After Into The Spider-Verse, You Need to Read Saladin Ahmed’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man!

Okay, I’m sure everyone’s expecting something about Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.  But here’s the thing; right now I have nothing unique to say that wouldn’t just echo the fan and critical praise it’s already generating.  I am in awe of this film.  It’s so brilliant and fun and funny and it far surpassed my exceedingly high expectations.  I’ve seen the future of Spider-Man movies and it is animated.  Eventually, I’ll have something deeper or more thoughtful to say.  But for now, I have to say this: If, like me, you’re beyond in love with Into The Spider-Verse then you need to read Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garrón’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1.  For any Miles Morales fan, old or new, this comic is a love-at-first-page experience and the love grows exponentially with each following page.  I’m one issue into the new creative team’s run and I’m already counting the days to issue #2.

A Lifelong Love Affair with Spider-Man

The costume was more exciting than any of the others.  He was funny – equal parts heroic and hilarious.  His powers came from this awesome mix of accidental mutation and his own ingenuity.  He was the underdog, occasionally on the superhero/super villain battle scene but always struggling to make ends meet and balance his own life.  He stood up for the little guy, protecting his neighborhood and leaving the world/cosmos saving exploits (most of the time) to the other guys.  He experienced incredible loss…but let it teach him.  He held tight to a moral code that was nonnegotiable – with great power, comes great responsibility.  I’m not sure which of these first drew little four-year-old Michael to the amazing Spider-Man but I have loved him for over thirty years now.  This is perhaps my most personal post yet, the story of why Spider-Man has always stood above all other superheroes for me.