The Good
Everything starts to come together as well as pan out in this issue. While the last issue of MILES MORALES offered a great fight between Miles and Norman Osborn, we didn't get much else, which was frustrating, especially with all these great story lines floating around the series. Here, however, Brian Michael Bendis takes time during this issue to work a lot on the rest of the Ultimate Spider-Man world and it's done masterfully.
The Spider-Men robbers are back and we finally catch a glimpse of who they are: two brothers. We don't get much, but I'm highly interested in what these two guys are up to in the grand scheme of things. All we really know is that they're using the events of Spider-Man and Spider-Man to their advantage.
Artist David Marquez, along with Justin Ponsor on art, does such an incredible job on the art here. From the opening two pages, I loved how Marquez splits up the pages so Miles is on the left and "Peter" is on the right. It makes for a bit more of a dramatic shot and says a lot about what these characters think about each other. They're not on the same page, literally and figuratively. A few pages later, Marquez and Ponsor give us a beautiful splash page that conveys a ton about the character and his emotion, just through body language. Marquez and Ponsor are at the top of their game on this book.
Speaking of that same page, with Miles hunched over, Bendis does a wonderful job with the inner-monologue during that page. It's chaotic and all over the place and feels real. Miles had just been shot and his mind is all over the place, so it makes sense that his thoughts are racing. Just a wonderfully put together page.
The real highlight of the issue is Norman Osborn and J Jonah Jameson having an on the record chat. It's a fantastic scene and it seems that Osborn is making a change for the better. It's a great turning point for this character and of course, it doesn't go the way it intended to go.
The Bad
The Miles Morales fanboy inside of me is a little mad about Peter Parker's return. Sure we don't know exactly what is going on, whether or not that is Peter or a clone, or even if that's the Peter from this universe. With Spiderverse going on, it's hard to know. In the next issue, we'll finally get some answers.
The issue-to-issue pacing is a bit rough. In issue #4, it was a battle to the death (not really to the death) between Miles and Green Goblin and that was it. Here, all the other stories are weaving in and out and while the mixture of stories works really well here, it feels so different than the last issue. It's a tad startling.
The Verdict
MILES MORALES finally gets back to the lingering story lines that fans have been clamoring for more of. Bendis does a phenomenal job with the writing by giving readers some wonderful, dialogue driven scenes. Marquez and Ponsor kill it on the art, as always and make this one visually exciting book. Almost everything about this issue was a gigantic hit. I cannot recommend this series enough. MILES MORALES: THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN is easily one of Marvel's best series.
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