It’s Not A Twilight Thing — Reviewing ‘Miles Morales: Spider-Man’ #11

Vengeful teens. Murderous symbiotes. Hobgoblins. Mental Health. Miles Morales has dealt with a lot lately. Add vampires to that list.

When Blade and his daughter Bloodline, are in town, you know the bloodsuckers must be lurking. Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11 proves the rule. Get the stakes and garlic ready, as Cody Ziglar, Federica Mancin, Bryan Valenza, and Joe Caramagna present this bloody team-up, Brooklyn style.

If I haven’t said it enough, I love this series.

From top to bottom, I love every single issue so far, no matter the focus or the length of a story. Fantastic character work, dealing with both fantastical but also human (mental health-related) elements in a fun, but also realistic way. Every artist that has graced the pages knows how to make this character shine & move and bring life to the world. The colors are on point, and the lettering too.

A completely amazing package. Okay, now that I got the general gushing right out of the way, let’s talk details.

Horror stories, vampire stories in general, need a certain feel. Darker and heavier in many cases, as slick and sleek as the bloodsuckers themselves.

One of the many consistent things about this series is how each artist just inherently ‘gets’ how to make a Spider-Man book work. Paneling, movement, etc. should be graceful and flexible, and all over the place. Spider-Man is a fluid character who ends up all over the place during fights or city swinging. Mancin captures that energy as if it’s nothing.

Sprinkled into that is a lot of heavier slower panel work to mimic the conversations, but also the more cumbersome horror elements. A big lumbering ancient vampire being and far less athletic vampires will bring that sort of energy. Speaking of those vampires, they look sufficiently horrific and not just like pretty people with pointy teeth.

Nothing against pretty people with pointy teeth, but I prefer my vampires with a true bite. Really monstrous or different-looking, not afraid to show that they mean business (and their business is blood).

Marvel has long touted being “the world outside your window” when it comes to their settings. Sure, there are big fantastical things but one of their goals (and they’re not alone in that really anymore) is a world that feels realistic as a setting, where fantastical things happen. A street title such as Spider-Man needs that far more than a series that goes to other realms. Color plays a big part in that.

Valenza brings it in every issue. Various palette choices are a toned-down, sometimes partly washed out, affair chiefly with the set pieces. Allowing buildings, streets, etc. to feel just as they should to our eyes. Almost like a picture of the world around us. Plenty of shadows and shifts bring more depth and a tangible presence to the whole space.

This allows for the more unrealistic and fantastic elements such as the heroes, villains, vampires, etc. to take on the brighter standout colors. Reds blacks and other tones pop off the page. Making those figures and elements the focus of our attention, as they would be if we actually stumbled upon them in the streets. Just like the rest of the art, the colors are smooth and slick, and breathe almost feel like they have motion to them as well.

There are dual artistic changes within this issue. Mancin swoops in to tackle the pencils, while the prolific letterer Caramagna brings his styling over to this series. Dialogue and captions dance around the page, carefully guiding us through the artwork so that our eyes miss nothing as we take it all in. Moving just as fluidly as the characters, crackling with personality and emotional energies that create the right voices in our minds. Tonal/volume shifts are instantly recognizable, dropping in bolds along with shifting bubbles and bigger fonts.

I love a good scream bursting right out of a bubble. One of the neat things that caught my eye right away was the use of overlapping speech bubbles. This came in when there were multiple characters in a panel, speaking all at the same time (crowd scenes). A great way to fit multiple beats into one space and accurately sort of depict that these are people pretty much talking over one another, rather than the natural bubbles meant to showcase a natural conversation flow.

Dropping in guest stars is a delicate thing. Either they can be fully part of the story or momentary cameos meant to goose numbers. Neither version is better or worse than the other on the surface. As with all things, it boils down to execution. Ziglar knows how to execute.

Whether appearing in large spots or smaller, the various characters we’ve seen pop up in this series just work. From Misty Knight as a solid representative mentor to Blade playing the “straight man” to Miles quips/nervousness while Brielle hits that solid middle ground. All written pitch perfectly, their motivations emotions, and personalities clear, fitting easily into this part of the Marvel Universe.

Arguably Spider-Man is one of the best characters to mesh with the rest of the Marvel Universe. Some would say Wolverine, true to a degree, or Ben Grimm, very solidly true, but Spider-Man just seems to easily slide into any space/genre with ease. Suddenly being smack dab in a vampire story not only doesn’t truly bother our hero, it doesn’t faze the reader either. Just another typical Fang Friday in the ole Marvel Universe really.

All of that said, what really stands out is how the book keeps its own flavor. Plotlines, development, issues, etc. are not shoved aside just to tell this tale. It’s still the same Miles book we’ve been reading through and through. Cameos and guest star roles should do just this, enhance the series/main character’s journey without taking away from it. Ziglar completely understands that, using these characters to his and Mile’s advantage.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11 is now available from Marvel Comics.