Writer: Brian Michael Bendis / Artist: Szymon Kudranksi / Marvel Comics
Coming out of the “Sitting In a Tree” crossover, with a very generous “mixed review” assessment, the Miles storyline moves on to the inevitable issue of how Rio might handle all the disappearances and deception from her son and husband. It ain’t pretty. But also, it doesn’t seem to have the weight that it should. I was happy to see the confrontation happen with her figuring some things out on her own and forcing the issue (and I generally enjoy books where the loved ones know the secret superhero shit their loved ones do better), but the responses of both Jefferson and Miles felt a little lacking in emotional heft.
What doesn’t particularly help is the continuity from previous stories, even immediately preceding this moment. Miles is gleeful and exuberant in the present tense of telling his adventures with Gwen, but knowing that he was telling his story with that kind of excitement right after his mother reacts this badly to finding out his story feels off. The other, being the bigger issue of Miles’ mother being killed in the Ultimate Universe when she was the one that knew his secret (instead of pops) but not being willing or unable to tell that in this new reality, hinders this moment.
While Kudranksi handles the pencils this time around, the art does its best to aid the reveal with a very solemn and deliberate environment created. It still, just doesn’t feel like enough in the end.
There’s no understating the importance of this moment in Spider-Man and will probably lead to a lot of more complex story developments down the line, but it lacked the punch that this kind of reveal should have, especially since it dominated the issue.
Reading Spider-Man? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
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