The new Ultimate Spider-Man series slows down with issue #4 so that we can all catch up to what came before: the death of Peter Parker. Miles Morales has his spider-powers, so now it’s time to find out how and why he became the new Spider-Man. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense to tie his decisions directly into the death of the first Spider-Man. But on the other hand, this makes for a slow issue filled with moments we’ve already seen before. And it doesn’t give us any new insight or surprises to go along with those moments.

Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #4

But a last page cliffhanger promises some excitement for issue #5.

Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.

The low rating does not reflect poor quality, but instead the lack of story. By all means, this issue is written quite well and Miles continues to be a compelling protagonist. But as I said, this issue is just a retread of everything we’ve seen before. The story of Miles Morales has finally caught up  to where Peter Parker’s Ultimate Spider-Man series left off. So this issue is basically just a paint-by-numbers look at what Miles was up to in between Peter’s death and his fight with the Kangaroo from Ultimate Fallout #4.

We don’t see any character beyond Miles and Ganke and we still don’t have his black and red Spider-Man costume. Though this issue does mark the start of Miles’ first-person narration thought balloons. That might liven things up from here on out.

Let me first explain the chronology between Peter Parker and Miles Morales, so you can better understand this issue. Peter was Spider-Man for the first 100+ issues of Ultimate Spider-Man. Then he was killed in a spectacular battle with the Green Goblin and the Sinister Six. Following his death, Marvel printed a mini-series called Ultimate Fallout, which featured his funeral and a few other post-death stories. In Ultimate Fallout #4, Miles made his published debut in a fight with the Kangaroo, an Australian criminal. Miles wore a cheap Spider-Man costume, and spectators told him it was in bad taste to wear such a costume so soon after Peter Parker was killed.

After Ultimate Fallout, Marvel started publishing Miles’ story in Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man. This series started several months prior to Peter Parker’s death, when Miles first got his spider-powers.  You can read about that in my earlier reviews. But then as we read in issue #3, Miles decided not to use his spider-powers to be a superhero. He just wanted to be a regular kid. So several months passed with Miles and his best friend Ganke rooming together at a prestigious charter school in New York City.

Issue #4 starts off with the fateful battle between Peter Parker and the Green Goblin – recreated in glorious fashion by artist Sara Pichelli. Where has she been all our lives?

A depressing blast to the past

Miles and Ganke are at their school when the announcement is made about the big superhero brawl, and that Spider-Man has been hurt. Miles is freaked out, and so he decides to sneak out of the school to investigate. He sees the smoke rising in the distance as he makes his way towards the scene of the battle, which took place in front of Peter Parker and Aunt May’s home in Forest Hills, Queens. Miles arrives, but he’s too late. Miles watches from the crowd of spectators as Peter Parker dies in the arms of his girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson.

Miles gets closer and has a small moment with Gwen Stacy, where he asks her Spider-Man’s name. She tells him that he was Peter Parker.

Miles then returns to his school and has a heart-to-heart with Ganke. He’s angry at himself for letting Spider-Man down. Miles thinks that if he had only become a superhero back when he first got his powers, then he could have been there to help Spider-Man. His whole life would have changed, and instead of being just a normal kid at school, he could have been Spider-Man’s partner. He could have been the help that Spider-Man needed in that fight. Instead, Spidey’s dead.

Bummer

This is a very cool twist on the ‘guilt’ that Peter Parker always felt for the death of his Uncle Ben. All this time, I thought for sure that something would happen to Miles’ parents or his Uncle Aaron to propel him into becoming Spider-Man. And I was worried about that, because I don’t think writer Brian Michael Bendis has done enough with the parents or Aaron to make us care. What a fool I was to not foresee Bendis using the death of Spider-Man to influence Miles. It’s so obvious now. What better, cleaner, way to get the kid to care than by using that very important moment in Spider-Man history. It works well, especially when Ganke tries to comfort Miles by telling him that maybe he got spider-powers not to help Spider-Man, but to be waiting in the wings to take over for him.

From the look on Miles’ face, he thinks Ganke has the right idea.

Miles and Ganke then attend Peter Parker’s funeral. But since they are nobodies, they just stand outside in the crowd gathered outside the church. A scene from Ultimate Fallout #1 where Aunt May arrives at the church is redrawn by Pichelli, this time showing us that Miles was standing nearby and heard everything. Once again Miles tries to have a moment with Gwen Stacy, asking him why Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Gwen gets a little huffy and lays it all out for Miles (pretty thickly, in my opinion). She tells Miles about Uncle Ben, and quotes for him ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’.

Did you get that? Write it down, Miles

This scene rubbed me the wrong way. It’s a little heavy-handed. Obviously this part wasn’t shown in Ultimate Fallout #1, the whole thing where Gwen starts huffing and puffing at the two kids in the crowd. Personally I like to think that Miles just wanted to talk with the pretty blonde girl. Other than that, it’s just a forced introduction between Miles and Peter Parker’s motto.

Miles should have his own motto.

He’s definitely going to get his own costume, as we cut to Miles trying to sketch out his costume like the first Spider-Man movie. He’s drawing the black and red costume that he’ll eventually end up with, but Miles is getting frustrated. But don’t worry, Ganke’s got him covered.

I've seen worse Spider-Man costumes

Ganke brings Miles a Spider-Man costume that he himself wore for Halloween last year. The two banter about it for a moment before Miles accepts the costume and goes out to be Spider-Man. Once in costume, Miles really lets his powers cut loose. He has a blast jumping over rooftops as Spider-Man – which we see in the newly introduced narration boxes (which have replaced thought balloons in comics today). I’m not sure how to feel about this new addition just yet. Miles’ thoughts have always been closely guarded, giving the reader glances and sometimes hard-to-read facial expressions. I’ve kind of liked that. It’s more subtle than having Miles scream his thoughts at us in bubble-form. Besides the fact that the new narration boxes don’t really offer any great insights into Miles’ thought processes.

Anyway, on his first time out in costume, Miles does indeed find some crime. Cue Ultimate Fallout #4.

We skip right over the fight with Kangaroo, and instead fast-forward to Miles reading an article about the fight in the Daily Bugle. He’s depressed because the Bugle writer really lays it on thick how ‘too soon’ Miles’ attempts to replace Spider-Man feel. Everyone seems to agree that it was in poor taste. Miles is depressed again, with Ganke trying to cheer him up. Then their third roommate, whose name escapes me right now, knocks on the door and complains that it shouldn’t be locked. Ganke opens the door to let him in, and some school official overhears the argument. He yells at Miles and Ganke about locking doors in the school.

Miles panics about how he’s going to be Spider-Man while living in such a strict school.

Doesn’t much matter though, because Miles immediately goes back out to try his hand again at being Spider-Man. He wants to practice a little with his powers, especially the odd buzzing in his head. He doesn’t know what it means – but we do. Miles has the early warning spider-sense! Good for him. Too bad he doesn’t figure it out in time to save himself from getting kicked in the face…

…by Spider-Woman!

He's totally checking her out

Fantastic cameo appearance! I’m a huge fan of Ultimate Spider-Woman, and wish she’d made more appearances in Peter Parker’s life. She’s a great character to show up and give Miles a talking to, because essentially she is Peter Parker. Spider-Woman is a clone of Peter Parker, whose DNA was altered to make the clone female instead of male. It led to a lot of hilariously awkward moments between Peter and his clone, as well as Peter’s friends, who thought the clone was cute. So I’m excited for issue #5.

Especially considering the disappointment of issue #4.

This issue is basically just weak behind-the-scenes material drawing a line from Peter’s death to his funeral to Miles fighting the Kangaroo. Nothing particularly interesting happens to Miles between those moments. Yes, he was there to see Peter die, and he was outside the church, but there were no surprises or twists or meaningful moments that happened to him. Just him watching or talking to Gwen do not make for meaningful moments. Miles getting his first costume is funny, but fluff. As is the aftermath of his fight with the Kangaroo, where he’s depressed at the newspaper article. There just isn’t any depth to these scenes or any new insights into Miles’ character. The new narration boxes don’t even really tell us anything about him.

Ganke, likewise, is pretty routine in this issue. He’s just there to give Miles someone to talk to about Spider-Man. He’s just a sounding board. And again, no appearances from Miles’ parents or his Uncle Aaron.

The scene with their third roommate and the school official doesn’t count as a scene. It went on for way too long and told us nothing we didn’t already know or couldn’t already assume about the school setting.

So there you have it. Nothing happens in this issue that we haven’t already seen before, and Miles doesn’t progress as a character, despite the fact that this is the first issue of him going out into the city as Spider-Man. The characters are all stagnant and the action is specifically recreated from earlier issues. But it’s well-written and very well-drawn stagnation.