Far From Home — Reviewing ‘Miles Morales: Spider-Man’ #27

Hopefully, Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood spider-hero has a passport because he’s sure logging the miles to find a vampirism cure. Wakanda and its Gods very well might hold the key to Miles Morales return to the full land of the living.

A bold new chapter in the adventure kicks off with Miles Morales: Spider-Man #27 from Cody Ziglar, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Bryan Valenza, and Cory Petit.

Not a single month will pass without my professing a deep profound love for this series. It scratches just about every single itch that I might have as a lifelong Spider-fan, and a big giant fan of Miles Morales. Every issue a banger, as some more hip and youthful folks might say, never missing the mark.

That holds true with this issue.

Miles and T’Challa are a solid pairing, playing off one another so well. The way that Ziglar writes Black Panther just resonates with me. It’s just the right mix between the more regal (bordering on arrogance at times) and genuine desire to help and protect. Often, versions of the former King tend to skew a bit more to the regal, arrogant, and out of touch side, than the part of him that has made him a hero.

Seeing Shift get some more spotlight and a solid look at life was just so good, especially with Ganke as his ‘guide’ (to keep up a ruse). While I do miss seeing Miles family (it’s been quite a few months), I do love that Ziglar keeps finding ways to fit his supporting cast in as much as possible.

We find ourselves picking up on the previous volume of Black Panther’s title, with them hanging out in Birnin T’Chaka and supporting players N’yobi and Beisa playing a role. Just these small inclusions help really play back into the old idea of what being a shared universe meant. Status quo, characters, and history come into play within a story. It doesn’t hit you over the head, but rather, presents in an organic way that fits the story.

Ziglar is so good at doing that stuff. Mostly because his character writing chops are top-notch just like his story pacing and plotting skills.

We get an artistic shift as Federico Vicentini takes a break and taps in Di Nicuolo.

Having played on the other side of the street of the “Big Two” publishers lately, it is nice to see Di Nicuolo over on this side too. I’ve always been a fan of the way his artwork comes together. It fits into the more sort of whimsical style of comic book art, with plenty of depth and weight and a touch of sharper rough textures to boot. Di Nicuolo is a solid choice. Many of the recent works he’s done are in books that straddle the line between light and dark.

Superheroes are naturally outlandish or fantastical in nature. Spider-Man, in particular, has an even more chaotic and fluid feeling than most other heroes, just by nature of the powers and the way that they move. Just like the regular team, and previous guests, Di Nicuolo captures that frantic yet organized energy in the action scenes. With figures moving around in big bold ways as panels slash and splash across the page.

All of the artwork has an overall grounded but whimsical feel, helped by some of the color palette choices. Valenza remains aboard to do what he has done best in all these issues. He uses colors that are more natural or toned-down at times to really give a solid backdrop for the story, with buildings and other elements brimming with familiar energy.

This leaves some of the flashier or more vibrant color tones for the costumes, heroics, and power elements that splash across the pages as the story moves on. Birnin T’Chaka and the Brooklyn Visions Academy have very different feelings to them as we move through the story. They have similar, yet shifted, color palette styles, with the former having a lot of darker tones mixed into things while the latter tending to lean towards lighter and friendlier tones. Showcasing the difference between the heavier and darker city and the welcoming school setting. Yet, both carry their own gorgeous energy at the same time.

Characters are differentiated with speech styles, levels of verbosity, and patterns are found in this issue. As always, Petit makes them all stand out by giving their words space and dropping in all their personality and energy. This allows the words move across the page fluidly with the right modifiers to speak volumes.

A couple of pages have a quite a bit of dialogue within panels that happen to be closer up than others. Yet, the amount of words never takes away from the panels. It slips around and frames the rest of the artwork so easily, guiding the reader’s eyes through the page like a well-traveled path.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #27 is now available from Marvel Comics.