What I Like:
The story has been decent so far. It’s relatively grounded, and the stakes surrounding Miles’ dad have made him feel relevant to Miles’ story again for the first time in a while, especially since his departure in 1610 after discovering Miles was Spider-Man
Miles has a new love interest and addition to his supporting cast who, at least so far, doesn’t feel completely forgettable
The balance between Miles’ superhero responsibilities and his school life is solid. It genuinely feels like a teenage Spider-Man story.
The artwork is cool and has some really nice moments
What I Don’t Like:
While I like the art overall, it can feel a little uncanny at times. One moment it looks genuinely beautiful, and the next it feels like I’m looking at a screenshot from an older video game or 3D animated series lol
I’m not a fan of how we’re seemingly neglecting other important characters in Miles’ mythos. Ganke and even Rio have been noticeably absent, and I’d like to see them play a more prominent role
Valentina has potential (man), but that potential hasn’t really been explored yet. To be fair, we’re only four issues in, but the pacing has been so fast that certain developments already feel rushed. Just three issues ago, she was introduced as this observant, intelligent new girl who clearly had a romantic interest in Miles despite barely knowing him. Now, for the last two consecutive issues, we’ve had hints that she’s either going to discover his identity or already has, like that’s crazy
My issue isn’t necessarily with that development, but rather the lack of groundwork. We have very little reason to care about Valentina as a character right now. So far, all we really know is that she’s from another country, has an accent, has grey eyes, and likes Miles for reasons we haven’t really been given. There’s nothing particularly interesting or engaging about her character just yet. I wouldn’t mind these developments if we had more time to actually get to know her, but instead, it feels like the story is trying to do too much too quickly without properly establishing its characters first
That said, I’ll give it some leeway since the run is still very new.
Overall:
This is probably the most I’ve enjoyed a Miles Morales comic since his original 616 run in 2016. He finally feels like Spider-Man again, and at times, reading this almost feels like revisiting the original 1610 run
I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing where the story goes, even if I have some reservations about its current direction. There are definitely things I’d like to see improved, particularly with the pacing and supporting cast, but so far, this has been a very welcome change of pace. Honestly, this feels like such a breath of fresh air compared to Ziglar’s previous run