Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 Review

Written by: Cody Zieglar
Art by: Federico Vicentini
Colors by: BryanValenza
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Dike Ruan, Alejandro Sánchez
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: December 7, 2022

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 kicks off a new era in Miles Morales’s life as a student, son, brother, and friend… while taking out supervillains on the streets of NYC. Maintaining a life/superhero balance, however, is turning out to be harder than Miles would have ever guessed.

Is It Good?

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 is not bad. Cody Zieglar wrote a better-than-adequate start to the next run of Miles’s adventures, and except for a few minor quibbles, issue #1 is rock-solid.

Zieglar begins Miles’s latest arc with an early morning brawl against Scorpion, resulting in a rescued civilian, lots of property damage that runs Miles afoul of the PDNY, and tardiness to school. Miles is at his Spidey best when fighting the bad guys and letting loose. Keeping cool at school is another matter, and mouthing off to his teacher’s lecturing earns Miles a suspension and time for self-reflection as the weight of his life choices appears to be getting heavier.

To Zieglar’s credit, he paints a balanced picture of a teenager struggling with leading a dual life. Miles feels the burn, but he isn’t mopey or self-pitying, and that balance builds an empathy bridge between the reader and Miles to get you emotionally invested in his troubles.

Eventually, a new player comes on the scene who has a jealous bone to pick with Miles. Whether or not this villain is worth your time remains to be seen. However, there’s enough intrigue to keep reading for another issue.

What are the aforementioned “minor quibbles?” Miles’s contentious argument with his teacher makes references to lotteries and privileges that come off as buzzwords but don’t have enough context to be clear. Did Miles win an actual lottery or is he making a reference to a School Choice lottery or is the word ‘lottery’ a metaphor for something else? During the schoolroom scene and the villain’s final monologue about privilege, Zieglar tries too hard to use social buzzwords and local references at the expense of clarity. Again, these are minor quibbles, but they stick out like a sore thumb.

The art by Vincentini and Valenza looks amazing (no pun intended). The action sequences are fluid and dynamic. Punches hit hard and fat. And the quiet, emotional moments are well-acted. For the future, however, Vincentini should focus on using wider shots during the action to get a better feel for the fight’s scale. This issue relies on close-ups heavily, and it tends to make the action feel small.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 is a rock-solid start to a new run starring Earth-1610’s favorite Wall-Crawler. The art, especially the action, is fantastic. Zieglar paints a picture of a relatable teenager with too much on his plate, and the villain is intriguing enough to want to know more.