Comics: Entry #2

Miles Morales: 

Spider-Man of the 21st Century

In an alternate universe known as the ultimate universe 1610, the original spider-man met his demise during his final battle against the green goblin in the story arc the death of spider-man. The iconic wall-crawling arachnid's death was one of the emotional stories ever told with comic book fans all over the world see him die as a hero to the end. 

"Hero to the end, R.I.P Spider-man"

But in 2011, Eisner Award winning comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis, (one of the creators of the ultimate universe) introduced someone to carry on the legacy that Peter Parker the original Spider-man started and his name is Miles Morales, an ethnic teenager from brooklyn, New York who also got bitten by a genetically modified spider and developed similar, but unique abilities from the original spider-man. 

"The spider of fate spins its web to a new successor"

At first, Miles was reluctant to have super-powers as he wanted to lead a normal life, until he witness the death of the original spider-man Peter Parker in the ultimate universe. His death had an impact on Miles as he realised he could have helped him, but i did not out of his own fear and shame of having superpowers. Inspired by the original spider-man's death and learning the words "with great power, there must come great responsibility", Miles Morales continues becomes the new Spider-man. 

The rebirth of spider-man as a new ethnicity is a bold, yet revolutionary move in promoting diversity in comics as society is more diverse and to show that anyone can be spider-man, regardless of background. However, people, especially comic book fans are remain negative with this development as they still believe it is a publicity stunt invented by Marvel to attract new readers and to generate profit, while others pin the blame on political correctness. 

However, the original spider-man's death only happened in the ultimate universe not the mainstream marvel universe, where the original spider-man is still alive, although fans were more upset about his death because the ultimate version of Peter Parker was more relatable to the fans than the mainstream version. Many people are still angry at seeing the spider-man that they grown up with is being replaced with someone they continue to dubbed "Peter Parker 2.0" or a "cheap knock-off". 

Being a british born Ghanaian myself, i dreamt of spider-man being black and with Miles Morales, i felt my dream had came true. First off, I want to say i am glad this new spider-man is not portrayed as a stereotypical black or hispanic gangsta type "yo yo what's up man" as not all black or hispanic people are like that and the fact that he's portrayed as a nerd is what makes him relatable and likeable in my opinion. Moving on, After reading the comics in trade, i can say i am impressed with his stories on how he deals with his powers whilst trying to live up to what it means to be spider-man. I can see from my own eyes how he is  different from Peter Parker in terms of life and background, for example example, Miles had everything Peter Parker didn't have, which was having a mom and dad and being selected to go to an exclusive charter school out of thousands of applicants for a better future.

Seems that Miles was on his way to living a good life, that was until the genetically altered spider bit him and changed his life forever. Not only it granted him similar abilities to the original spider-man, (including the wall-crawling and the iconic spider-sense), but it granted him two abilities the original did not possess. First ability is the venom strike or venom blasts that induces temporary paralysis through physical contact like how spiders can paralyse its prey through its venomous bite, although this venom strike or blast sometimes manifest as a form of bio-electricity and when do spiders generate electricity? Second ability is known as the spider-camoflague which enables him to blend within its surroundings like a chameleon, which is pretty cool as there are spiders that can actually do that in real life and that's a fact that i did not know about!

Besides gaining superpowers after being bitten by a spider, i believe from my point of view the spider bite also set in motion that leads Miles Morales to discover that his Dad was a former criminal and that his uncle who he looked up to is criminal theft known as the prowler. What's more is that his uncle found out about his powers, he began exploiting him to suit his personal gains. But when Miles stood up to his uncle, he was not a happy at all. obviously, which lead to a confrontation between uncle and nephew that ended tragically where his uncle was in a horrific state where he eventually die as a result of that. But what's worst is that Miles had to see him in that horrific state with his own eyes, especially at a young age something that Peter Parker did not witness, in the comics of course.

Even more upsetting was the scene where Miles' mother died in his arms she was caught in the cross-fire between the fight with venom and in her last moments she found out and accepted that her son was spider-man and supported him. After seeing his mother die is traumatising, especially when he's only kid to the point where he would quit being spider-man for good. However, Miles found the strength (with help from spider-woman, who is a female clone of peter parker) to once again take up the mantle as spider-man. 

These events and supporting cast is what separates Miles Morales from Peter Parker as confirms that he is his own person by his own right and not just some cheap imitation. Miles Morales is shaping up to be the hero by his own definition, especially when the odds are going to get tough. Although I do not think marvel had to kill off Peter Parker, (especially at a young age) to introduce a new character as i believe it is the reason why this new spider-men was getting so much negative backlash. 

I personally did not feel comfortable with his age as i felt being 13 was young and i feel in my opinion that Miles was 14 from the start. I would like for Miles to be his own person in terms of life, family and friends. By killing off his mother, although tragic as it is, they could have kept her alive as Marvel had something unique and different with Miles from Peter and because of that, my concern is how marvel would shape Miles to become more like Peter. 

Other than that, I can't wait to see where the future holds for Miles Morales as Spider-man.