GENERATIONS: THE SPIDERS
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler : Ramón Pérez
Colorist : Msassyk
Letterer : VC’s Cory Petit
Release Date : 9/27/17
Price : $3.99
Plot: The Spiders sends Miles Morales back in time where he runs into a much younger Peter Parker, going through a rough time in his life.
Story: The story of The Spiders is a really fantastic look into what Marvel seems to be attempting to accomplish with their Generations books. The issue jumps right into Miles stuck in the past and he quickly seems a bit panicked about what’s going on. The displacement has him feeling really worried because he’s on his own and not sure how to deal with everything. His first instinct is to travel to his home, where he gets confronted by his mother, and he quickly realizes that not only would revealing his identity to her have ended in a disaster, but that he needs to figure this out on his own. Right from the beginning there is an amazing parallel between these characters and their situations from Bendis. Miles becomes this outcast because he is out of time, stuck on his own, while during this point in his life, Peter is an outcast in school. Both are loners trying to navigate a stressful period.
Miles really gets to witness Peter when he was in the early stages of becoming Spider-Man; immediately seeing how much Peter struggled doing everything on his own. He had no outlets at the time which really made certain situations tough, because Peter carried so much weight on his shoulders. Between the thought losing Aunt May while he still struggles with being a factor in Uncle Ben’s death is already tough to deal with, but at this point Peter also did not know the limitations of his powers, and actually thought he would die while fighting Doc Ock. The Spiders brings these two characters closer together by providing this deep insight into an extremely personal moment.
It’s nice to see Miles react to witnessing Peter in such a vulnerable period of his life though, only increasing the character’s respect for the original Spider-Man. Bendis has done a wonderful job throughout the years of building the relationship between these two characters, but continues to increase the bond that they share in fresh and unique ways. His ability to work so much emotion and power into The Spiders makes it a great read. It’s nice to see Miles show how much respect he has for Peter, and that he can finally give back to him in this moment. He recognizes the pain and suffering that Peter went through, and how it wasn’t easy juggling a tough personal life with a superhero alter-ego. The writing in The Spiders gets really heavy when the story reaches Miles’ realization of the entire situation, and that’s when the issue turns into a beautiful piece of work that is able to reflect on what it means to be Spider-Man. The character is one of Marvel’s longest running and a favorite to a majority of fans, because Spider-Man is someone that everyone can relate to, and that is all thanks to the personal side of Peter’s story.
Art: The artwork in The Spiders is another part of the story that really adds to the whole idea of Generations, taking the visual aspect of this book as far back as Peter Parker goes. Returning to the idea that Peter Parker has been around since the early years of Marvel Comics makes the look of this book that much more fun. Perez and Msassyk do great work as a team on this book, giving it the incredible classic comic vibe that is much needed. The pencil work absolutely nails the style of the classic Spider-Man comics, with a great amount of detail, down to the clothing. The big cityscape scenes are really nice to look at because Perez brings back the full feeling that these scenes brought to the table. Combining this with the color work is what breathes life into it though, providing a washed out feeling of an old comic book page while using traditional bold colors. The full page city scenes feature a bold red background with yellow to light up the skyscrapers and deep blacks to provide bold shadows. The artwork really takes readers back to the time of classic comics, which makes The Spiders fun to visually observe while reading.
Verdict: The Spiders absolutely nails what Generations is about by using a past personal experience in Peter’s life as Spider-Man to bring Miles closer to him. The story really nails the personal feel and captures the classic “neighborhood Spider-Man” vibe that the character has always been praised for. Bendis has a really great sense for how to write the relationship between Peter and Miles, and combined with the classic comic art style from Perez and Msassyk, it makes this book a home run.
Rating: 5/5