Spider-Men: When Peter Met Miles

Peter Parker has had a rough couple of weeks, with switching bodies with Doctor Octopus and dying and such. Spider-Men is a glimpse to a more lighthearted adventure, with him entering the Ultimate Universe and meeting the Spider-Man of that reality.

The only thing that I really wasn’t too keen on this story was how Peter winds up getting into the Ultimate Universe. Longtime illusionist and lame villain Mysterio has acquired some sort of trans-dimensional gateway that Peter accidentally activated, sending him to another reality where he meets Miles. Mysterio now has the opportunity to kill the two Spider-Men.

While dodging Mysterio’s robot avatars and such, the two bond. Miles really looks up to Peter, who himself is amazed on how respected the alternate version of himself was by the people of Ultimate New York. Knowing that he doesn’t belong, the Ultimates agree to help find a way to send Peter home.

The best parts of Brian Bendis’ story are when Peter meets up with this world’s version of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, both of them who are still mourning the loss of their Peter. Things are also odd for Peter, as he’s talking to a version of a girl he was deeply in love with, but whose life was cut short in his reality.

This really was really made the book for me were these exchanges. Peter and Miles could have not punched a whole thing through it; the story was fine without any action. There was plenty; the Spidey’s and the Ultimates team up to stop Mysterio. The ending is a little odd; Mysterio learned a lot about Peter Parker’s secret identity and such by watching him through his device, and the Ultimates wound up imprisoning him in their world to keep Peter’s secrets safe. But mostly it’s important for Miles and the Aunt May and Gwen that he knows; they were able to get closure knowing that somewhere there is a Peter very close to the one that they knew who is living a wonderful life. 

When that Peter got home he Googled Miles, and we don’t know what he found online. But between that and Mysterio stuck in the Ultimate world there are two plot points to pick up at a later date. 

The art on this was by Sara Pichelli, whose work is really growing on me. I read that she does most of her work on a Wacom tablet and I’m amazed about how thin her line work is. It’s very clean and looks great.

Getting back to Spider-Men, I give it a glowing recommendation  It’s more a Miles than a Peter story, but it doesn’t matter which Spider-Man you prefer. It’s a great Spider-Man story all around.

Friday Fights #17: Marth vs. Martha Kent

With today’s events, today seemed like the perfect day to do a more lighthearted Friday Fights. Today we are going to take a look at two of the best mothers (or motherly figures) in comic books: I’m talking about Spider-Man’s aunt May Parker and Superman’s mom Martha Kent. Who wins this battle to be the mother superior?

Aunt May is such an important part in Peter Parker’s world. She’s unwavering in her support and love of her nephew and would do anything in the world for him (as well as his girlfriend/wife/whatever Mary Jane is considered in this continuity). There’s a great issue during the J. Michael Straczynski/John Romita Jr. run on Amazing Spider-Man where she finally finds out that her nephew is a super hero. She takes supporting Peter to a whole other level, taking it upon herself to argue with internet comment posters who aren’t in support of Spider-Man. She really loves Peter and it shows.

However, if there is one thing against May, it would be that she always seems to cause some sort of huge distraction for Peter, like when the fact that she is a frail, elderly woman seems to be a common distraction in many Spider-Man comics. Aside from Uncle Ben, she also doesn’t have the best taste in men. Remember, at one point she wound up being married to the villainous Doctor Octopus, and certainly made things awkward by marrying J. Jonah Jameson’s father and making many awkward family get-togethers for Triple J and Peter. 

Marha is an awesome mother. She took in an alien baby, raised it as her own and he goes on to be the most important/powerful man in the universe. Living far away from Superman, she rarely gets too involved in his life, although she’s always willing to lend an ear to talk about things ranging from relationship problems to career goals to even how to stop the Parasite. Plus, she puts up with all the wacky things that Clark gets into like providing housing for his Kryptonian family members like Superboy and Supergirl from time to time.

The only thing that you can knock Martha for is that she’s too perfect. She’s like the Martha Stewart of super hero mothers; she does everything right and nothing bothers her.

So who is the winner in this battle of matronly awesomeness?

The winners are Peter and Clark, as these women have shaped them into kind, responsible adults. Go moms!

Amazing Spider-Man #698: Invasions of the Body Snatchers

Amazing Spider-Man #698 came out today, and it is definitely one of those issues that was designed to be a big deal. So what’s so special about this? Peter Parker dies.

Completely simplifying it, an ailing Doctor Octopus was able to switch bodies with Spider-Man. The eight-limbed villain switched bodies with Spider-Man, leaving poor Peter to die in his old body. Octopus gets to live on, having assumed Peter’s identity and life.

Amazing Spider-Man is getting re-launched as Superior Spider-Man in January, so I’m sure this storyline will have some sort of temporary resolution, with the long-term leading to Peter Parker returning to his status quo of being Spider-Man and you know, being alive.

So how does Spidey come back?

Someone, say Mary Jane or even Aunt May could make some sort of deal with Mephisto to restore the status quo. This would be a bookend of sorts to the One More Day storyline where Mary Jane made a deal with the devil to save Aunt May’s live in exchange for her relationship with Peter to have never existed. Is it possible that Mephisto would offer someone else a similar deal to save Peter’s life?

Spider-Man also has an outstanding favor due to him from Loki. In Amazing Spider-Man  #503-504, the trickster god needed the assistance of Spidey in saving his mortal daughter. Even though Spider-Man is technically dead at this point, Loki could decide to do him a solid and return him rightfully back to the land in the living. I am not sure if this is possible, since Loki himself was reborn as a teenager, but it’s a debt he owes nevertheless.

Regardless of how they bring Peter back, it has to be well executed and I have good faith in writer Dan Slott being able to pull it off.

Untangling the web of outrage about the new Ultimate Spider-Man

So the new Spider-Man featured in Marvel’s Ultimate line seems to have created a bit of controversy. Not for killing Spider-Man, but for his replacement half-black, half-Hispanic teen named Miles Morales who debuts in Ultimate Fallout #4 today. Unfortunately, it’s very hateful.

Instead of it being the “OMG! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?” in 2005 when DC killed off Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) and replaced him with the younger Hispanic Jamie Reyes, reaction by internet bullies has been very racist. Bleeding Cool has compiled a list of some of the worst comments left on an article about Miles’ debut.

To these people, I say calm the hell down. They’re missing the point completely. The fact that the new Spider-Man isn’t white has nothing to do with the story. Peter Parker’s dead, and that can’t be changed. But Miles was inspired to pick up the legacy of the fallen hero, something that has nothing to do with the color of his skin.

The frustrating part is all this fake outrage. The majority of those commenters probably don’t even read the comics and only know about Spider-Man from his appearances on the big screen and television. If they did, they would know that this isn’t the main version of Spider-Man, but an alternate one.

Just when things started to die down, artist Sara Pichelli’s quote in the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail seems to have further confused people about the new Spidey.

“Maybe sooner or later a black or gay – or both – hero will be considered something absolutely normal.”

Sara said this in a recent article. This was wrongfully misinterpreted that the new character was gay as well.

So now they’re up in arms that Spider-Man is not only black, but gay.

Really?

First she never said the character was gay. Secondly, its 2011. People need to be a lot more accepting.

That said, so how did we get to this point?

Another interview with writer Brian Michael Bendis revealed that they had planned on killing off the Ultimate version of Peter for a while. By changing the ethnicity of the new Spider-Man only helps distinguish the two different characters.

Community's Donald Glover tried to use his Twitter followers to help him land the role of Peter Parker in the new Amazing Spider-Man movie. Although he didn't get the part, they made a joke about it in an episode that season.

Community actor Donald Glover played a part in this decision. Glover took to the internet in a unsuccessful bid to play the role of Spider-Man in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man.

“He looked fantastic!” Bendis recalls. “I saw him in the costume and thought, ‘I would like to read that book.’ So I was glad I was writing that book.”

 Bendis also had a bit of a personal interest in the new Spidey’s ethnicity. His two adopted daughters are an African America and an Ethiopian.

“Wouldn’t it be nice for them to have a character or a hero that speaks to them as much as Peter Parker has spoken to so many children?” Bendis says. “There’s nothing wrong with that, and I think we need more of it.”

And that’s the thing. It doesn’t matter what color our heroes are. What is important is that they inspire us to be better people, and this is something that the Miles Morales Spider-Man will do.

Heck, I wanted to grow up to be Roadblock from GI Joe.  

Anyway, all this phony outrage just drives me nuts. If this twist in the Spider-Man mythos isn’t for you, then do what your grandmother always told you: if you can’t say anything nice, then say nothing at all.

Amazing Spider-Man Trailer

You can tell that San Diego Comic Con madness is gripping the world. The other day we saw the new Batman trailer and today we get the Amazing Spider-Man‘s. So what do I think?

I don’t know yet. What I do know is that Andrew Garfield is going to be behind the eight ball, as he doesn’t seem to have the same kind of lovable awkwardness that Tobey Maguire had as Peter Parker. Garfield looks like the type of kid who would make fun of Parker.

The film comes out next July. So what do you think?