The Clone Conspiracy may be taking the Spiderverse by storm right now, but the Marvel Universe at large is still embroiled its own (second) Civil War.
This week, Spider-Man #9 shows us the fallout from Ulysses’ vision of a future in which Miles Morales has killed Steve Rogers.
Is it good?
Spider-Man #9 (Marvel Comics)
Observations
- If there’s one dad you don’t want catching you breaking into their home, its Jefferson Davis.
- I know this exposes just how immature I am, but the name ‘Gold Balls’ still makes me giggle.
- Ganke is not very good at undercover work.
- …or flirting.
- Always cool getting to see Jefferson Davis stand up to Maria Hill’s B.S.
- Yeah, that might not have been the best idea, Miles…
Is It Good?
Despite Bendis’ knack for great dialogue, Spider-Man #9 suffers mightily from its lack of narrative momentum and impact.
Don’t get me wrong—there are some interesting things that happen (like Davis’ confrontation with Director Hill). But instead of a story, we’re presented with a collection of scenes featuring conversations between different people who are looking for Miles. Each is filled with excellent dialogue (particularly the one between Ganke and Danika Hart), but they all just end up leading to a moment that was pretty much expected. The issue also doesn’t feature Miles almost at all, which is a shame for those of us who’ve loved reading his thoughts and perspective in the original Marvel Universe.
On the art side of things, Nico Leon does some excellent work, not just with the pencils, but paneling, as well. In a talking head issue like this one, some artists fall into a trap where they just block everything off into boring, linear squares. Thankfully, Leon provides the reader with multiple dynamic perspectives significantly enhance the script.
And speaking of the script, it’s not bad at all. You can almost always count on Bendis knocking it out of the park when it comes to dialogue. This issue is no exception. In fact, Spider-Man #9 will probably make a great middle chapter its collected volume. As a single issue, however, it’s a bit of a letdown.
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