Does Whatever A Spider Can: Reviewing ‘Miles Morales: Spider-Man’ #5

Miles Morales and Peter Parker share many things in common, beyond their shared powers gained from the bite of a spider. They both are heroic individuals ready to do whatever they can to save the lives of complete strangers as much as those that they know and love, even if it’s a detriment to themselves. There are defining moments that litter both of their careers, and we might have just witnessed a new one for the younger of the two Spider-Men.

Scaling things back for Miles, compared to how wide they got with the multiverse in recent years, has been a boon for this series. This is a very personal story with very personal stakes that have pushed the hero to his limits and shown what he can do and how even he took some things for granted that have now been put into a new perspective for him moving forward.

Cody Ziglar is an amazing writer, ’nuff’ said. Okay, there is more to say but that is chief among the things to say. There is a nexus point in storytelling/comics where fantastic deep developing emotional character work and the more action-packed taking down the bad guys style stuff meet and create something harmonically perfect. Some creators are just able to hit those notes from the moment they start, whereas for others it might take some time, just depending on several factors (some even beyond their control at times). Ziglar is very much someone that just seems to instantly hit the ground running making the most out of a character/book no matter if it’s a one-shot, miniseries, or a full ongoing.

Some quick beats of things I really loved Ziglar doing here. First off, I love how different Miles Morales is from Peter Parker in regard to a support system. Peter very much was alone as Spidey for a long time (outside of other heroes) because he kept his identity secret, for good reason. Miles has reason to do so as well but at the same time his parents, his best friend, his girlfriend, and his new mentor all know about his double life and are supportive and there to have his back but are also all forces to be reckoned with themselves. Yes, Miles’s family is in danger here but not because he’s Spider-Man, and their knowing who he is allows them to help him and comfort him and remind him this is not his fault.

Second, the way Ziglar handed Rabble is so great. She has a legit bone to pick, yet we know she is wrong in that she is attacking a fellow victim in a sense rather than the system that did this to them. Miles calls this out but also chooses to take the blows/blame to save his family, but Rabble pushes back. The beat of her saying that his apologizing and being contrite is him still getting to be the hero and her going all in on her attack is a nice beat because it shows how far gone she is in her view. Lastly, the vagueness of her fate is perfect because it leaves it open for her to return (let’s be real, she so will) and be in a way the Norman Osborn to his Peter Parker for lack of a better comparison.

It’s so great to have Miles here doing his big hero thing and finding his place with his family/friends/support group again. Pitting him against new foes and new threats, that don’t come from what’s already been done with him is a nice change of pace. Miles has been around Marvel for over a decade now, and he’s hitting strides that should remind people that he is one of the best new characters to come out of the 2010s hands down.

Because of their abilities, there is a certain way that the Spider-Heroes move that is far different from many other heroes, that move like regular people but with powers. The Spiders are more fluid, bouncing around, swinging, and moving all over the place. Capturing that sort of movement would seem to be something that probably is complicated to someone like myself with little to no talent for visual art. Federico Vicentini though, makes it seem pretty darn easy with each of these issues.

One of the major things that I think helps is the way that Vicentini lays out each of the pages panel-wise. Inherently there is great kinetic energy on display through the artwork already, but the choices for how to set it all up on the page take things from a ten up to a solid fifteen on a scale that only goes to ten, that’s how good it is. All the panels are just like Miles, they move around swiftly in various positions and keep changing to fit whatever is needed and keep our eyes darting around the page but in a very logically ordered way. Often the way they are setup makes us feel like we’re right there in the action and in some cases the panels almost meld together to a point where action and reaction are almost in one space, the dividing line hidden behind the actions.

A clean mix of detail and depth but also panels where the background is washed away to really highlight the foreground action can be found throughout the whole issue. Leading up to some in-your-face well-constructed reveal moments that give some sure to be iconic shots (I mean freaking Miles turned his venom-shock powers into a sword!!!!). At the same time all the aforementioned emotional resonance and weight is carried by these characters visually as we can see the fear, anger, sadness, resolve, tenacity, and more clearly within their body language and on their faces whether they have their masks fully on or not (both Miles and Rabble do end up with damaged masks along the way).

Pairing this artwork with the color styles of Bryan Valenza was inspired. Much like the mix of things I mentioned about Vicentini’s work, there is a similar mix going down with Valenza’s work. All of the heroic/villain characters (and even some elements of the non-super folks) are where we naturally get a lot of the very flashy vibrant colors on display, both in their costumes and powers but also within the choices made when going with a fully color background (replacing a background that shows off the setting). It makes them really pop a whole lot more because all the setting around them from the buildings to environment are far more natural in color, even toned down in a variety of cases, with browns and grays and other colors of the city. These characters are larger than life and should stand out from regular life, and they do here.

There is also a very slick and sort of smooth, but weighted, feeling to these colors that fits with the whole slick and kinetic characteristics of the title character. It’s a bright story being told within a dark space, with plenty of shadows and darker tones popping up, just like it should be for a story that is about the hopeful hero coming up against something dark and powerful and eventually prevailing.

It’s not just all action and emotion here, as much of that action and emotion is centered around the various things that characters are saying related to those feelings but also lots of great sound effects that come into play. Cory Petit does great work at making sure that even when a page requires a lot of lettering work, chiefly dialogue, it never feels like it’s taking away from anything else or bogging the reader down. Miles and Rabble both have some big giant bubbles worth of things to say to each other, but Petit finds ways to make it work and never be overwhelming. A great trick used is shrinking the font and the bubbles somewhat but not just to fit the stuff, but to also play into the fact as the issue moves on the two combatants are out of breath and tiring and therefore speaking lower/softer than they would normally so the font shrinking matches that. A neat way to fit the mood but also easily fit in all that needs to be said.

Just like the other issues, there are great uses of color within the lettering, such as Rabble’s purple font for showing when she is controlling the machines, or the always great red-ringed bubbles for indication of more urgent/angry wording. It all sets the tone easily in every moment allowing the emotions and volume and more to become clear.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #5 is now available from Marvel Comics.