Review: The Wrath Of The Clones Begins With ‘Miles Morales: Spider-Man’ #27

Everyone has an origin story and for Miles Morales, it’s time to hear the tale of how his three altered clones came to be the threat they are now.

It truly bears repeating from the previous reviews of this arc, one of the greatest strengths of this story is that while it’s playing on nostalgia in the sense of being a ‘Clone Saga’ it easily avoids much of what was derided about the original event. Right off the bat, there was no question about who the clones were because of their different personalities, looks, and power sets. Then this issue just gets right to the heart of who and why they are and showcases why they are doing what they are doing. There is no beating around the bush or dragging things out, Saladin Ahmed is using every bit of page real estate to move things forward.

All of the issues of this arc so far have been really terrific to look at but with this issue, it really feels like Carmen Carnero, David Curiel, and Cory Petit found a whole new level to take things to. Carnero’s work is just so detailed and captures every single bit of emotion, allowing each of the characters to breathe and live in the moments they are facing here.

There is a page where Miles and his clone brother Selim are discussing the Accessor, the being who tortured Miles and made the clones, and the full-page panel with a shadow and only one source of light is breath-taking to behold. Frame it and put it up on the wall levels of amazing.

Then you bring in Curiel’s colors and things get even better. The choice to use the more muted but also sort of bright purple, blue, pink, and yellow for the flashback origin scenes was perfect. Quite a number of books are using this sort of coloring move a lot more lately and it’s very welcome. It plays very much into the idea that memories aren’t really seen in your head the same way that films/shows play out. Often, they are like dreams, colorful or dim or just different as they are an approximation of the world around us.

We can see and feel what is happening within the issue thanks to the imagery upon the page, and we hear it in a way thanks to the lettering. Petit does what he does best here and makes the large amount of dialogue work and not overwhelm anything while really going all out for some really great SFX. When Selim punches Miles at one point you see the blood and you see Miles reel and the large ‘KRAK’ that appears over him just sells how hard the hit really was. It resonates and you feel it down to your bones.

Returning to the overall story itself, the fact that these duplicates are all their own individuals with their own thoughts and feelings and personalities is so great to see. Selim especially is a far more brutal and cunning version of Miles, as he outsmarts Miles terribly within this issue. That chilling and terrifying cliff-hanger definitely makes one wish the next issue would hurry up and come out already.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #27 is now on sale in print and digitally from Marvel Comics.