Secret Identity--What's New?

Miles Morales Is The New Ultimate Spider-Man

8/2/2011

Lot's of buzz round the comic world today, as Marvel announced the identity of the new Spider-Man of the Ultimate universe. Miles Morales will don the Spidey outfit in Ultimate Fallout #4, which hits stores tomorrow.

I'm really excited about Marvel making a more diverse choice for the flagship book of its Ultimate line. This is a great opportunity to bring in a wider spectrum of young readers, as Miles' introduction into the Ultimate U will be a great jumping-on point.

Sadly, some comic readers and news outlets have reacted negatively to the move, alleging that Marvel's reasoning behind the new character isn't one of promoting diversity, but a politically correct publicity stunt. For his part, creator Brian Michael Bendis stated he was inspired by Donald Glover's campaign to be cast in the title role of the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man movie (Andrew Garfield ended up getting the role).

As much buzz as this story is creating, I find it ironic that more outlets haven't mentioned one of my favorite characters of all time in the discussion--Miguel O'Hara. The Spider-Man of the 2099 universe was of Mexican and Irish descent, and he first came onto the scene in 1992.

In any case, kudos to Marvel, who, after their latest "Comics for Comics" makerting stunt, needed a little positive publicity. Now let's hope they do the character of Miles Morales justice.

--Brian

John Cordis

8/2/2011 09:02:15 am

i don't mind a new character taking the place of Peter, it's the way they did it that bothers me. Death is not absolute in comics, that's a given, but it cheapened this entire series and I'm not investing my time in another bendis book. It's a shame, ultimate spiderman was a favorite of mine since the very beginning. Let me know how you like it, brian.

milkman

8/2/2011 11:22:39 am

it is a stunt, no matter how they spin it. it might turn out to be good, i don't know, i'm not fallowing the book, i tried but HATED the Bagley art. and i'm not a Bendis fan. i never have been. i dont hate his writing, i just never cared. that said, i might pick this one up in trade. we'll see. Oh, and BTW, thats a shame about the Donald Glover thing, that would have been interesting. he kills it in Community.

Mitchman

8/2/2011 10:59:13 pm

Just days after I heard Joe Quesada dismiss DC's relaunch on Sirius Radio's Geektime as a publicity stunt, and how Marvel used gimmicks in the 90s to sell books I see this. And yes Brian I immediately thought of Spiderman 2099 and said "what's the bid deal" they did this back in 1992. No matter how clever the writing is it won't be a permanent change, and when the story wraps up and somehow Parker returns from the dead and becomes ultimate Spidey again, the readers will feel cheated. I put this up there with Johnny Storm & Cap "dying", it's just a placeholder until the next "big" event. The most shocking result of this new Spidey story was those folks who put racist comments on the USAToday website regarding this story. I'm amazed at the level of ignorance that persists out there. They say they won't read the new Spidey and I think that is true. These fools are lucky if they can follow a comic by just looking at the pictures. Nuff said.

Scott Weinstein link

8/2/2011 11:37:57 pm

I completely forgot that Spidey 2099 was Mexican and Irish! Talk about diversity.

Yeah it's a stunt and killing off Peter was solely done to boost sales. But that being said I have really enjoyed the Ultimate Spidey series all along. It's a fun read. The supporting cast is great. And I have faith that this will continue to be just as interesting.

Also @milkman, Bagley isn't doing the art on the relaunch. (I agree with you, I was disappointed when he came back to the series.) Sara Pichelli is the new artist. She is fantastic and worth checking out.

Dumerill

8/3/2011 06:59:27 am

Is the new Spider-Man puertorican?!? 0_0 If he is, then that's gonna be on my pull list as of NOW!!! I dont follow the... million Spidey books out there, it's just ridiculous the amount of books from that character, i just buy the Marvel Adventures Spidey series, but if this new character turns out to be from PR, then I'll be picking it up and promoting it to ALL my friends. I don't care if it's a publicity stunt or not, and quite frankly, Im tired of listening to this rage from fans, either you want comics to reach the masses or not, if you do, then this is how you do it, create a buzz, but fans are just impossible to please. Nuff said!

Wayne

8/3/2011 10:07:22 am

Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) was also killed in the name of diversity. As a huge Ronnie fan I was angry. I believe I was justified in that anger. I had spent a LOT of time, money and emotion into this character. I had every right to be angry. But the whole time I understood. Comics need diversity. And new characters do not catch on. Replacing an established character with a minority works best. It is okay to be angry, but if the new character works, like Jason Rusch did, then it's for the best.

Dumerill

8/3/2011 12:11:31 pm

I just bought #1-#4 of this series and it's kinda cool, the views of different characters that knew Peter, very emotional; not a lot of action though. They did show the new character but no info on who he is, where he's from or why he has similar powers to Peter. I guess I'll be picking this book up, for a lil' while at least and see exactly who is this guy. And they NEED to put more action in this series if they want people to pay $3.99 a pop!

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Miles Morales Is The New Ultimate Spider-Man

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