Miles Morales: Spider-Man #13 – Gang War Goes Cold

With Gang War raging on and the book’s last messy arc coming out of an event, I was fearful that Miles Morales: Spider-Man would be derailed completely by Marvel’s latest event. As I should’ve expected, however, my fear was completely shattered by how well series mainstays Cody Ziglar and Frederico Vincentini managed to incorporate Gang War into the core of their run. It works well as both a tie-in as well as the book’s next arc, and besides some reductive characterizations of the book’s title character, is near-perfect in execution. Action-packed, stylish, and character-driven, this is one of the strongest Gang War titles thus far.

This issue picks up a little before Gang War: First Strike right before jumping to where the event last left off in The Amazing Spider-Man #39. Brooklyn has been drenched in snow as The Frost Pharaoh faces off against The Bumbler and their goons, Miles taking on the absurd situation as the true threat to Brooklyn brews in the background. With some character arc flashbacks thrown in for good measure, there isn’t a moment in this issue that feels at all lethargic, save for the opening; however, more on that later.

The best parts of this run continue to be seen in every issue, but especially this one. Starting with the art, Vincentini is at the best he’s been on this book since the start. The human drama scenes are illustrated with pizazz and emotional detail, utilizing dynamic but not distracting paneling to keep the book filled with great visual storytelling throughout. However, where the art excels is in the main action sequences. In an effort to synchronize how the book looks with the current environmental season in America, Brooklyn has been drenched in snow thanks to the villainous Frost Pharaoh has brought to the borough.

Seeing Miles and his new Venom-Blast abilities rip through a snow city block is absolutely gorgeous, and Vincentini brings the atmosphere out with imagery that has the potential to be near iconic for the character. Miles Morales and the winter season have become a modern but perfect marriage of iconography for the character’s film and video game adaptations, Vincentini building on that to deliver some of the most kinetic-looking action in the event thus far. Valenza’s colors do a lot of work to help elevate the imagery on display with excellent lighting.

Ziglar’s dialogue writing and plotting are as sharp as ever. The book’s action is kept interesting by how retroactive continuity is used to build the effectiveness of Miles’ new abilities while building the relationship between him, Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing. Their appearance in the issue is strong, and the way in which Ziglar is tying threads together without slogging up the issue’s pacing is masterful. However, part of the book’s biggest character problem comes from its Marvel Team-Up esque plot escalation.

Miles recently became ever more dependent on having ‘mentor’ figures than ever with the start of this event, something that I suspect is a product of the character’s relationship to Peter Parker in other media. However, Miles in the comics has gotten over his need for Peter’s influence and has handled himself quite well on his own without him. Between his whining about Peter’s absence and the somewhat reductive mentee role he has with Misty, it seems like there’s an effort to age Miles down a bit after all the maturity he had gained during Saladin Ahmed’s run. Miles does not, and never should need, Peter in his life to guide him in current-616 continuity. Reducing him to a young, almost sidekick-like demeanor feels like a slap in the face to those who see Miles as a hero that’s big enough to be a colleague to the fellow heroes of the Marvel Universe, not a child in need of their guidance.

Something I loved about the last arc that was swept underneath a rug of criticisms was in how Miles took agency over his anxiety and found help through his means. I adored seeing this and thought Ziglar’s representation of chasing down the demons of anxiety to be something important for young adults to see. It might just be taste, but I prefer Miles to be treated as a young adult like that as opposed to a ‘Robin’.