Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #9 review by Wolverine12

[Wolverine12]

spoilers:

Miles says Norman is dead, I don't believe him We learned some more details on what Jefferson did for Fury while he was a double agent Miles and his dad reconcile

end of spoilers

So this will be a very short review because not much happened in this issue that didn't already happen last issue. Jefferson continues to tell Miles about his time working for Fury while infiltrating the Kingpin's crime syndicate and then he admits that he abandoned Miles when he needed him most. They reconcile, end of story. This is the second issue in a row where I am having trouble expressing my opinion of the book. It wasn't poorly written by any means, the dialogue is good and there is very little "Bendis speak" if any at all. However the last two issues certainly could have been done in one issue alone if not half an issue. My guess is that Bendis is giving us a "break" from all the action issues but for me I don't really think it was needed seeing as how long it took for the last story to wrap up, and I use wrap up lightly because there are obviously a lot of questions still hanging in the air. I did enjoy the book but I was really left wanting more, hopefully we pick up the pace next issue but I won't be holding my breath.

What can I say about Marquez that hasn't already been said. The man is amazing and I will cherish every issue we are lucky enough to have him draw in the UU. It is almost as if there are two artists drawing the book, one for the flash backs and one for current day. His flashbacks are much grittier and darker than the current events stuff and it just really gives it the feel of seeing a memory unfold and then being brought back to reality. I don't think that I have ever mentioned a colorist before but with this issue I felt compelled to say that Ponsor is really hitting a home run. Again his colors really add to setting the stage for the past and present. I hope they never leave.

Overall it was a good read but definitely a filler issue. If you buy the book every month than I think you will enjoy it but if you only pick up arcs that are exciting you can skip it.

Story: 6/10
Writing: 8/10
Art: 10/10
Overall: 7/10

[Plawsky]

Man, I liked the issue - I think it's some of Bendis's best writing on the title in years. Very little Bendis-speak, cool continuity nods, classic characters, street-level gang violence... it had it all!

But why, oh why, for the love of all that is holy was this a 2-issue story?! It could have been told just as effectively in one issue. Hell, in 10 pages. This is a textbook example of when decompression goes wrong. For 2-issues, we have almost no appearance from the book's main character (who only had limited focus for the previous 7 issues, on top of this). The story is set completely in the past, and, while the appearances from Kingpin and the Enforcers were neat, we know they won't show back up, because Kingpin is dead. So it all just feels wasted. Plus, I just really don't care that much about Jefferson's past. Why did we need to know any more than "I worked for SHIELD as an insider to help bring down the Kingpin"?

That art, though. Holy crap. That's all I can really say. David Marquez, you are possibly the best thing at Marvel right now.

[Cloudman]

Yeah, it's the usual complaint of too much decompression for me. But this at least had a real emotional payoff, unlike the previous arc which just left us hanging.

[SpiderX]

I loved these past two issues. This one especially. The only thing that I feel this issue was missing was us actually getting to see his father meet his mother. I think the flashback should have ended after that. Marquez as always kills it. The pacing for me was fine. I feel like this would have been a better way to end off the first volume of this series but I'm looking forward to what's next.

The call backs in this issue were crazy. Toad, The Enforcers and Flumm.

I didn't think Toad would have been that much of an entrepreneur.

I wonder if this Flumm is the same one that was introduced in Hickman's Ultimates run. (#7) If so it's interesting he didn't make use of his telepathy in his and Humphries run.

Now on to answering the more pertinent questions. What's going to happen with Miles and Katie? What's up with the Human Flies? What's Miles' school life like? <- We really don't get enough of this now. It seems like the only people he knows outside of heroes and SHIELD agents is Ganke and Katie.

[UltimateTy]

I really didn't care for these last two issues.

[wyokid]

Man, I liked the issue - I think it's some of Bendis's best writing on the title in years. Very little Bendis-speak, cool continuity nods, classic characters, street-level gang violence... it had it all!

But why, oh why, for the love of all that is holy was this a 2-issue story?! It could have been told just as effectively in one issue. Hell, in 10 pages. This is a textbook example of when decompression goes wrong. For 2-issues, we have almost no appearance from the book's main character (who only had limited focus for the previous 7 issues, on top of this). The story is set completely in the past, and, while the appearances from Kingpin and the Enforcers were neat, we know they won't show back up, because Kingpin is dead. So it all just feels wasted. Plus, I just really don't care that much about Jefferson's past. Why did we need to know any more than "I worked for SHIELD as an insider to help bring down the Kingpin"?

That art, though. Holy crap. That's all I can really say. David Marquez, you are possibly the best thing at Marvel right now.

Set up I'm imagining