The spidery world of Miles Morales grows a little bit bigger in this second issue. Some of it is welcome and exciting, and some of it is too much too soon. But once again writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli knock one out of the park in terms of character and storytelling. Miles takes a few big steps in this issue and learns some important life lessons – not to mention spider lessons. That the reader gets to go along for the ride is the real treat.

Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #2

The All-New Ultimate Spider-Man is off to a good start. But I don’t think the characters have yet earned the heavy drama in this issue, at least not Miles’ father.

There will be spoilers!

Once again, decompression is the name of the game. Bendis is taking his time introducing us to new star Miles Morales, and he’s also taking the time to introduce Miles to his new spider-powers. We all saw Miles get bitten by the bug last issue. Now it’s time to see what that means. I do not mind the decompression, especially not from Bendis. He practically introduced the concept to the world of comics with the original Ultimate Spider-Man. He writes great dialogue and really delves into the personality of his characters. Unfortunately, we only get a taste of Bendis’ usual snappy banter in this issue. Too much is given over to a long speech by Miles’ father. It’s a nice speech, but we don’t yet know the character enough for it to matter.

At least the rest of the issue is Miles having a goofy, youthful conversation with his dorky friend Ganke.

So it seems like Miles’ dad is being set up as the ‘Uncle Ben’ character. While that’s a fine role for him, I just don’t know the guy well enough to truly feel the depth of the speech he gives to Miles. I don’t even know his name, or remember if it was mentioned last issue.

We at least get a really good sense of who Miles’ dad is and what’s shaped him in life, but since we don’t know anything else about the man or his relationship with his son, it rings hollow. After Miles ran away at the end of last issue, his dad now sits him down for a heart-to-heart about right and wrong. He tells Miles all of his secret shames, like how he used to be a thief and spent some time in prison. It reads like it’s clearly supposed to be an important, but again, it’s not yet earned. Still, it’s an important lesson in shaping Miles’ and his future career as a superhero. Just like last issue we saw how Miles dealt with winning the lottery to go to a good school. He didn’t seem pleased.

Unfortunately, we don’t really get a sense of Miles’ reaction to his father’s revelations. He gives his father a look, and you can tell that something is definitely turning in the boy’s head, but I just can’t read it. I’m sure it will come up later.

Then his father blows it with anti-mutant sentiments. But more on this latter. Let’s dive right into the issue.

We start out with Miles experimenting with his new powers. The issue picks up right where the last one left off, with Miles on the streets of Brooklyn. He went invisible last issue, and now he has greater speed and agility. He is able to jump over a couple of guys carrying a TV. But it’s a crowded sidewalk and people start panicking. It gets worse when Miles goes invisible again. He runs off into an alley, scared and alone in these strange new powers.

Poor lonely, invisible boy

That’s a great way to start off this new character. Miles is not going to immediately run out and be king of New York. He’s only about 13-years-old, I think. He’s scared and the people were freaking out. So it’s very understandable that he’d be scared. Definitely helps the reader identify with him and get the readers on his side. You just want to tell him it’s going to be OK.

Miles eventually leaves the alley and runs into some punk kids on a stoop. Miles is just minding his own business, deep in thought, when the kids decide they want to steal his backpack. Miles protests and zaps the punk with a new spider-zapping power. It’s later called a ‘venom strike’ in the comic. Alright. But it definitely zaps the punk and Miles takes off.

At this point, several of the people on the street who have witnessed Miles’ powers are calling him a mutant. The X-Men are mutants, and they’re a big deal in the Ultimate Universe. There’s a lot of prejudice against mutants.

Fearful that he’s a mutant, Miles runs to the house of his best and possibly only friend in the world: Ganke. He’s a chubby Asian kid who likes playing with Legos and is wearing a ‘Frog-Man’ T-shirt. He’s my kind of kid. So in a scene reminiscent of when Peter Parker first told his girlfriend Mary Jane about his powers, Miles shows them to Ganke. Miles hasn’t mastered how to use them yet, so there’s a little difficulty. Bendis really lets the dialogue fly in this scene. The two banter back and forth, with Ganke coming off as a fun and funny sort of guy. He cares for his friend, but Miles is just acting weird.

Then Miles shows Ganke his ‘venom strike’.

Panel of the year!

Miles explodes the Lego pirate ship that Ganke was building. Just look at that drawing. It’s brilliant. Pichelli is a fantastic artist, and I can’t help but wonder where she’s been all this time. I think this is the first comic I’ve ever read with her at the helm. Her characters are perfectly realistic, with real emotion and depth to their expressions. They look like real people, and that’s exactly how I love my comic book art. Realism is what’s needed in the Ultimate Universe, it’s what makes this universe special and different from the normal Marvel Universe.

I can’t wait to see her drawing Miles in costume fighting real super-villains.

After Miles and Ganke debate his being a mutant – and Ganke tries to convince Miles that this is really cool – Miles’ dad arrives. He guessed Miles would run to his best friend’s house. The pair head back out onto the street, with Miles worried that he’s in trouble. Instead, his dad sits him down on a bench and has this big speech I’d mentioned earlier. Miles’ dad confirms that Uncle Aaron from last issue is definitely the Ultimate Prowler. He also tells Miles that both he and Uncle Aaron used to be thieves together, and that they both served time in prison for their crimes. But Miles’ dad wised up, got married, had a kid and has been trying to live a good life. He never wanted to tell Miles about his time as a thief, but Miles keeps hanging out with Uncle Aaron.

The speech basically boils down to the idea that it’s easy to be a bad guy and do bad things. But it takes real strength of character and hard, fulfilling work to be a good guy.

I have no idea what his name is. I’m pretty sure it’s not Ben.

Miles’ dad tells his son that Miles can talk to him about anything. But just when Miles is about to tell his father about the spider-powers, the Human Torch and Iceman cut through the park. Everyone’s shocked, and Miles’ dad is more than a little upset at the mutants. He just wishes someone would round up all the mutants and take them away, so that normal human beings could live in peace.

Not the sort of thing you want to tell your son on the day he’s worried he might be a mutant.

Anyway, the two head home and we cut to Miles asleep in bed. His phone buzzes with a text from Ganke. Seems the little nerd did some research and has discovered that Miles is not a mutant. He sends Miles a link to a Daily Bugle article about Spider-Man and how Spider-Man got his powers. I guess Peter gave an in-costume interview to a reporter, revealing that he was bitten by a radioactive spider. And since that’s what happened to Miles, Ganke realizes that Miles’ isn’t a mutant…he’s a Spider-Man!

Miles is shocked and still a little scared. But now he’s curious. Then with one foot in front of the other, Miles walks up his bedroom wall and climbs onto the ceiling.

“Oh no.” he says.

Very good second issue. We’re learning more about Miles’ powers at the same time that Miles is learning. It will help to get behind him as the new Spider-Man to start at the very beginning and grow alongside the character. So far, I’m definitely liking Miles. He’s nice and friendly, and has real emotions like fear and loneliness. But…he’s not a complete character just yet. He’s very quiet. And though the art is doing a great job expressing his emotions, sometimes they can be hard to read. You can tell the boy is thinking, we just don’t have any window into what he’s thinking.

Hopefully once he puts the costume on he’ll open up a bit more.

Same with the dad. That was a nice speech and all, but we don’t know the man enough to really appreciate the speech. And Miles’ mother and Uncle Aaron are absent for the entire issue. I hope these characters aren’t killed off or anything before we even get to know them.

What did you think of the issue? Sound off in the comments.

And read my review of issue #1 right here.