Spider-Man #13
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler : Sara Pichelli
Colorist : Justin Ponsor
Letterer : VC’s Corey Petit
Release Date : 2/15/17
Price : $3.99
Plot
Miles’ dimension-hopping team up with Spider-Gwen continues, but now that he is face to face with his father’s evil Earth 65 doppelganger. Will he be able to handle it? Or will this shocking new revelation prove to be too much for our young Spider-Man?
Story
Running into an evil doppelganger is nothing we as fans haven’t seen a million times, but Bendis handles this very well. Throughout Miles’ entire time as Spider-Man, Bendis has established the close relationship Miles has with his father. So naturally seeing someone with his father’s face is a huge shock that he struggles to get over. Imagine if Peter had to fight an evil Uncle Ben – sure he can rationalize it all he wants, but at the end of the day he’s still fighting his dad. Luckily, Gwen is there to help him keep his head on straight.
As has been the case for this whole crossover, the dynamic between Miles and Gwen is the biggest selling point of the issue. Gwen serves as the voice of reason for Miles in this tough situation, but at the same time because of her relationship with her own father and what they’re currently going through, she understands how Miles feels more than any spider person in the multiverse. This makes her the prefect partner for the mission, which in turn helps the team up feel much more organic. It doesn’t follow the normal structure of let’s have a misunderstanding, then fight, then team up to take down the bad guy. Miles and Gwen bond right away and help each other by giving advice in areas where they lack.
Art
As a long time Miles Morales fan, saying that I enjoyed Sara Pachelli’s artwork would be redundant at this point. Bendis and Pichelli work extremely well together because they play off of each other’s strengths. Bendis has always been a master at crafting great dialogue and character interactions, and I felt that the art shined the most during the present-day scenes of Miles telling the story to his friends. Pichelli’s beautiful facial expressions are on full display. You can really see the wide range of emotions Miles felt during these events as he recounts the tale. Also in my opinion, this is the best action in the crossover so far. It is fluid, fast-paced and dynamic, as well as very quintessential Spider-Man. I also enjoyed all the subtle details that showcase how, despite having similar abilities, both Miles and Gwen have very unique and distinct fighting styles.
Verdict
So I don’t repeat myself too much, I’ll keep this section short and sweet. This is an extremely fun team-up story that has something for fans of both characters. For Miles fans, this builds even more on Miles’ relationship with his dad and just how important that is while at the same time invoking shades of the classic Parker luck (which I will dub Morales Misfortune) that brings a nice familiar tone to any Spider-fan. Spider-Gwen fans will enjoy that this book shows Gwen actually playing the mentor role to a character instead of being the one who’s mentored, which is a nice change of pace and sign of great character development for Gwen. I highly recommend that you go pick up Spider-Man #13.