A switch in focus from Spider-Man to Prowler brings with it a dip in quality in the latest issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, but only because Miles Morales has become so entertaining. We don’t know much about Uncle Aaron quite yet, so he just didn’t make as compelling a protagonist this issue. Still, it’s a good idea to flesh out the supporting cast and play up the danger of new villain, the Scorpion. So this was an important tale, just not as entertaining.

Ultimate Spider-Man #9

And sadly, what little we did get of our young hero, wasn’t very interesting.

Comic rating: 4/5: Good.

We get another new fill-in artist this issue, David Marquez, but his style is very similar to regular artist Sara Pichelli, so I didn’t even know there was a change until I was more than halfway through the issue. So the art is quite good. But as I said, the bulk of this issue is a fight between Prowler and Scorpion. It’s a pretty standard fight, and moderately entertaining. It serves to flesh out both characters a little bit more, while setting up the eventual cliffhanger and conflict for this story: Uncle Aaron is going to try and get his nephew Spider-Man to help him fight Scorpion.

At least that sounds like it’s going to be very exciting! Join me after the jump for a synopsis and more.

The opening of this issue its the absolute best scene, and it’s classic Bendis: all snappy banter and strong characters. After last issue, Spider-Man is still wrapped up in the metal hoops of the Ringer, and NYPD Captain Frank Quaid confronts him about this fool thing he’s doing. Quaid worked with Peter Parker a few times (or at least he says he did), and he doesn’t really want to see some new kid throw his life away playing superhero. But Quaid isn’t a comforting and caring sort. He’s brutally honest and straight forward. Miles actually seems more than a little intimidated.

Click to expand – it’s worth it!

Quaid continues to try and tell Spider-Man to just quit and go home. He can tell that Miles is just a kid in a costume. But Miles, who remains mostly on the defensive, doesn’t understand why the guy is giving him such a hard time. Bendis is a master of dialogue, and it flows wonderfully back and forth between these two. Quaid is turning out to be an excellent and entertaining character.

After Miles again refuses to leave, Quaid orders his men to apprehend the kid and unmask him. That prompts Miles to make his hasty retreat. The Ringer wakes up and tries to flee, but Quaid shoots him with a Taser and takes him into custody. Job well done, officers.

And he has the right to mock your lame butt

We then cut to a badass picture of the Prowler as he breaks into the Tinkerer’s warehouse. You may recall a few issues ago that Prowler killed the Tinkerer, and apparently he’s been living in the warehouse ever since.

Why didn’t he just call himself ‘The Burglar’?

But Powler is not alone! The dastardly Scorpion is lying in wait for him, and introduces himself in that menacing ‘I’m not even going to sneak attack you’ kind of way. Scorpion also looks more than a little crazy.

He don’t need no stinkin’ ambushes

Unfortunately, Scorpion’s look still doesn’t sit right with me. Sorry, but I’ve been trained that proper, menacing super-villains should have a costume. Right now, he’s just a big burly guy in a wife-beater with a bunch of tattoos. And I realize that he has a big scorpion tattoo right in the middle of his chest, but the tattoos aren’t colored in, so they’re not very pronounced. They might as well just be black squiggles. So I dunno, he’s just not a very imposing thug yet. But this fight adds some nice new twists to his story.

Scorpion and Prowler exchange a few barbs as Scorpion explains their backstory a bit, how Scorpion has chased Prowler to New York City from Mexico. Also, Scorpion has brought some armed goons with him. They surround Prowler and the fight is on! But Prowler is wielding all manner of funky weaponry and gadgets thanks to the Tinkerer’s warehouse. First he tries an electricity suit. Then he tries to tackle Scorpion, but the larger man just smashes him away.

Scorpion rants about how he’s now planted his flag in New York City, and he plans to become its new kingpin of crime.

Prowler lands in a pile of super-villain costumes, and then jumps up wearing a gigantic wing harness – a la the Vulture. He aims the wings at Scorpion and his goons and starts firing the razor-sharp feather blades at them.

Vulture, eat your heart out!

The goons are torn to shreds, but somehow the Scorpion not only survives, but he immediately starts to climb back to his feet. He mocks the Prowler and says that Prowler has no idea of Scorpion’s power, or where he comes from. Uncle Aaron is scared, but Scorpion just attacks again. Prowler fires some more feather-blades and Scorpion takes another dose, but he’s quickly back on his feet.

This time, however, Prowler has flown the coop. He’s up on the roof and running for his life.

Run Prowler, run!

We cut to a 2-page spread back at Miles’ school, the Brooklyn Visions Academy. Miles is still out as Spider-Man, so one of the teachers wants to know why he isn’t in his room at lights out. Ganke tries to cover for him, sending the teacher to check a bathroom. No Miles. When the teacher comes back to the room, though, Miles has returned. The teacher is still mad, wondering how Miles somehow got passed him. Miles and Ganke stick to their story, but the teacher is still a little suspicious. Nothing he can prove, though.

When the teacher leaves, their other roommate, Judge, asks what the heck is going on between the two of them. He knew that Miles wasn’t in the bathroom and wasn’t in the bedroom.

Miles and Ganke perform a silly comedy routine of covering stuff up, and Judge just shrugs and tells them, “Whatevs.”

Classic Judge

The issue ends with Miles lying awake in bed and receiving a text from Ganke, who is in the bed below him. Ganke saw the stuff with the Ringer on TV, and Miles says he hates all the lying. Ganke asks if it’s worth it, and Miles replied, “We’ll see.”

Later that night, Miles is still awake when he gets a text from his Uncle Aaron. Miles says he doesn’t want to meet with Aaron, but Aaron makes him an offer: help his uncle with one problem and he’ll leave Miles alone. Then he tells Miles to meet him on a hotel roof. The last few panels are a zoom in on Miles as he furrows his brow, ready for…battle?

So yeah, pretty normal issue. The story moves forward, there are some funny bits, and mostly the supporting cast is fleshed out. Uncle Aaron straddles the line between evil and maybe not so evil, while the Scorpion is clearly a bad guy. And the cliffhanger ending points towards Miles facing off against this monstrous foe. Meanwhile, Captain Quaid looks like he’s going to be a lot of fun.

Once again, it looks like future issues are going to be more awesome than this one.