Digital Mini Reviews | Here Comes Miles Morales!

Posted on by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

HELLO LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

Say hello to a new feature that I’m testing out on my blog. For a while now, I have been able to sneak into my schedule a lot of digitized comic book reading thanks to my library and started wondering how I could share it all with you guys without having to do a full review. Here’s my solution. 🧐

I will try to occasionally (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, who knows) publish this feature and present a couple of quick thoughts on anything that isn’t a physical book that I own; which essentially means ebooks, comic books, TV series or movies. 😳

Feel free to share your thoughts on the things featured here or even on the feature itself so I can adapt and make this as interesting as possible! 😁

Anything presented in this feature doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t get a full-review treatment in the future. That will entirely depend on how much I loved it, how interested you are in hearing more on it, and how much I have to still say about it! 🤣

Without further ado, here we go!

Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Vol. 1) by Brian Michael Bendis.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis
Publisher: Marvel.
Pages: 112.
Format: Digital Comic Book.
Rating: ★★★★☆.

A thoroughly enjoyable introduction to Miles Morales as he attempts to juggle superhero’ing with school work. With countless other heroes to look up to, including the one who created a legacy under the name of Spider-Man, he now finds himself at the heart of the action with countless others seeing in him a problem for society.

With this series, writer Brian Michael Bendis looks to insert Miles Morales within multiple sub-plots that connect him to other heroes in the Marvel universe and he does a good job in teasing those story-arcs without giving us too much.

Inevitably, he also inserts some social commentary on prominent and omnipresent issues about representation (race, weight, etc.) and succeeds in exposing them without getting preachy. Miles Morales’ own understanding of these matters thus matches that of a teenager still going through a certain learning curve.

Civil War II by Brian Michael Bendis.

Civil War II: Bendis, Brian Michael, Marquez, David: 9781302901561 ...
Publisher: Marvel.
Pages: 317.
Format: Digital Comic Book.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I like the idea of exploring predictive policing within the superhero universe. That is one way to get a divisive crowd and get things riling up between one another. After all, ideologies have always been at the heart of heated confrontations, if not war.

While it had an interesting guideline throughout the whole story, with the arrival of Ulysses, the Inhuman who can see a future, emphasis on “a”, I can’t say that it all developed properly. There were multiple subplots that were simply teased and left out while others were rushed into without a satisfying execution.

There are some truly significant moments throughout this story, including major deaths, but I feel like the actual civil war battle sequences weren’t properly justified. I mean, come on, all those who were implicated should know what war could do to themselves and others. But the worse of all this is Captain Marvel’s characterization that further envenomed my vision of her character. Nothing she did or thought made me question my stance on the dilemma at hand. She simply ended up being in the one camp that would get the most fire from others.

At least the artwork was fantastic. It had a drop in quality at certain moments, especially that one sequence with splash pages with no dialogue, but everything remained strong from start to finish.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Vol. 2) by Brian Michael Bendis.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Vol. 2 by Brian Michael Bendis
Publisher: Marvel.
Pages: 127.
Format: Digital Comic Book.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I’m a bit disappointed that the Civil War II event had to take over the narrative in this one, drifting away from the narrative of the first volume a little bit to turn the focus on a new story while also trying to build on some of the threads presented previously.

With that being said, there are some fun moments spread out in the volume but everything felt choppy, like different stories being glued together without a guideline. It was interesting that Brian Michael Bendis gave so much focus on Miles Morales’s father and his secret but it also pushed the protagonist all the way behind the scene.

The artwork remains stellar and a thrill to gaze at but there are moments where the transition feels wrong, missing pieces between panels or even pages to help the reader understand how things evolve.

Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen: Sitting In A Tree (Vol. 2.5) by Brian Michael Bendis.

Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen: Sitting in a Tree by Brian Michael Bendis
Publisher: Marvel.
Pages: 137.
Format: Digital Comic Book.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Ths is a quick little crossover event post-Civil War II that gives us a glimpse into the multidimensional universe that is so crucial to Miles Morales’s life. The story continues the sub-plot regarding his father and the secret mission he was sent off to do but also explores the romantic relationship between Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen.

This is cute in its own way but the choppy story sometimes gets in the way. Besides the romance that is teased here, fans of the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) movie can rejoice in seeing those unique universes, as well as those unique iterations of Spider-Man, throughout this story.

The artwork varies greatly throughout the story but fits with the constant dimension-jumping that occurs. If anything it remains a background attraction.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Vol. 3) by Brian Michael Bendis.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Vol. 3: Bendis, Brian Michael, Kudranski ...
Publisher: Marvel.
Pages: 149.
Format: Digital Comic Book.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Set after the interdimensional adventure with Spider-Woman and the Civil War II event, Miles Morales and his father now share an intimate moment to discuss the importance of the truth and the pain that lies can cause. This ultimately pushes the narrative to focus around the relationship around multiple characters, including the one between Miles and his mother.

The story jumps around a bit too much too fast in this one, often feeling very choppy, again, throughout the same chapter. There’s a lot of inconsistency and a lack of focus that perverts the overall tone of the story-arc too. It is still worth noting that it is interesting to see how writer Brian Michael Bendis explores Miles Morales’s emotions throughout these events and how he makes him deal with them with a certain maturity.

I won’t lie that I had issues with the occasional change in artwork that made this far less appealing than what the first volume had to offer.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Vol. 4) by Brian Michael Bendis.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Vol. 4: Bendis, Brian Michael, Bazaldua ...
Publisher: Marvel.
Pages: 160.
Format: Digital Comic Book.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

The final story-arc by the co-creator of Miles Morales, Brian Michael Bendis, and, boy, oh boy, did it feel like it was all over the place. What he tried to do in the first volume felt like one thing and things never felt polished as he continued on to this final adventure.

There’s a lot of sub-plots here but the most important one gravitates around Miles Morales desire to steer away from the Spider-Man name and become something because of who he is and not because of the whole mythos attached to his superhero persona.

This volume also brings back an important character in Miles Morales’s life and spins an odd story around him that could be summarized as an origin story to a new Sinister Six.

The ending was too easy but I guess you could say that it was entertaining for what it was. The epilogue chapter also opened the door to a new story but it remains to be seen where that will go.

Have you read/seen/played any of these?

Share your thoughts on anything and everything with me! 😁

TILL NEXT TIME,

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Published by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

Reader. Reviewer. Researcher. Criminology Ph.D. Candidate. Montreal, Quebec (Canada). Want to know more? Connect with him!

49 thoughts on “Digital Mini Reviews | Here Comes Miles Morales!”

  3. I am glad you decided to try out mini reviews! I think they work really well, because you have to be focused and to the point when writing relatively few words.. Also, there isn’t space for deep analysis, so I find they are quick and fun to write. When I am pushed for time or just not in the mood for long essays, I often do the mini-reviews.

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  5. Captain Marvel? Toss that pile of tree pulp in the garbage!

    I find it funny that your post of mini-reviews is longer than most of my regular reviews 😀 I’m all for any kind of post that gets more content out there. While I take the effort to read every word you write in your longer posts, I don’t do that for every blogger I follow. So I can appreciate a shorter post…

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    1. Hahaha thanks, man! Your support has always been greatly appreciated since forever. I think the fact that there were 6 comics in this wrap up helped in making this seem longer than your regular reviews 😂 It’s going to be challenge to say more with less as I continue to test out this post in the future though. I find that I go through an internal struggle to try and give you guys as much information as possible on what it’s about so that you guys can then decide if it’s worth your time or not while also not going in-depth and making this longer than necessary 😂

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  8. Cool new feature Lashaan, keep it up – it’s a good way for you to put forward some succinct, quick fire thoughts on some things you don’t have time to devote to more in-depth reviews.

    I love the character of Miles Morales and the first volume of the most recent Bendis series was great, but like yourself I found the quality to dip with subsequent editions (I actually didn’t finish the series).

    Civil War II started off quite brilliantly but came apart by the end…still a decent read with some great ideas but ultimately, it failed to match up to the original Civil War which is a bit of a modern classic. I think at this point Bendis was a little burnt out at Marvel and had his eyes and heart focused on his transition to DC.

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    1. Yep. That digital can of worms really allowed me to pick up a lot of stories that I’ve been meaning to try for ages without having to break my bank account for physical copies hahah

      I can’t blame you for abandoning Bendis’ last Morales run. He really juggled too many threads and got interrupted by the Civil War II event too. I’ll probably work my through the previous Miles runs too to see what they did pre-Secret Wars hahah

      I agree for Civil War II. It started off right but then it lost itself beyond the halfway mark. After completing this Morales run and Civil War II, I sort of started to see why fans were getting tired of what Bendis was delivering.

      Have you heard rumours that Bendis might soon be done with Superman too? That sounds abrupt…

      P.S. Today’s announcement of Tom King’s Rorschach series was both super exciting but also invited dread in me… 😂 I hope he can pull off a Mister Miracle on it.

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      1. Yep, I heard about Bendis’ run on Superman concluding but It seems as though it was planned to finish at a certain point anyway (I listened to the podcast interview where he mentioned it) – think it’ll be a while yet though because it seems due to the pandemic he’s written stuff that’s way way ahead in terms of publishing.

        Funny you should mention Rorschach – I’ve just mentioned that in a comment on your City of Bane review! Yep, quite excited about that with Jorge Fornes providing the art!

        P.S. Tangent time – finished the Last of Us Part II…brilliant, just brilliant. I mean, I can maybe see why it hasn’t worked for everyone but they had to produce something truly sequel worthy and not simply retread/tell a similar story to the original.

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      2. Ohhh that’s good to hear. Those writer podcasts really do give you a more insight that what circulates around the web ahhaha

        I do hope Tom King knows what he’s doing with Rorschach though. However, with his love for 9-panel structures, it should be a match made in heaven…

        I’m glad to hear that maaaan! I feel like they’ve left plenty of open threads at the end to make another sequel in the future but I honestly would prefer that they move on to another IP now hahaha I have myself started Ghost of Tsushima and am having fun with the gameplay mechanics and the stunning in-game visuals!

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      3. Ooo, glad to hear Ghosts of Tsushima is going well – not sure when I’ll be picking it up myself but it’s definitely on the list. I’m actually playing through The Last of Us: Remastered at the moment – just as good as I remember (although obviously a previous gen game, miss some of the improved mechanics of Part II).

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  10. Miles Morales is new to me. I guess I’ve been away from comics too long, I didn’t realize Peter Parker was dead. It sounds like this started as an interesting story arc but then tried to include too much, tried to tie into too many other storylines too fast. I recall that sometimes being the case with huge multi-title stories like Civil War. I remember sometimes when I was only reading a single title and they threw it into this huge crossover storyline and that left me completely confused for however many issues it went on for. But I suppose it is a way to introduce folks to other titles. And it can be very interesting if they take the time needed to really weave it all together well.

    I like these mini reviews, Lashaan! I hope you keep them up.

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    1. Hahahah there’s A LOT that happens in the Spiderverse. And with what Marvel has been up with countless events, I’m not surprised that it’s so hard for many newbies to get into comics. Rest assured, Peter Parker doesn’t stay dead ahhah

      I agree about crossover events. I think one of the reasons is indeed to get people to try other series and learn more about the universe, but they obviously can’t hide the fact that it’s mostly all money-driven at the end of the day. Nowadays I try to stay away from tie-ins unless the event in itself is a masterpiece. Those tie-ins are usually so inconsequential 😂 Thanks for reading, Todd! I appreciate the thumbs up on the format!

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  15. You know me – always have to throw a curveball at you.
    Question: Why are these reviews mini? Is it because they are not sponsored in a way? I mean a physical book or a digital version is still the same in terms of content.

    With that being said, I think the mini-reviews work really well. You have a dedicated panel of readers who do go through your entire review but I think the shorter ones are a great breather. Or an introduction for newcomers. While I get the entire picture from your full reviews, I get just enough from the short ones to make an educated decision regarding potential reads.

    No, I have not touched any one of these mentioned up here.

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    1. Lots of reasons brought me to contemplate the idea. 1) As you might’ve seen in my monthly wrap-up, I read WAAAAY too many comics in the month as usual thanks to digital comics I got through my library 2) these digital comics aren’t purchases of mine and make me less inclined to write an in depth review for them 3) all my reviews feature pictures at the end and since I can do that (besides screenshots), I’m even less inclined to do a full review for them 4) when reading digitally, I’m less focused on details and themes, I don’t remember most quotes, and I blitz through them even faster because of the format for some reason 5) I prefer doing full reviews for things I own hahah 6) I will never be able to do a review for each without having a HUGGGEE backlog, even if I post once a day, which won’t happen… 7) Sometimes I just want to say something that isn’t too long about some things I consume 8) I was curious as to the pertinence of mini reviews for me and for you guys (would these ever get someone to try it out for themselves or will be it be NOT convincing enough?)

      I’m glad to hear that the format allows you to decide if it’s something for you or not though. That’s definitely important for me here.

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  16. OH YAYYYYY!!! Such a fun series, Lashaan! 😍😍😍

    GAHHHH!! I love how lyrical the name – Miles Morales – sounds! 😍😍🌻

    Ulysses?? The Inhuman?!??? WHOAA!! 😱😱 But I am sorry that one was a so-so! 🤷🏻‍♀️ STILL, AT LEAST THE NAMES ARE COOL AS FUCK! 🤣🤣

    You know at first glance, in the cover of Miles Morales Vol 2, it seemed like those two characters (their heads) in front of the alien seemed like they were the alien’s shoulders and it just…..TOO FUNNY! 🤣🤣 My first thought was “MAN, THAT’S ONE HUNKY ALIEN!” 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣🤣

    Oops! I am sorry the fourth Miles Morales Vol. 4 was a bit of a disappointment tooo!

    BUT….I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED READING THESE MINI REVIEWS!!😍😍😍😍😍😍🌻🌻🦋

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    1. It is a cool name, right? A lot of heroes have names like that though (e.g. Peter Parker?)! Hahah Ulysses is a nice “problematic” character although they get rid of him quite quickly in this story… hahahahah your impression of that cover is priceless 😂 Doubt anyone thought the same though hahahha Thanks for reading these mini reviews Rain! I’m glad you had fun going through them. 😂

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  17. I was gifted the Miles Morales/Spider-Gwen crossover from my trusted comic book store owner friend who unfortunately had to close. She knows how much I love Miles and Gwen and I liked it, but I agree that the story is choppy. My personal favorite Miles-ship is him and Kamala though. That’s just the way it is haha
    I really enjoyed reading these mini-reviews!! Great job, Lashaan!

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    1. Maaaan, that’s unfortunate to hear. Especially local comic book shops when you know that their source of income isn’t necessarily huge! 😭 I’m glad to hear you had as much fun as me with this one though. I agree with that Morales-Kamala ship hahahah I wish this series explored it more though. Thanks for passing by Kat! Hope you’re doing well. ☺️

      P.S. Still loving your art shared on IG 😍

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      1. I was really sad to see their shop close. While I couldn’t go there as frequently as I wanted, I always tried to support it. Those small shops that have a familial atmosphere are so rare, especially where I live. A lot of the comic stores are staffed with old grumpy men and there are no English editions available. It’s super annoying when they look at you as a girl and think you could not possibly know or like anything about comics.

        There’s definitely room for improvement on the series, but I still had fun with it.

        P.S. Thanks so much! Love to hear it ❤

        Liked by 1 person

  18. I liked the first Miles Morales, the rest I didn’t care much about. Totally agree on Captain Marvel in Civil War II 😀 Though to be fair I think that’s an evening of the score for the feminist agenda – there’s no equality until you have a despicable, strong female character – and Marvel’s much better in that than DC and their saccharine Wonder Woman! 😛
    Cool idea, Lashaan! Hope it works for you 🙂

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    1. Same here for Morales. Quite unfortunate that it couldn’t get a solid run with Bendis before he left Marvel to come recreate Superman.

      Hahahah well said for Captain Marvel. I’m having a hard time imagining fans of the character. Everything she does, even her live-action counterpart make her difficult to endure. 😂 Not excited to see what the sequel movie will do with her character either. Or even how Civil War II might be like on the silver screen if the MCU goes there post-establishing the Fantastic Four and the X-Men…

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      1. We’ll, if you could choose between writing Miles Morales and Superman, I don’t think you’d hesitate for long 😉

        Yeah, Captain Marvel is not a nice character – she’s a nasty piece of work; I think DC tried to do something similar with Batwoman, but just epically failed 😜
        I don’t know if they’re going to do CWII; they failed miserably with the first one, maybe they learned to leave such big events alone. Honestly, apart from the first Avengers, the really cool MCU movies are the character-led ones: Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Thor (the first one), Captain America (the second one)… But even with the bloated multi-character movies MCU is still better than anything DC came up with post-Nolan! 😜

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