ADVANCED REVIEW: Miles Morales: Spider-Man Annual #1: Enter the Amulet

As usual I enjoy the art of this issue.  The action is drawn well and the character designs are great.  This is my first introduction to Amulet and I really love the blues in his costume and the energy he produces from his hands and head.  I like the cultural nods to his costume as well.  He does not look like your run of the mill white superhero and I love this diversity in his character design.

This is really a story about Amulet running into Spider-Man.  It could be said that Spider-Man is a guest in this story, and that is fine with me. One of the things I love about Miles’ character is that he is Latinx and has brown skin. It is never really identified what Fadi’s ethnicity is but I surmise that his family originates from the Middle East.  Again a hero with brown skin, thank you.

I really like that Spider-Man has difficulty in dealing with this supernatural threat and he needs Amulet to step in with the assist.  There is an exposition-heavy section but it is necessary for this story.  Readers of Spider-Man usually are not exposed to the supernatural and I feel this explanation is needed but again the story really shows more than it tells which is the greatest use of the comics medium.

The main complaint I do have with the story is the ease with which Spider-Man was able to find the artifact.  I do believe that that is because of the smaller page count as the backup story featuring the Infinity Stones had to take up some pages as well.

This truly is a standalone issue and that is a breath of fresh air in this age of the long story arcs.