Broken Frontier

Brian Michael Bendis continues to mold Miles into a hero.

Miles attempts to come to grips with his newfound spider-powers and is forced into action when he sees a building on fire. Brian Michael Bendis puts his rookie hero into his first hot spot and while his actions do prove to be sufficiently heroic, the pressure of his father’s approval weighs down on him more than a super-villain ever could. Despite the brief scene of danger, this is a slower moving issue that highlights drama over standard comic book fare.

The first thing to pop out about this issue is Sara Pichelli’s art. It is not bad, per se, but it is not up to her usual high standards. This book has been shipping fast, so perhaps the lull in quality is the result of work under pressure. Miles’s face looks eerily feminine at times, while his body seems oddly gangly, even for a tween. Similarly, Ganke does not look the same as he did as his first appearance last issue. He does not look bad; rather, he just does not have the same charming eyes and wry grin from before. This is not a terrible thing, and in fact Miles’s dream sequence pops out for being pitch perfect with excellent visual highlights, but it is notable.

Bendis has been taking it slow with Miles’s progression into Spider-Man, and his portrayal of a young, scared boy feels aptly authentic. It is fun to pretend to be a hero busting bad guys, but not many kids would jump at the chance to battle evil men with mechanical arms or bodies made of electricity knowing it could mean certain death. Miles’s current reluctance to accept the responsibility that comes with his powers is understandable, and here we glimpse what might set him into action, which is why Bendis’s slow but deliberate character development has been a delight to read.