Brian Michael Bendis talks about what makes Miles Morales different from Peter Parker:
Miles doesn’t know if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. He doesn’t know what kind of guy he is and than he finds out that his father wasn’t that great a guy even thought he’s trying really hard to be one now. Then it’s his uncle too. So is this in him? Is this who he is? That’s something that Peter never had to struggle with. People who discover that they have alcoholics in their family often wonder, “Am I an alcoholic too? If I drink will I lose it?” So he worries about what kind of person he is. He doesn’t know.
Firstly: I think Miles is a good guy, but I really like the idea that he’ll continue to become a better good guy because he’s never sure whether he’s really a good guy, or just a guy who’s just doing good at that particular moment. There’s something about that particular internal struggle that really works for me, and it does differentiate from Peter Parker’s guilt and need to atone for past inaction, in terms of this new Spider-Man’s motivation.
(I’ve really enjoyed the two issues of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man so far; I think Bendis’ writing has been charming, and Sara Pichelli’s art has been really nice… Which is why the 20 pages for $3.99 price point kills me. Because this is a good book, but it’s one that I actually feel short-changed by with both issues so far, and all because of that price point. Maybe I should learn to just wait for the collection…)
September 30th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Yeah, I agree with all of that. Sounds like a great angle to explore.
And I am waiting for the trade on this book, but given that I stopped reading Ultimate Spider-man like five years ago, that’s a step up for Marvel.
September 30th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
I, too, am put off the book by the price-per-page ratio. Many Marvel books have been that way for me (granted, so has a good amount of Marvel’s stories lately).
I finally picked up the first trade of the last USM relaunch a while back, and really enjoyed it. Will probably make it through that run eventually, although I don’t long for the ending it hit. But this book sounds good as well, and Bendis in the Ultimate Spidey books is just lightyears ahead of anything I’ve read of his in the Marvel Universe proper (which is not to say his 616 books are bad). But, as much as I want to buy this book right now, I can’t support the current pricing. Can’t and won’t.
If and when I get a tablet, maybe I’ll make this the title I do digitally instead. But it depends on how it’s priced there as well. Most likely, wind up getting the trade from my shop.
September 30th, 2011 at 10:53 pm
I thought the first issue was pretty good, but felt a little ripped off by the price-to-page comparison. I didn’t feel that way at all about the second issue, though; at first I thought maybe it was just because the writing/art was a little bit better than the first (it was), but thinking about it more actually got me counting pages. When I realized it was only 20 pages, I ended up going back and checking panels-per-page and word balloons. A) I realize that’s sort of ridiculous. B) I also realized that, yeah, it’s only a 20-page comic, but it’s an incredibly DENSE 20-page-comic. There is a LOT of dialogue, and, while I’m sure people are going “duh, it’s a Bendis comic”; it was all pretty great dialogue that really drove the plot forward. Also, Picelli, who draws the hell out of every page, crams an insane amount of art in here; a lot of her pages have 9-panel layouts, which is 4-5 panels more than the average modern comics page. Normally I’d scoff at paying four bucks for a twenty-page comic, but this is an absolutely gorgeous book with some of the best writing Bendis has done in years, and those twenty pages are just crammed with story and art, and… I dunno. It took me longer to read than a lot of the 22-page $2.99 books I bought this week, and I’ve found myself going back to re-read it more often than those same books. I almost feel this was a rare case where the contents of the book justified the price point.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:02 am
What makes Miles Miles is that he’s a Baryaran.
Oops, wrong Miles. But when someone says “Miles” to me, it’ll be Vorkosigan I think of first, and always will.
December 5th, 2012 at 1:38 am
Then it’s his uncle too. So is this in him? Is this who he is? That’s something that Peter never had to struggle with. People who discover that they have alcoholics in their family often wonder, “Am I an alcoholic too? If I drink will I lose it?” So he worries about what kind of person he is. He doesn’t know.