Miles Morales has been going through a lot in recent issues of Miles Morales: Spider-Man. He’s been turned into a vampire, traveled to Wakanda to cure himself, and found himself in Deadpool’s crosshairs. Will things ever get any easier? Miles Morales: Spider-Man #32 delivers a resounding answer to that question: “No.” After his recent adventures, Miles is looking to take things easy…but Anansi, having made the young web-slinger his champion, warns him that trouble is coming.
Said trouble comes in the form of Ares, the God of War, who wants Miles dead. To accomplish this task, he sets the Olympian Zip Zephyr loose from prison, and Miles has a new godly foe to deal with. Thankfully he has help from two godly allies: Hercules and Thor! But can the God of Thunder and the Prince of Power save Miles from Ares’ schemes?
Part of what’s made this recent Miles Morales run so fun is the fact that Cody Ziglar is willing to try anything when it comes to stories. The fact that Miles has fought vampires and gods is definitely proof of that. But like any good Spider-Man story, Ziglar grounds the fantastic in human elements. Case in point: the issue doesn’t open with the big battle between Miles and Zephyr, but Miles going to therapy and reconnecting with his friends.
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But another Spidey staple that Ziglar excels at is drawing parallels between Miles and his villains. In this case, Miles is less than happy to see Anansi walking around his classroom – especially when he tried to set some ground rules about godly interference. Zip, on the other hand, is more than willing to accept Ares’ boon while spreading destruction in the God of War’s name. It reinforces one of my longest-running theories about the line between heroism and villainy, and it’s the matter of choice. You choose to do good or evil, even if a deity gives you the tools.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #32 has another shift in artists, and while this normally annoys me, it brings in one of the more underrated artists in Marco Renna. Having seen his work on Power Rangers and Phoenix, I can safely say that he’s a perfect fit for Miles’ book, especially during the battle between Zip. Miles quickly learns how in over his head he is when Zip literally blows through his school and starts slamming him into the ground – Renna brings the kind of earthshaking energy you’d expect from a battle between gods, especially when Thor and Hercules enter the picture.
To separate the various pantheons, Cory Petit and Bryan Valenza come up with a unique approach in their mix of colors and letters. Anansi’s is red text with speech bubbles that boast a red fringe to them; Zip and Ares’ resembles Grecian text; and Thor’s has the standard Asgardian flavor. When Miles’ regular speech bubbles are stacked against them, it’s just another reminder that he’s a regular kid (well as regular as a teenage superhero can be) stacked against literal gods.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #32 finds the young web-slinger being pulled into a battle of divine proportions, yet it doesn’t lose the character work or amazing art that’s made this a must read title. Next issue promises a “Tournament of the Gods” – as someone who’s loved anime tournament arcs from Dragon Ball Z to Yu-Gi-Oh!, I’m sold.
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