Why Ultimate Spider-Man is Successful

Not sure if you've heard but Spider-Man is black now. Not just Black, but black and Latino.

.......

See how the world didn't end just there? Notice how anarchy hasn't over taken the land? See how the Marvel building didn't explode?

Despite what you might have seen on Fox News and heard from certain comic bloggers (NERDS....oh wait) Miles Morales wasn't the end of Spider-Man and furthermore he wasn't a gimmick. Instead, he was a fresh start, and it worked.

When I was pitching this column to Jeff (the guy who reviews the comics you should be reading, but probably aren't) he gave me a wise and astute warning, "Dude, don't make it racist". He said this because I proposed the idea that Miles' race wasn't important. Had I taken this route, Jeff's concern would have been justified. But I haven't, because his race is important in the same way that Barack Obama's race is important, a few years ago no one could have imagined it. Now, it makes sense and in fact in both cases its working (screw you Fox News).

But its not working because they're black, its working because they have what it takes to be successful. In the land of politics success is hard to define, so I'll stay away from that one (and realistically the jury is still out on my man), its only slightly easier in the world of comics, although I'm sure I'm going to take flack for this. A comic book character is successful when he (or she) makes you want to read the comic he (or she) is in. A character can succeed a this by being a badass (Wolverine), funny (Peter Parker Spider-Man), or relatable. Miles Morales is incredibly relatable.

While Millar makes a character seem like an articulate badass, Bendis makes a character seem like a person, and more than a hero Miles is a kid (at least for now). When you read Miles' dialogue it sounds like the inner workings of a 13 year old. For this Brian Michael Bendis deserves a ton of credit (and no ridicule). It would be an easy and fatal mistake for Bendis to sound like an adult trying to sound like a young teenager, but that impression is never given. Instead you almost feel like you're listening to a very talented young actor read a monologue, or reading his journal.

Miles accepts the mantle of his powers the way most teenagers approach change, with a mixture of fear, apprehension and blind excitement. You empathize with Miles' situation because you probably would have reacted similarly at his age, although you were getting your first kiss instead of jumping between buildings.

Miles' ability to inspire empathy will most likely be used by Bendis as a tool to examine larger issues outside of the comic world. For example in the first issue Bendis shows Miles winning a school lottery like the one seen in "Waiting for Superman" and the terrible randomness of the practice. It was a real moment and a risk for a series' first issue. But this is Bendis we're talking about here, he's rolled the dice on social issues before and now he has a an excellent tool to do so again.

I hope Miles Morales is around for years, I want to watch him grow up and become a great hero. I pray that Marvel lets Peter Parker rest in peace. I can't wait to see how he handles Supervillans and growing up.

Now if we can just get the kid some Web Slingers we'll be all set.



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