Miles decide he himself wanted to be a superhero. Ganke gave Miles a Spider-Man Halloween costume and while out on patrol, Miles found the criminal called the Kangaroo attacking a bar. Miles defeated the criminal, but was told by witnesses the Spider-Man costume was in bad taste. Upon returning to his dorm, Miles and Ganke caused trouble with the dorm guard when Judge was locked out of their room, where doors were not supposed to be locked, and students were only allowed to leave school on weekends. Miles continued to go on patrol and was caught by Spider-Woman and brought to the Triskelion, headquarters of the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and their team the Ultimates, where he was interrogated by director Nick Fury. Maxwell Dillon, the supervillain Electro, who was being detained following the death of Peter Parker, escaped and went on a rampage. The Ultimates went to try to recapture him and failed, but Miles jumped in and managed to take the villain down. Miles was allowed to leave the Triskelion, and the next day was presented by Spider-Woman with his very own Spider-Man costume.

            Aaron went to Mexico City to deliver the stolen item to the crime boss Maximus Gargan also known as the Scorpion, but the deal changed, and the two fought. Aaron tried to use tech given to him by the villainous mechanic known as the Tinkerer, but the tech didn’t do what Aaron thought it would do, and Aaron was arrested. Miles continued his new career as Spider-Man, and news of a new Spider-Man on the streets broke out. Miles decided to hide his identity as Spider-Man from his parents after hearing his father’s distaste for Spider-Man at a family dinner. Aaron returned to New York and took his revenge on the Tinkerer. He also did the math and deduced that his nephew was the new Spider-Man. News of the new Spider-Man reached as far as Paris, France, where Peter Parker’s Aunt May and her ward Gwen Stacy had retreated to following Peter’s death. Aaron confronted Miles at Brooklyn Visions Academy and told Miles he knew he was Spider-Man and that he could help train him. The Scorpion arrived in New York with the ambition to become the new Kingpin of crime in the city. Miles defeated the supervillain called the Ringer and had a run in with the police. Captain Frank Quaid, out of respect for Peter Parker, allowed Miles to leave the crime scene. Miles barely covered his escapades from the dorm guard, and Judge got annoyed. Aaron had a fight with the Scorpion and decided he couldn’t win this fight on his own and contacted Miles. Aaron tested Miles’ abilities in a fight and then informed Miles that Miles and Aaron were going to be working together. Miles attempted to refuse, but Aaron blackmailed Miles with the threat of going with the truth to Jeff. The two fought the Scorpion and were successful in stopping him, but Miles’ alliance with the police did not hold up and he barely managed to escape arrest. Aaron also managed to escape the scene, but Aaron texted Miles that he wasn’t done with him just yet. Meanwhile, Aunt May and Gwen Stacy returned to the United States, where May used her connections to speak with Tony Stark, the Ultimates member known as Iron Man, wishing to get in contact with the new Spider-Man. Miles confronted Aaron about ending their deal, and the two fought for the last time.

            In another universe, Peter Parker is still alive, is an adult, and is Spider-Man. One night, while on patrol, he saw a strange light and went to investigate. It led him to a warehouse where he confronted the supervillain Quentin Beck/Mysterio. During their fight, Peter was sucked into the light. When he emerged, New York was not exactly correct. He swung around and ran into Miles. The two fought, and Miles won. Not sure what to do with there now being a Peter Parker swinging around as an adult, Miles brought Peter to Nick Fury. Peter was surprised to learn that everyone knew his identity, and Fury wanted to investigate the dimensional rift. Mysterio used an avatar to attack Peter and Miles. After winning the fight, Peter swung away and went to see this universe’s Aunt May and Gwen Stacy. At first, the two were not happy to see him, thinking him an imposter sent to insult them, but after a while, the group began to talk, giving Aunt May and Gwen their much-needed closure. Nick Fury called in Peter and Miles to join him and the Ultimates to find Mysterio, defeat him, return Peter to his universe, and destroy the dimensional rift.

            Okay, now that we have the synopsis out of the way, let’s get to my own personal opinion on this book. First off, I have to say that I found this book to be highly enjoyable. I thought it was extremely well written. The character of Miles Morales back in 2011 was a character I was a little hesitant about at first, I will admit. After all, we just had Peter Parker as Spider-Man since 1963 (with the exception of his clone Ben Reilly in the 1990s for a while). So having someone completely new being Spider-Man was something that was uncharted territory. And flat-out killing Peter Parker to set this up was a huge shock. And while Miles is not my favorite Spider-Man, after a few issues, I grew to be able to accept him. So here I am, fourteen years later, revisiting his origin story and writing this review. Miles has become extremely popular over the course of this time, and I’ve come to enjoy reading his stories, so going back to the beginning was an experience that I was happy to partake in. So, after reading this book, I will say that his origin story was well executed. I’ve always enjoyed the work of Brian Michael Bendis, his run on the original “Ultimate Spider-Man” was one of my favorite comic series, and I’ve always thought he was a brilliant writer, on par with the late, great Stan Lee. He did so much work for Marvel, created so much, and I’ve just always loved reading his comics. I’ve reviewed several of his works on this blog before, I think what hurts his reviews weren’t his stories per se, more so the artwork of his partners was what deducted points from my scores. With this graphic novel, I thought his work was brilliant, and I loved the artwork of Sara Pichelli and David Marquez, but Chris Samnee did fail to please me visually. Now, let’s talk more about what I enjoyed about Bendis’ work on this book. I liked that while he created a new Spider-Man, he didn’t insult Peter Parker in the process. Yes, it was very sad that he killed Peter Parker, but he created a new hero with a whole new story. And Miles even has some powers which Peter didn’t have and is actually much cooler. And I enjoyed his decision not to give Miles webbing intrinsically or give him instinctual knowledge of how to create webbing on his own. I liked how Miles didn’t immediately want to be a superhero and was hesitant to use his powers and had to be inspired to actually use them. I like the character of Ganke, Miles’ best friend, and I liked how the two had to constantly cover Miles’ escapades from the dorm guard, I found those moments to actually be quite amusing. I liked Bendis’ subtle blend of comedy in with the action, and how Miles was able to wisecrack on par with Peter. And I liked the crossover between 616 Peter Parker and 1610 Miles Morales, I thought that their meeting was quite entertaining, especially Peter’s visit with Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, it was quite an emotional segment. Almost all-in-all, I found reading this book to be an excellent experience, with the exception of the two issues illustrated by Samnee, I’m a nice guy, I’m not going to elaborate on what I actually thought of his artwork because I don’t want to be insulting to Samnee, who I’m sure tried their hardest when doing their work, but I just didn’t find it to be artwork that I could find enjoyable. Otherwise, I thought this book was stellar, and I totally had a great time reading it.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I know I’ve said this over thirty times at this point, and I’m frankly getting tired of doing it, but I know some of you have never read one of my reviews before, so I am obligated to explain what I mean when I use that word. When I say “accessibility,” what I mean is how easy it is to pick up this book and read it, even if you know absolutely nothing about Marvel Comics. I will say that this book is extremely accessible. I’d say this is perfect entry level Marvel work. This is a brand-new character with a brand-new story. It honestly doesn’t call on knowledge from other comics to understand what is going on in this book. I’d say you can never have heard of Spider-Man before (which seems totally impossible, but hey, it could actually be possible) and still be able to pick up this book, read it, and know what’s going on in it. There are also no events going on from other series at the time, so there are no missing pieces in the story. And while there are two series in this book, they compliment each other, so it doesn’t seem out of place having that being in this book. I’d say if you’ve never read Marvel before and are looking for a place to start reading, this book is actually perfect for you.

            Now we’re getting to the part of my review that is the most important part, the one you’ve mostly come here for: my numeric score. My scoring system is extremely basic and easy to follow. I score on a scale of exactly one though ten. One is the lowest score I can give and means that the book is total garbage and should be avoided at all costs. Ten means that this book is perfection (and I have very rarely given tens because it is very hard to be perfection). Now, to be a ten, the story has to be incredible, and the art has to be consistently pleasing. To be a one, the story has to be horrible, and the artwork has to be consistently awful. Now, you can probably guess that this book hits neither extremity, and if that is your guess, you would be absolutely correct. Now, the story was excellent, not going to lie, but it wasn’t quite at the exact level of perfection. And the art was not consistently pleasing at all points. So, for these reasons, points have to be deducted. So, when taking everything into account when giving this book a score, combining the story and the art, throwing it all into a blender and turning it on, mixing it up, then pouring out a score, I’m looking into the cup and the score I see is… a seven! I honestly wish I could give it a higher score than this, but for some reason I just can’t quite put my finger on, I can’t in good faith give this book an eight, even though I would love to, so I just have to settle on giving it a seven and stick with it. Still, it’s not a horrible score, all things considered. I have surely given worse. But I found reading this book to be an enjoyable experience, all things said.

            Next on the agenda is if I give this book my personal recommendation and regardless of this or not, to whom do I recommend this book to? Now, you can probably guess by the way I described that I enjoyed this book that I’d personally recommend it, and if you guessed that, you would be absolutely correct. This book does, in fact, get my very own personal recommendation. Now, as to whom I’d recommend this book to, if you’ve seen any of the “Spider-Verse” movies and enjoyed them, I’d say you’d definitely enjoy this book, and I recommend it to you. If you are looking into getting into Spider-Man and haven’t hit a starting point yet, I’d recommend this book to you. If you are a fan of Miles Morales in any capacity, this book is something I feel you absolutely must read and should get out and read it as soon as you possibly can. And if you’re reading this review and liked it and want to read it now based solely on the content of this review, I totally recommend this book to you.

            Okay, I’ve gone on about this book for a very long time, I think it’s time we all moved on with our lives. So, in conclusion, there are a few more things that I feel I need to say before I go. I have been doing this blog for almost five years now and have done over 150 posts, so there is plenty more content you can read if you liked this review, so feel free to keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more posts. I have literally done over thirty reviews at this point, and I’m not stopping. I post on a very frequent basis, so you can always expect more content to keep coming. I get every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection when it comes out and if I can review it, I do so, so there’s going to be plenty more posts coming up. You can expect another one coming up in about a month from now, so keep checking back for it. I’ve also done other content, I was an English major with a concentration in journalism in college and have a bachelor’s degree in the field, so I am very experienced. I’ve written several short stories on this blog and have even ventured into poetry. You can find some articles and essays here too, and my editorial series B’ings as well, which are totally pointless but a fun way to kill a few minutes. If you have the time, keep exploring, there’s plenty more you might like. And now at this point I feel like I’ve said all that really can be said, so I am now going to part ways and let you go back to doing what you were doing with your life and I’m going to upload this now and then go pay rent, which is something I actually have to do, and while I love doing this blog and I do a thorough job, it really doesn’t pay the bills but I do it anyway. Well, enough about my personal life, you didn’t come here to read about me, you came here to read about Miles Morales. So, I am now officially done and will just now say to you a few final words, and those words would happen to be… Tim Cubbin… out!

"Spider-Man: The Clone Saga" / "Miles Morales: The Clone Saga" Comparison

            The following piece is a comparison piece of the Marvel Comics Events “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” and “Miles Morales: The Clone Saga.”

            Hey, guys, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! My name just happens to be Tim Cubbin, and I just happen to be the writer of this blog. I might actually let someone else write for this blog, but for today, I’m your host!

            So, we have some fun planned for us right here, right now. To those of you who don’t know, I am a major Marvel Comic Books fan. I’ve been reading regularly since 2001, so by now that’s twenty years (I know, I’m so old). Over the past year, I’ve been doing this blog, posting reviews of Marvel prose and graphic novels. I have done several comparison pieces on graphic and prose novel with the same title and adaptations. This, however, is a first. I’m going to compare two COMIC book stories with similar titles. On July 25, 2021, I did a review of the Marvel Comics event “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” and a few hours ago on November 16, 2021, I posted a review of the Marvel Comics event “Miles Morales: The Clone Saga.” For those who don’t know, Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man. So these two reviews are the Clone Sagas of two different Spider-Men. If you haven’t read my reviews of the two events yet, I totally have to tell you to break now, then read the reviews by themselves (I gave you the dates posted for this express purpose), then come back and enjoy reading this comparison post. If you do this big favor for me, you are THE BEST!

            Okay, obviously I need to give you a little background on the Clone Sagas I previously wrote, for the purpose of differentiating the two Clone Sagas and preparing my comparison purposes.

            Let’s talk about the two Spider-Men to start this up. We’ll begin with the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Peter was a high school nerd, bullied and ignored by the other kids in his school. He went to a demonstration on radioactivity. While there, a spider got in the way of radioactive rays and became irradiated and bit Peter Parker and Cindy Moon before it died (Cindy Moon is the super hero Silk but has nothing to do with these stories, so she will not be mentioned in this review again). Afterwards, Peter Parker discovered he had spider-related powers. He has adhesive fingertips and toes; the proportional speed, strength and agility of a spider; and a precognitive awareness of personal danger he calls “spider-sense.” He was orphaned as a boy and was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. At first he tried to use his powers for personal gain. One day, he let a burglar run by when Peter could have stopped him. This burglar broke into Peter’s home and shot and killed his Uncle Ben. Peter stopped the burglar, and decided to use his powers to help others. He truly became Spider-Man and lived by the mantra that with great power there must also come great responsibility.

            Miles Morales was a high school student. His Uncle Aaron was a criminal called the Prowler. One day, Aaron stole from Oscorp, and accidentally grabbed a genetically altered spider. While hanging out with his Uncle Aaron, the spider bit Miles. He discovered he had spider-related powers. . He has adhesive fingertips and toes; the proportional speed, strength and agility of a spider; the ability to direct a mild electrical charge he calls “venom blasts;” the ability to turn invisibility; and a precognitive awareness of personal danger he calls “spider-sense.” He decided to use his powers to help others who needed help, like his hero Spider-Man and became the new Spider-Man himself.

            Okay, those are the origins of the two Spider-Men. Let’s talk about the storylines leading up to both Peter and Miles’ Clone Sagas.

            In college, Peter Parker fell in love with fellow student Gwen Stacy. Secretly, their professor Miles Warren also fell in love with Gwen. Gwen was killed by Peter’s super villain enemy the Green Goblin. Warren was a geneticist and became the super villain the Jackal. The Jackal cloned Gwen and Peter. Both clones were presumed dead. Peter’s clone, however, did not die and left New York to live a life of his own as Ben Reilly. The Jackal was able to create more viable clones of Peter and Gwen. When Aunt May had a stroke, Ben returned to New York, and he and Peter originally fought, but were eventually able to live in coexistence.

            As for Miles Morales, Miles was abducted by the Assessor, who studied Miles to the point of torture and created a clone of Miles. Miles faced the clone, but the clone turned out to be inviable and fell apart. However, the Assessor managed to create three semi-viable clones. Miles was lured by his clones who began to commit crimes in his name, including a scientist to create a cure that would stabilize the clones, but not knowing this, Miles destroyed the cure, incurring the wrath of the clones Selim, Mindspinner and Switch.

            For more details of the actual events of the two Clone Sagas, read my reviews of both events (if you haven’t done so already). Okay, now I’ve got to compare the two Clone Sagas. I must say, however, there were almost no similarities between Peter and Miles’ Clone Sagas. Both had clones, and both had clones that were inviable and tried to stabilize themselves. Both had clones that tried to ruin their reputations. Peter’s clone Kaine committed murder and Peter was put on trial after a fingerprint match implicated Peter. Miles’ clone Selim stole equipment and kidnapped a scientist, who Selim went on to murder. And that’s about as far as similarities come.

            Okay, now you’re probably wondering which Clone Saga I preferred. If you read my reviews, you know I score my reviews on a scale of one to ten, one being totally awful, ten being totally awesome. You will also know at the time of writing the reviews, I gave Peter Parker’s Clone Saga a five, while I scored Miles Morales’s Clone Saga at a six. Please note I sometimes have a change of heart after writing my posts. But you may have read that I thought Peter Parker’s Clone Saga was too long, whereas Miles Morales’s Clone Saga was too short. There was just an imbalance on the length of the stories. Peter Parker and Ben Reilly both had solo stories and connecting stories. I felt that Miles Morales’s clone Selim just did not have enough time to be thoroughly established. Granted Selim was an evil clone, I thought more development of Selim, Mindspinner and Switch would have actually been more interesting if each clone actually had a story rather than just being deteriorating. So, yes, my promised preference. This is actually a very tough decision to make. Both had flaws. Both had good points. I have to say that, though being lower scored, Peter Parker’s Clone Saga was my preference, owing to each clone actually having a developed storyline rather than just eight issues solely focusing on Miles. It could have had much potential.

            Now I’ll revisit my accessibility statements in order to give recommendations. If you were to actually read these events, I felt that Peter Parker’s Clone Saga required a good deal of Spidey knowledge for optimal enjoyment, while I said that Miles Morales’s Clone Saga actually felt self-contained. I still, all these months later, stand by both statements. If you’re new to the Spider-Men and want to start a Clone Saga, I’d have to tell you Miles Morales’s is easier to pick up and read. At the same time, I’m not telling you to just read Miles’ Clone Saga as Peter’s was actually rather better developed. I just have to tell you if you either prefer Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider to Miles Morales/Spider-Man, go with whoever you like. Now, let’s get serious about something. I am NOT making your decisions for you. What I may like in comics are things that you have no interest in, or even dislike and hate, while you may like things that I don’t. That is ENTIRELY up to you. If you want to read either, both, or neither of them based on what I write, that’s on you, and I can’t force feed this on you. You make your own decisions. This is From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin, after all, not “From the Mind of One (Insert Your Name Here).” My opinions are my own, I can’t expect you to always agree with me. That’s the magic of free will.

            So if you either have read or go on to read either Clone Sagas, feel free to tell me what YOU think. I’d love to hear it. You can leave a comment on my blog page, message me on Facebook, leave a Tweet on this Twitter page, I’d LOVE to hear your opinions. And feel free to Retweet or Share with your followers and friends, that’d be awesome and you are totally THE BEST! I love the support, this blog is what keeps me going from day-to-day. I’m a certified journalist unable to get a job, which is why I do this. I’m semi-professional with this blog, and I do this just so I can share my opinions and encourage you to read and connect with me. You can also check out more of my blog posts if you enjoyed this. I do plenty more than just reviews and comparison pieces, I do essays about mental health (I happen to have bipolar disorder and am a mental health advocate), editorials about stupid things that bother me, short stories, poetry, and more. I post pretty frequently, so always expect more content, and I’ll say goodbye to you, and, as always, Tim Cubbin… out!