Ultimate Spider-Man is firing on all cylinders, baby! Last issue was absolutely perfect in its tense dialogue and character study, and this issue is absolutely perfect with its fantastic action and excitement. If I haven’t declared it already, this is the issue where Miles Morales is cemented in my mind as a new and exciting Spider-Man. The pain of Peter Parker’s young, unnecessary death still hurts, but writer Brian Michael Bendis is at the top of his game telling a decidedly Spider-Man story with a new, fascinating protagonist.

Ultimate Spider-Man #11

Not that I’m saying Miles should replace Peter everywhere, but for a comic in the Ultimate Universe, this is an absolutely fantastic story.

Comic rating: 5/5: Great!

Everything works in this issue. The dialogue, the art, the action, the energy. This is Miles Morales finally getting into a fight that actually lasts more than a single punch. This is Miles being unable to come up with a good quip in the middle of a brawl. This is Miles actually getting smashed around – though he shrugs it all off fairly well. This kid seems untouchable so far. I suppose that’s one complaint I would have: Miles still hasn’t had any trouble being a superhero. I realize it would be horrible to put a kid so young into a good scrape, but not even his costume gets torn. Peter Parker was put through the ringer. Miles seems almost impervious.

And the teaser cliffhanger at the end is absolutely fantastic! Can’t wait for the next issue! Too bad the Ultimate Universe will be starting another stupid crossover soon. Poor Miles.

We open with a flashback to 5 years ago, when Uncle Aaron earned some of his ‘cool uncle’ stripes by treating Miles to a Drunken Master movie marathon. Next up is Rumble in the Bronx, but they’ll be saving that for another day. And Aaron reminds Miles that if his dad asks, then they were just doing Miles’ homework.

Flash forward to today, and Spider-Man is meeting on a rooftop with the Prowler in order to get into a big, dangerous fight. My how time flies and kids grow up.

Prowler rockin’ that badass duster

Prowler tells Spidey to give him 2 minutes with Scorpion before Miles makes his entrance. Inside the club, Scorpion is hustling the owner with a big speech about how he’s going to be the new kingpin in town. Scorpion is just lounging in a big comfy seat, the room filled with armed gang members and hot babes. His speech is all about creating a ruthless criminal organization. And it’s all very impressive. Until Prowler shows up (sans mask) and warns Scorpion to get out of town.

Scorpion, of course, is all bravado and boasting – until Spider-Man smashes through the overhead window, surprising everyone. But the arrival of Spidey doesn’t scare anyone, and instead guns are drawn.

Then the shooting starts.

Human shields are not cool, Uncle Aaron

What follows is a pretty awesome action scene. Artist David Marquez continues to make me forget that Sara Pichelli ever worked on this comic. His Spider-Man looks awesome (I definitely love Miles’ costume), and he does fantastic faces. There’s shooting, there’s kicking, there’s Scorpion grabbing Spider-Man by the leg and smashing him into the floor. It’s a fun fight. Prowler even whips out a Taser at one point.

One little nitpick with this issue is that sometimes the action doesn’t exactly flow from panel to panel. One character will be standing across the room one moment, and then be grabbing Spidey the next. Or a moment after Spidey has been smashed into the floor, he’s up and kicking someone else in the face. At one point, Scorpion has been laid out at Spidey’s feet, but in the next panel Aaron says he’s getting away – and sure enough, Scorpion suddenly went from lying at Spidey’s feet to on the whole other side of the room. Did Spidey not notice? And again, nothing that Scorpion does to Spider-Man seems to stick. For example, there’s a punch to the face.

I like how the mask eyes wince like that

But Spidey shakes it off after a little wobbliness. He also gets his head smashed into the floor and other badness, but there’s not even a tear in the costume. It’s a little disappointing. I’ve been waiting for Miles to get into a really tough fight. But in the end, Scorpion goes down like all the rest. In fact, once again, Miles’ electro-sting is what takes out the big guy. Scorpion doesn’t even get to use his scorpion-tail chain weapon! Considering all the build-up to this character, it’s a little disappointing to see him taken down so easily.

Though one thing to note is that Miles is terrible at making jokes during the fight. Which is a hilarious change from the often quite witty and funny Peter Parker. Miles can still be funny, but he’s definitely not quippy or laugh-out-loud funny like Peter.

At any rate, Miles turns the Scorpion over to the police.

Easier said than done, and he said a lot

The cops are less than thrilled and want to take Spider-Man into custody – though the crowd of spectators is absolutely joyous at having a new Spider-Man. Miles goes invisible and escapes back into the club to get his Uncle Aaron, but the Prowler has high-tailed it out of there, much to Miles’ dismay. He makes his escape, leaving the police with the Scorpion and all his beat-up goons.

Miles makes it back home to his dorm room to find Ganke freaking out about Miles taking down the Scorpion, which is all over the news. Then Miles gets a text from his uncle, who doesn’t answer when Miles asks why he ran off. Aaron instead tells Miles to get some rest, because they are just getting started. Miles tells his Uncle ‘no’, and Uncle Aaron suggests that maybe he should call Miles’ father.

Oh no he didn’t!

It is on! Miles is one unhappy camper! He wasn’t too comfortable with taking down the Scorpion, telling Aaron after they’d won that it didn’t feel like a win. Sure they took down the Scorpion, but Miles doesn’t feel right about any of this. Looks like we might be in store for a showdown!

But Spider-Man vs. the Prowler isn’t the only showdown teased in this issue.

The last page cliffhanger reveals that Aunt May and Gwen have returned home from Paris and are moving back into their old house. May telephones Tony Stark and asks him for one more favor…

Oh no she didn’t!

Now it is definitely on!

This story is vintage Spider-Man, and I think that’s what I’m loving so much about Miles Morales – at least as far as Brian Michael Bendis is writing him. He’s taking all of the themes and problems that traditionally plagued Peter Parker, but filtering them through this new, engaging protagonist. Miles is just a kid trying to do right after stumbling into some super-powers. There are questions of power, responsibility, family and more, everything that Peter Parker has to deal with. But Miles isn’t Peter Parker. He isn’t a clone of Peter Parker. And he isn’t just a futurized version of Peter from the year 2099. Miles is his own man, and we’re watching him grow into that man.

And I, for one, am definitely enjoying this coming of age story. Hopefully it won’t end anytime soon, especially when we consider that Ultimate Peter Parker died when he was still 16 or so. I would hate to think that Miles will be stuck at 13 forever.