Well, it’s come to this: the events from Blood Hunt have hit Miles Morales in his own title. I’d be lying if I said I was excited going into this; after Miles was turned by the ancient vampire, Varnae, in the Blood Hunt event, I was initially skeptical. Finding out that it wasn’t going to be reversed (right away, anyway) gave me some more misgivings. Does this play into my gripe that Miles is constantly involved in tie-ins? Yes. However, I’m happy to report that Ziglar and co. have managed to turn this editorial choice in their favor.
Marvel Comics
This volume opens firmly during the vampire invasion in Blood Hunt. Surrounded by vampires, Miles turns to Brielle, daughter of Blade, Dracula, and Hightail for some help dispatching the undead goons. In a previous story in this run, Miles dealt with the ancient energy vampire known as R’ym’r. It’s no surprise he reared his big ol’ nasty prune head when many other vampires are harassing the rest of the Marvel Universe. It’s a pretty straightforward two issues of comics. I didn’t have much for the R’ym’r story before and that hasn’t changed, although it was good to see Hightail again.
It’s not that I didn’t like these two chapters; they’re fine. It’s more that they feel like a rinse-and-repeat of the previous story with this villain. R’ym’r escaped his prison and they need to find a way to trap him back inside the relic. It’s not bad, but it feels kind of repetitive. The moments that stand out are Miles’ interactions with Hightail and how much she can’t stand him. Artists Brent Peeples and Daniel Picciotto along with Colorist Bryan Valenza all turn in solid work. They’re a good looking two issues but nothing that wowed me like the usual art on this book does.
There’s also an interstitial story from the Miles Morales: Spider-Man Annual titled “Night Shift”. Taking place right after Blood Hunt, Miles travels to Atlanta to meet up with Brielle to begin his training to handle his new undead powers. Writer Danny Lore has a good handle on Miles’ voice in these few pages while Artist Elena Casagrande and Colorist Dee Cunniffe render Lore’s script in a way that gets across Miles’ dread at his new status while providing hope at the very end.
Marvel Comics
Miles next returns to New York City and tries to navigate telling his girlfriend, Tiana Toomes (AKA Starling), about his being a vampire. We even get some pages dedicated to Tiana narrating her own goings on, something I didn’t realize I’ve been wanting from her. Being The Vulture’s granddaughter is already interesting, but getting to know Tiana’s inner world is doubly so. Miles isn’t only struggling to tell Tiana, but he’s also feeling more violent with his new powers. So much so that he turns to his therapists, Doc Sasquatch and the mysterious Dr. Kwan, for help.
Although Kwan is hesitant about getting field experience (we have no idea why – mystery!), she heads to Misty Knight’s as Miles pulls up with Tiana so they can tackle this problem head-on. This is part of what I was missing from the previous chapters. Miles turning to his supporting cast and them being more than willing to help him through things. Not only does Miles have his usual crew, Misty also calls in a big gun, a character that was also turned during Blood Hunt: Black Panther.
Black Panther thinks he has a solution to the balancing of Miles’ usual powers and his new magical vampire infection – he also provides Miles with a slick new suit that I fell in love with instantly. While this was all super cool, the drama bubbling in the background has to do with ol’ Adrian Toomes, The Vulture, being delusional and blaming Miles for pushing Tiana away from him. Not willing to listen to reason, Vulture comes after Miles non-stop even though Tiana tells him to back off. The story ends with Black Panther telling Miles they’ll need to head to Wakanda(!) for the next step in his journey.
Marvel Comics
The last four chapters of this volume gave me what I was craving. Ziglar hits it out of the park when it comes to the vampiric fallout hitting Miles personally and having his crew there to help him through it. Federico Vicentini returns as the regular artist and blew my eyeballs out of their sockets. The flow of the action and sheer kineticism of the fights are what have always made this run special art-wise. Valenza is also on colors here and makes Vicentini’s art pop and crackle off of the page.
It seems my wish for Miles to not be involved in constant tie-ins continues to be unfulfilled. Although him being a vampire felt out of his control, Ziglar turns lemons to lemonade, not only dealing with the changes to Miles’ status quo but exploreing them with the depth and fun we’ve come to expect from this title. The first few chapters felt slow and expected but the final four were a return to form. Miles has a new Vibranium suit that is helping control his powers and is heading to Wakanda with Black Panther. I can’t wait to see where Ziglar takes my favorite Spider-Man next.
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