When the decision to replace Ultimate Peter Parker with Ultimate Miles Morales, I was pretty indifferent about the issue. Characters change all the time, and the massive media red carpet that Marvel rolled out seemed all too convenient for this to be a passing fad.
Some time later, we have the inevitable meeting between Miles and the "real" Parker, brought together by fate and probably a desire to keep Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man afloat a little while longer. This is the first of five issues shared together, and to be honest, it bored me just a little bit.
Which isn't t say that it's terrible — no, this would be an awesome book if we just had maybe double the amount of pages to continue the story uninterrupted. As it stands, we're given a very one-sided intro to the goings-on, as they're completely focused on Peter. Miles doesn't show up until the last page, forcing us to wait another month until we get to the meat of the story.
Maybe.
What I'm saying is that this issue left me with the distinct impression that we'll likely be waiting for the trade paperback of this book in order to get the full effect of the story. The way it's paced right now does no favours for the two-sided nature of the book, and only ends up serving as a half-decent Spider-Man story, introducing us to things we already know.
And maybe that's what bugged me the most. We know who Peter Parker is. We've spent time with him at one point or another since 1967. With Miles, we haven't had much time to get to know him. Taking a little bit (hell, more than one page) to introduce him would give "regular" Spider-Man fans something to warm up to, instead of wondering if the issue we bought was worth the commitment to four more.
Spider-Men #1
Marvel Comics
$3.99
The Verdict: Three webshooters out of five for a bit of a plotting misstep. Decent for a Spider-Man story, but the lack of both elements really hampers my enjoyment. Wait for the trade.
Matt Demers writes about comics for the Silver Snail, and MattLikesComics.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
