Enjoyed this issue.
Is Americops still a thing or did it stop in Sam Wilson CA?
I finally read the first trade of Ahmed's run.
Some thoughts:
- First of all, Spider-Man isn't even in the title anymore? It's just "Miles Morales?" Why such a change from the title in single issues? To differentiate it from the last Bendis volume? To go with what the blurb at the front says of making Miles a household name? It was just weird. Reminds me of how Miles isn't marketed as Spider-Man in something where Peter is the main Spider-Man, he's just "Miles."
- I wish they didn't have to address Peter at all in this book, but it's kind of funny to me to see Ahmed address it a few times while Spencer doesn't mention Miles at all in ASM for several trades worth of stories.
- Miles' school life feels more fleshed out in these six issues then in the entire time Bendis wrote him in school. Dutcher is a bit too cartoonish for my tastes but I guess in general it feels like a fun and lively setting now, which is a good thing to build on. Also the principal reminded me that both the original Ultimate Spider-Man comic and Spectacular gave Spider-Man a black principal.
- Judge finally has a personality in the comics beyond "that other kid who Miles knows and is maybe friends with."
- It's weird that Ahmed acknowledged all the recent stuff with Rhino but used Rhino's old pre-Russian voice instead of the one most writers write him with these days.
- Definitely one of the differences between Bendis and Ahmed's writing style is that the stories feel less decompressed. That Miles, Rhino, and Cap story would probably have been stretched out to an entire trade and with far less actual, significant, dialogue if Bendis had been writing it in my opinion.
- I'm surprised the Secret Empire stuff with Cap never got mentioned once when he showed up. I would've thought for sure there would be an awkward moment between Miles and Cap over it. Then again, Miles was wearing a Captain Marvel shirt at the end and she tried to have him arrested for a future crime he didn't commit, so he probably doesn't want to dwell on those things.
- Man, what a coincidence that the two kids Miles and Rhino were after would end up being the ones pointing guns at each other.
- It was cool to see Tombstone as a prominent antagonist in this, and they treated him as more of a serious threat then Gerry Conway did in Spiral (which I think was the last time he fought a Spider-Man). It was a much better showing for Lonnie then in Into the Spider-Verse.
- It's nice to see Ahmed giving Miles more of his own villains even if "Snatcher" and "Frost Pharaoh" seemed doomed to be C-listers at best.
- Ahmed trying his best with Barbara. It's not that she's unlikeable, but I think she'll always suffer from how forced the initial development of the relationship was, but I guess at least she's the "normal girl" of Miles' supporting cast?
- Sean feels like MCU Flash if he was actually more like Flash Thompson. Isn't that ironic?
- Starling feels a little more Silver Sable/Punisher then Black Cat. She's not really a glamorous female criminal on an opposite side of the law but a driven woman who's not afraid to hurt people who deserve it. Although she does seem to have a deep attachment to a father figure judging by how she talked about Vulture. She even seemed to take pride in the fact that he robbed banks without a mask, even though that's kinda...besides the point? Not really sure where Ahmed will take her because it feels like she could very well be a deep ally or a dangerous adversary moving forward. Which I guess is the point.
- Why did they forget Tombstone's whisper in the last issue?
The Secret Empire stuff was probably easy to gloss over because Marvel made it clear at the end that HYDRA-Cap wasn't the "real" Steve Rogers, and having seen the "real" Steve Rogers pummel his HYDRA doppelganger and prove his true heroism and worthiness, I suppose Miles would rationally have less issues partnering with Steve here, at least for the greater good of saving those kids.
The spider is always on the hunt.
I'm definitely glad at the greater attention given to Miles' school life. Bendis gave him such a unique setting for a young superhero and basically did nothing with it. It's why I've been so afraid of Marvel aging Miles so fast; I was worried that no would get the chance to do anything with it.
Most of my exposure to Tombstone is from the Spectacular tv series and the PS4 game so I don't know a ton about his comics version. I personally thought they talked him up a lot only for him to go down like a chump.
Barbara was introduced in a generally disliked story and had no real development when she showed up in the main book. She had so little chance that it probably would been a better use of time to just ignore her.
I also had no idea they removed the Spider-Man subtitle in the trades. That just seems silly to me.
Probably because he didn't know Cap as well as Sam (thought he) did, so he didn't take HYDRA-Cap's actions as much to heart as Sam did. And not to get off-topic, but you'd think, with what's happening in the current Cap run, that Sam would still try to lend Steve a hand (or a wing, pun intended), right? Going back to Miles, yeah, it is a bit weird that they took "Spider-Man" off his TPB.
The spider is always on the hunt.
You know how Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales has Miles's name written the same way as Spider-Man is on the floppy's logo? That's the logo they're using for the trades.
Not the first time a TPB title has been changed. Riri's Invincible Iron Man run is being re-released as Ironheart, and there was a GLA (Great Lakes Avengers) series from the 2000s that's been re-released under the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl brand. It's not even the only example with Miles, as they're also re-releasing Ultimate Comics Spider-Man as Miles Morales.
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I still think it's strange. Removing Spider-Man from the title makes it seem like his superhero name is Miles Morales or that it's some slice of life book about a guy with that name.
You know why they've done this, right? Even in the cartoon he doesn't have a codename. They ALWAYS call him Miles. Toys also now say Miles Morales, no codename. I wonder if they'll have Ahmed write a story where he completely gives up his secret identity? Maybe by having someone find that diary and out him? That would remove the necessity for a codename. They're trying to be consistent in the way they market him, after years of using the name Kid Arachnid which he's never used in the comics (that name is from the Ultimate cartoon and was used on merch until they changed things in preparation for Into The Spider-Verse).
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"He's pure power and doesn't even know it. He's the best of us."-Matt Murdock
"I need a reason to take the mask off."-Peter Parker
"My heart half-breaks at how easy it is to lie to him. It breaks all the way when he believes me without question." Felicia Hardy