The new face behind the Ultimate Spidey mask has been revealed: Miles Morales, a half-black, half-Hispanic superhero. He’ll be taking over for Peter Parker, who was killed by the Green Goblin and the Sinister Six in the recent ‘Death of Spider-Man’ story arc. I’m willing to give Miles a chance, even though I think this entire ‘Death of Spider-Man’ idea is just stupid and should never have been done. Killing Peter Parker at this point in his Ultimate Spider-Man career reeks of a marketing stunt. Especially since the reveal that Peter would die, how he died and the identity of Miles were all spoiled in news stories in USA Today before the actual comics comes out on Wednesday.

But I suppose there is potential in injecting some new blood into the Spider-Man legacy and seeing what can be done.

Miles Morales, our new Ultimate Spider-Man

First of all, let me explain that this isn’t the ‘real’ Spider-Man. The character that debuted in the 1960s is still going strong in Amazing Spider-Man as part of the normal Marvel Universe. We’re talking about the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Back in 2000, Marvel decided to create a new line of books told with a contemporary style. They retold the origins of all their popular characters, putting them in a more modern world and focusing on character. Most of these early books were amazing, especially Ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimates (new name for the Avengers).

The Ultimate Marvel  Universe focused on characters first, superheroes second. The likes of Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and more were treated as real people dealing with the realistic problems that come with being a superhero. Peter Parker has to juggle high school along with getting a job and a girlfriend. They were fun, adventurous stories with a strong heart. Readers cared just as much about Peter’s social life, if not more, than they did about Spider-Man fighting super-villains.

One of my all-time favorite Ultimate Spidey scenes involves Peter and his friends sitting around a campfire, when one of them suddenly discovers that she is a mutant and she freaks out and runs away. Some of the friends know that Peter is Spidey, and some don’t, and those that know want to protect his secret identity. But one of those who doesn’t know (or at least they think he doesn’t know) just stands up and says something like, ‘boy, wouldn’t it be great if there was a superhero around who could go comfort our mutant friend, wink wink’. It’s a really powerful and fun moment for all involved, and shows depths and care in crafting these characters.

Credit series creator and author for 160 issues Brian Michael Bendis. He writes very fun dialogue.

The new Spider-Man costume

Most recently, Ultimate Spider-Man has been a good a read as ever under Bendis’ pen. Peter’s social life was still the primary focus, and things were looking up since most New Yorkers supported him as a hero. Even notorious skinflint newspaperman J. Jonah Jameson had come around to support Spidey after finding out he was really Peter Parker, and having his life saved by Peter. There was even a fun subplot in which the Human Torch and Iceman, two other teenage heroes, had moved into Aunt May’s home because they had nowhere else to go. Peter had pals to hang out with!

There was even this cute new girl at school who just happened to be one of Spidey’s super-villains – but Peter was going to be nice to her at school. I really wanted to see where that story would go!

But then the people at Marvel decided that Peter Parker had to die.

When the Human Torch (of the normal Marvel Universe) was killed in a storyline earlier this year, that too was covered in USA Today and Marvel got a big bump in comic sales. I don’t have the direct quote, but some marketing guy at Marvel afterwards said they were going to kill a character every quarter because it clearly led to more publicity and sales. Such a statement is insanely stupid. But here we are and Ultimate Peter Parker is dead, and it got covered in USA Today.

Somewhere on the web, Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort explained the following:

Everybody takes a blow to the gut at some point where a story they thought was going left suddenly is going right because someone had a better take on it. But those turns don’t happen against the will of the creators involved. If Brian was absolutely dead set on not killing Ultimate Spider-Man, it wouldn’t have happened, or he wouldn’t have written it. If we were convinced that Ultimate Spider-Man must die and he didn’t want to do it, it would have been Jeph Loeb or Jonathan Hickman or Nick Spencer. But the fact that Brian wrote it should tell you that he got on board with the idea. He came to embrace it. The first moment it came up I’m sure it sent a chill down his spine, but it’s a story. He’s a storyteller sitting there, thinking about it, tossing the ideas around and seeing if it works. And he found a way it worked for him.

Basically, it wasn’t Bendis’ idea to kill Peter Parker, and if Bendis didn’t want to kill him, they’d find somebody else to write it. That’s sort of a punch to the gut for a long-standing creator. Marketing trumps creativity!

So yeah, I think killing Peter Parker was a dumb move. His stories were still very fun to read, he had a lot going on in his life and there were no signs that his end was near when the Secret Six suddenly comes around to kill him.

But this doesn’t mean I won’t give Miles Morales a try. First of all, it will still be written by Bendis. That guy is great. One thing I’ve read about this new Spider-Man is that they’re going to keep a lot of the main themes, especially ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’, they’re just going to try it out in someone else’s world. I think I can get behind that idea. Peter Parker has almost always been Spider-Man, and his supporting cast has always been the same: Aunt May, Mary Jane, Jameson, etc. The world of Spider-Man is a comfortable and familiar world.

Where is the harm in visiting another world? It sounds like they’ll be keeping a lot of the same themes of Spider-Man, but put them in a different environment with new characters and challenges. What does Miles Morales’ family think of him becoming the new Spider-Man? How did he make his costume? How did he get his powers? What does he do with them? How will Jameson and the Daily Bugle react?

I think it could be a very fun series. I’m just upset that it had to happen over Peter Parker’s dead body.