Miles Morales: The Avenging Avenger!

Miles Morales: Digest Size Collection #6

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Sara Pichelli (Cover Art), Marvel Various (Illustrator)

Spider-Man meets Spider-Gwen! But the two most sensational web-spinners of the 21st century don’t just cross paths — they lock lips! Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy are two young heroes from different Earths, and a multiversal mission is about to upend both their lives! But as the plot thickens, will this spider-crossed pair see teen romance give way to arachnid animosity? Then, with Miles’ life turned upside down, his mother Rio copes with startling new truths. Who can she turn to? Meanwhile, Miles needs a win — but when the Black Cat and Hammerhead incite an underworld gang war, he gets a little too involved and things don’t end well. Will Miles’ battle against his inner demons consume him? Or can his amazing friends help him find his way back to the light?

COLLECTING: Spider-Man (2016) 12-19, Spider-Gwen (2015B) 16-18

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comics

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2023

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Bryan Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange collection of issues! This was all over the place. First half was split between Miles and Gwen issues, second half was just Miles focused.
I was not a fan of the Gwen arc. Writing was not good, art styles clashed a bit, was a bit confusing, was mainly just a plot device for the second half of the book. This half gets 2-3 stars.
There was one issue in the middle (right after the Gwen arc), that was beautifully illustrated! Writing was pretty solid too and lead to some family drama. It was a big jump tonally, but I still give this issue a 5 star on its own.
Then the remainder of the second half is exactly what I’ve been asking for: Miles not involved in a large event or needing countless characters and heros to help him out. This was just a solid conclusion to this book. 4-5 stars.
So since this was such a mix, I had to settle at a 4. I’d say skip the Gwen arc and this is a fantastic book.

[Lucas Savio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confesso que o multiverso me cansou por mais que o da gwen-aranha tenho um estilo que é interessante e uma personagem também interessante com seu traje e tudo um máximo, mas não me pegou tanto a história então queria logo que voltassem para o universo tradicional que para mim seria melhor o ultimate por ter mais liberdade criativa e n entra na cabeça que ressucitaram a mãe dele mas enfim, já aceitei depois a história volta a ficar bem boa focando mais no drama dos personagens melhor estilo x-men do claremont e volta a funcionar bem

[Luca Leffew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gwen and Miles stuff is the best part of this. They just got a really good dynamic and I can see why they made them the leads of the Spider Verse movies

[Can Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun! If folks want to get into the comics straight from the movies, I’d say this is at least a good starting off point since we get a nice Miles and Gwen dynamic going.

Sadly I do think the movies do their personalities way better (the writers they brought on to assist with those, like Alex Hirsch, seem a lot more skilled at writing fun teen dialogue, and Miles is just a more interesting character in the films), and the art is not one of the standouts from Marvel. This edition collects issues of Spider-Man 2015 and Spider-Gwen - I found the Spider-Man issues had the most consistently high quality art, but very little juice for me in terms of stylisation. The Spider-Gwen issues had the most interesting stylisation, from inks to colours, and a pretty lettering style, but some panels felt quite rushed and low quality, particularly on important facial expressions, which is a shame.

I was really glad to see Miles’ dad stayed a fairly compelling character (i think it’s funny that he thought Miles and Ganke were dating!), and learning more details about Gwen’s universe was super cool, whether it’s the bizarrely strong sodas, or the fact that the universe rules make it run “like the saddest pop song ever”. Seeing the future universe of Earth-8 was also really cool. I loved getting to see Miles interact meaningfully with his mom!

Overall a fun reading experience that invoked some media nostalgia for me. A friend gifted me this and I really appreciated it!

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was keen to read a Miles Morales Graphic novel, and the cover art with him snogging Gwen Stacy upside down obviously lured me in. That being said, it probably wasn't the best place to start, as mentioned with my other Spider-man reviews: Marvel comics just spew out hundreds of Spider-man stories, and it's impossible to know where to start. This arc seemed as good as any. Sadly, the collection, which includes issues of both Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen, is a mess. The crossovers don't really make any continuous sense, and are very loosely tied together. To heighten this, the art of the Miles Morales issues is gorgeous, and the art in Spider-Gwen is awful, so there is no visual consistency, and no tonal consistency. Honestly, I don't know why Marvel does this. It just seems so ill-conceived. Just do a series, start and 1, end at 10. Done. They should stop trying to shoe-horn everything into one narrative - or if they must, they could at least strive to be consistent. The sad thing is that the Miles Morales series actually seems pretty good, but presented in this volume just comes across as a bit of a mess.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never judge a book by a cover, because rather than a full Miles & Gwen story, we get an uneven Multiversal story starring those 2. The 2nd half is a Miles standalone against the Black Cat & Hammerhead. What I found to be the most compelling was the relationship Miles' family dynamic and especially his relationship with his mom.

[Jessie Lee Suarez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m disappointed as a fan of miles and Gwen , I wish the writing was more interesting and cohesive , and I especially wish the art didn’t seem so all over the place. It felt like it wasn’t well thought out.

[Steve Howells · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun multiverse read of Miles Morales and Spider Gwen