Warning! FULL SPOILERS ahead for both Amazing Spider-man #1 and Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-man #1!
Amazing Spider-man #1
I thought this was a pretty enjoyable issue. It's refreshing to have Peter Parker back and be able to read some of the humorous dialogue that was missing from Superior Spider-man. Since Peter was gone from Amazing Spider-man since late 2012 and he's been dead in the Ultimate Universe since 2011, it really has been quite a while since I've been able to read a Peter Parker comic and I haven't realized until now how much I missed that.
Not a lot happened in this issue. It begins with this tease that the spider that gave Peter his powers bit a girl who was standing nearby before it died. This is definitely pretty intriguing and I expected that this would play a bigger role in the story of this issue, but I don't think there was anything to follow up on that. At one point we saw the shadowy figure of a woman on a rooftop watching Spider-man swing by and I thought that might be our mystery girl, but it turned out to be Black Cat.
It will be pretty interesting to see how Peter deals with everything that has changed in his life in the time that Doc Ock had control over his body. I liked seeing Peter working at Horizon Labs, so having Parker Industries now should be another cool way to keep his life moving forward.
The situation of Peter dating Anna Maria, this woman who he doesn't know, is definitely going to be a fun predicament to see play out. She's a likable character so I wonder if there's any potential for Peter to fall for her. Now that she knows he's Spider-man it seems like she's going to remain a major figure in the supporting cast for a while.
The ending gave us some nice little teases of things to come with Electro, Black Cat, Miguel Ohara, Kaine, and an obsessed Spider-man fan from the early the beginning of Peter's career. Clearly Amazing Spider-man 2 being in theaters has something to do with Electro being featured in this upcoming story. Hopefully they'll do something interesting with him. I've never seen Black Cat this ticked off before, so I wonder if this will be temporary or a new direction for the character that will influence how she is written for a while.
Now that Peter is back and we've seen Kaine and Flash Thompson grow in their own series, I'd really like to see him interacting with them. I'd also like Peter and Flash to find out each other's secret identities. This would be an opportunity to deepen their friendship and bring them a lot closer even if Flash doesn't stay in New York. It would be cool to see them serve as a support system for each other since they have similar struggles and can relate.
Miles Morales #1
Ultimate Spider-man had a solid issue too.
Main points: Norman Osborne is back, Miles' dad has been missing since he found out the truth, there's a pair of criminals that have been labeled the Spider-man twins, Miles has to decide if he's going to reveal his secret to his girlfriend, and Peter Parker may be back
That's actually quite a lot.
I'm excited to see Miles take on the Green Goblin. Now that he's matured and has some experience, I think having him face on a villain as significant as Osborne feels like the next step in establishing him as a truly worthy successor to Peter Parker.
As for Mile's dad, I'm hoping that he was kidnapped or something, because despite everything that has happened to him, it's ridiculous for a man to run out on his 14 year old son.
The Spider-man twins aren't particularly interesting yet, but I'm sure there will be something surprising about who they are or who they're working for.
With the Kate Bishop storyline, I'm hoping we'll finally get to know this character a bit better. When the story skipped forward a year, Miles was already dating her so we never got to see him meet her or see their relationship develop. Even with her appearances so far, she's been likable enough but she hasn't really been well defined. Hopefully there's a reason for this.
Finally, the return of Peter Parker. This really took me by surprise. With Ultimate Spider-man 200, there was a tease at the end that Peter might be back. I was not expecting for him to just pop up hear so casually. The big question is, is this the real Peter Parker or not? I kind of want to believe it is, but I've got a feeling it isn't. For something as huge as Peter returning from the dead, it's a bit odd to have him just show up in Miles apartment. On the one hand, I believe Gwen's return from the dead was pretty similar. On the other hand, so was Richard Parker's and he turned out to be an adult clone of Peter's who only believed himself to be Richard Parker.
I'm guessing this is a clone of Peter's who believes himself to be the real Peter. Aside from my interpretation of what's going on within the story, outside of the story it just doesn't seem likely. They've just launched this new volume of the series with the name “Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-man.” There haven't been any announcements of other series coming to the Ultimate Universe. It seems doubtful that they'd bring back Peter Parker just to have him play a supporting role in a series about Miles Morales. If Peter is around, fans will want to see him in a starring role.
If this return was coming at the end of a volume and the next one didn't have the name Miles Morales in the title, I'd be a lot more confident that this was the real Peter. Peter may come back eventually and I hope he does, but right now I think this is a fake return designed to make us let go of our hopes that Peter will return and highlight that Miles is really a worthy replacement. I think it's interesting that the security guards were having a conversation about whether or not Captain America is dead, and how superheroes make their returns after a while. It's like Bendis was acknowledging the discussions he knows fans will have about Peter's return. Overall, I'm quite excited that the series is back and I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes.
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