Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #7

Background

The superheroes are about to go to war, and Miles Morales has been personally asked to fight alongside Tony Stark.

Story Details

Miles has a very graphic and vivid nightmare about a rampaging Hulk. The Hulk has already taken down the rest of the Avengers, and he is coming for Miles next. However, Miles wakes up before the dream can go any further, causing him to scream aloud in fear. His screams awaken his roommates, and they show concern for his well-being. Meanwhile, Miles’ mother (Rio) tells her husband (Jefferson) about her encounter with Jessica Jones (as seen in the previous issue). She tells him that Jones refused to share Miles’ secret with her, and that Jones proceeded to pick her up and carry her out of her office when she refused to leave. Jefferson tries to calm her down, but they both fall asleep filled with anxiety.

In the city, Bombshell manages to stop the robbery of a pawn shop, and she eventually runs into Miles swinging around as Spider-Man. Miles says that he is feeling insomniac, and he has been thinking about whether superheroes are really the do-gooders they claim to be. He points to Bombshell’s foiling of the robbery, and he points out that she caused collateral damage. He then explains the “Civil War” situation to her, and she tells him to stay out of the mess. Miles feels a sense of responsibility to fight, but Bombshell does not agree.

The next day at school, Miles falls asleep in his English class, and he is promptly awoken by Ganke. Miles jumps up and screams about the Hulk, indicating another nightmare, but is sent out of the room by the teacher. He swings off as Spider-Man and receives a call from Tony Stark requesting a meeting. However, Miles is approached by Luke Cage and Jessica Jones before he can respond to Stark’s request.

General Comments

This comic is not at the same level of quality as its predecessor. While the last issue managed to very much be its own story despite its obligations as a tie-in, this one really does not succeed on that front. I think it suffers a lot because it needs to fulfill its mandated event drama, and that causes me to enjoy the book much less.

Like I said, this issue being pretty much entirely centered around Civil War II causes me to lose a great amount of interest in it. I feel like this is time that could be spent on other, much more interesting plots for Miles, but instead it's being wasted on a frankly unintriguing event. Also, exactly when is this issue supposed to take place in relation to the main Civil War II title? The Hulk situation has already been dealt with, therefore making Miles' nightmares in this issue unnecessary and irrelevant.

In contrast to my previous point though, I will admit that while I do find Civil War II uninteresting, Miles and Bombshell's discussion in this issue is actually pretty thought-provoking. Do heroes really help the world as much as they like to think that they do? It's an interesting question to raise, and it's especially deep for someone as young as Miles to be asking such hard-hitting questions like this? Miles has always been a fairly smart kid, maybe not like Peter, but still smart for his age. He has seen a lot during his time as Spider-Man, and it's starting to get to him a bit. It's a very human concept, and it makes for an interesting philosophical discussion.

I think the scene between Miles' mother and father is much too long, and it doesn't really amount to anything. Last issue's hook of whether or not Jessica will tell Miles' mother about his dual life is resolved as expected. Miles' mother still doesn't have any answers, and this plot is no further along than it was in the previous issue. The several pages worth of this scene that we got were a waste of space, and the scene could've been trimmed down to one or two pages.

Lastly, the artwork in this issue is very high-quality once again.

Overall Rating

While the last issue avoided a lot of the trappings that an event tie-in can fall into, the same cannot be said for this one. It suffers a lot from the fact that it's centered around the main Marvel event, and Miles' own stories fall by the wayside quickly. It has its good moments, but in general this issue is mostly mediocre.