Written by Eric Blackwood
Back in 2000, Marvel Comics launched their Ultimate Marvel Comics line with Ultimate Spider-man and Ultimate X-Men. Later on, The Ultimates (The Avengers) and The Fantastic Four were added to the line. The idea behind it was to re-imagine the comic publisher’s superheroes and characters and update them without having to refer to or worry about the preexisting Marvel Comics continuity, which exists in a universe known as Earth 616. On Earth 1610 (the Ultimate Universe), after suffering a bullet wound from The Punisher's rifle, an unmasked Spider-man was killed at the hands of Green Goblin on his front lawn, though not before defeating Kraven the Hunter, Sandman, Electro, and The Vulture. All in a days work! Peter managed to kill Green Goblin after a slug fest that ended with Parker crushing the Goblin under a dropped truck. This Spider-man was gangsta ‘til the end.
Flashforward to the Ultimate Fallout six issue mini series, which took a look at everyone’s reaction to Peter Parker’s death. In issue 4, the reader is introduced to a new character donning a Spider-man costume fighting The Kangaroo (yes, he calls himself the Kangaroo). Enter Miles Morales. At the time, little was known about the character except that he seems to have Spider-man’s abilities (proportionate strength of a spider, wall-crawling, spider-sense), he is younger than Peter (who was 16 when he was killed), and he is half African-American and half Hispanic. Fanboys offered their usual reactions to not only killing off Peter Parker but having someone else wear the suit and making the person behind the mask of mixed ethnicity. But how can one judge from only reading a seven page preview? Which brings us to Ultimate Comics: Spider-man #1 (Vol. 2).
Issue one gives the reader very little insight as to who Miles Morales is. We are introduced to the character with his parents trying to enroll him in a charter school in Brooklyn, NY. This is in stark contrast to Peter Parker whose parents died in a plane crash, leaving him to live with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. It will be interesting to see how Miles comes to realize that “with great power comes great responsibility” considering how Peter fails to save his Uncle Ben from being killed, which eventually leads Peter into becoming Spider-man. It is likely that Peter’s death strongly influences Miles but this is yet to be seen. As the story progresses, we see how Miles acquires his spider abilities. Without spoiling anything, it was similar to how Peter obtained his (in Earth 616 and Earth 1610). And although Miles seems to have the same powers as the original friendly neighborhood Spider-man, it seems that things aren’t exactly the same.
The story is interesting so far, and I'm curious to see how it develops. There was no action in this issue and Miles doesn’t really 'use' his powers. In fact, the book ends when he discovers something is different about himself. The next issue teases “Who is Miles Morales?” and drops September 29.