Miles Morales: Spider-Man #5: Spidey vs. Gentrified Gangbangers

All things considered, life is going pretty good for Miles coming into issue #5 of Miles Morales: Spider-Man. He is starting to have a blossoming love life and his recent work with the Rhino and Captain America show he’s even becoming more confident with the super-heroing business. Things are a little too good though and this issue isn’t afraid to bring all of life’s troubles crashing down on Miles’ head, spearheaded in particular by Tombstone’s recent revenge-seeking schemes…

Starting with Tombstone’s crew wreaking havoc in the city in an apparent takeover attempt. This makes for a messy situation, but luckily nothing Miles can’t cleanup within a matter of minutes. This creative team does some impressive things with his powers during fights like this, especially his use of invisibility. It’s classic Spidey action with plenty of thwipping, but it’s just the beginning of his problems.

Soon he’s back with Barbara, who has been noticing quite a few similarities between Miles’ behaviors and the appearances of Spider-Man. Last issue she began to really put the pieces together while they were skipping class, so her confronting Miles may not come as a surprise for readers, but it sure blindsided him. Almost immediately after Mile’s hurriedly shut down that conversation, he and Gahnke find themselves out of a place to make his secret webbing and run into an old schoolyard bully of Miles’. As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, his recent antics with school caught up to him in the form of a phone call to his Dad.

It’s just one thing after another.

The string of bad luck helps to create an interesting scenario of simply just seeing how bad things will get for Miles. However, it turns out this downfall was all part of a plan that had divine undertones. He is soon rescued from yet another fight by someone who he describes in his journal as an “angel”. Although it is actually Starling, a brand-new character introduced by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron, her massive wings really are nothing short of angelic. So he at least didn’t mess that part up! 

While this is surely a great introduction to a new character, it also comes at a perfect time in Miles’ life. When things just seem to keep getting worse, who better to come to help than an angel? This type of poetic storytelling is something writer Saladin Ahmed handles uniquely well, and it really serves as the foundation for this entire comic. Backed with impressive visuals that help build the story on a fundamental level, we are given a continuation that has all the action, drama and relatability fans have come to expect from a great Spidey issue.

This issue is a solid example of why the ongoing series has so much potential. It isn’t tightly structured around an arc that is built to have one shocking reveal that will just be forgotten in the next arc. This is an interesting story that follows Miles as he continues to figure out his place in such a complicated life.