Why Can’t We Be Friends? — Reviewing ‘Miles Morales: Spider-Man’ #30

Sometimes a day with friends just ends with fun and companionship. Other times, it means taking on a gun-toting duo. Father and daughter mercenaries out to secure a contract from a really not-nice person. Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man dead in their sights.

That kid sure can’t catch a break. Forget the Parker luck, the Morales luck isn’t much better these days.

Part two of the “Pools of Blood” crossover hits the pages of Miles Morales: Spider-Man #30. It’s a spider-sense heavy, blades twirling, symbiote dog growling good time from Cody Ziglar, Luigi Zagaria, Bryan Valenza, and Cory Petit.

While throwing these characters together was nowhere on my bingo card, I’ll admit I’m quite intrigued and a bit excited. Not shocking really though since I really enjoy both books and love what Ziglar has been doing with each title as a writer.

Some good give-and-take goes down here as the characters battle back and forth. Spider-Man easily holds his own against the mercenaries, giving them “a bit of a what for” after what they brought upon his brother Shift. Shooting the wrong Spider-Man will definitely bring some major storms from Trouble Mountain down upon your head.

Ziglar lets the character’s actions do an equal part of the talking here, filling the scripted pages with a big fight scene.

Compared to the previous Marvel series (where I first saw his work), Zagaria has far more room to cut loose here, showing off dynamic action chops with inspired paneling choices. There is a somewhat lighter and whimsical feeling to the artwork compared to what we normally see in the book. Tapping into a lot of the same energy that drives Federico Vicentini regularly. Plenty of that great depth that a superhero book needs while letting the characters smoothly move through the spaces.

Character faces look a bit different than usual, kind of stretchy, but still resemble themselves. They feature a lot of emotional bandwidth, so that we always get the most out of the book’s deeper side.

Per usual, Valenza kills it with the colors. Shifting things from the previous few issues, there is a more muted tone in various spaces. Building up the backdrops and letting the vibrant colors that do emerge have more space to breathe. Really hitting the highs of some of the colors so that the heroic/fantastical portions really sing.

As much fighting as there is, the characters do also use their words.

Petit stretches those lettering muscles, always grabbing on tight to character voices and doesn’t let go. Whether those he writes regularly in this series or the numerous guests that are along for the ride. Slipping in all the right modifications to let the words stand out and resonate through the pages. Emotions dripping from each letter as they should.

Sure hope that Miles Morales’ first meeting with Deadpool’s symbiote dog daughter Princess works out well. Guess we’ll find out over in Deadpool!

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #30 is now available from Marvel Comics.