This is Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Bad Blood. It is the second volume of Cody Ziglar’s run on Miles Morales: Spider-Man. It is Illustrated by Federico Vicentini, Federico Sabbatini, Partha Pratim, and Federica Mancin. It is Colored by Bryan Valenza. The Prime Letterer is Cory Petit. The Other Letterers are Clayton Cowles and Joe Caramagna. The cover used above is Illustrated by Federico Vicentini. Trigger Warning: This book contains elements that one may find disturbing such as references to mental illness, moments of extreme violence, mind control, and demonic rituals. Readers’ discretion is advised. This book follows Miles Morales, AKA Spider-Man, as his two coexisting lives starts to catch up to him. After a rather traumatic run-in with Carnage, Miles’ spider-sense starts to become triggered by relatively small occurrences. It doesn’t help that Hobgoblin ambushes him, and his romantic partner, Starling, during a music festival. Also, Miles runs into Blade, as he needs his help to find an ancient vampire, hiding in New York City. What will be the outcome of these two adventures, and how will Miles’ spider-sense get in the way?
This volume was pretty good. With the current The Amazing Spider-Man run not being the greatest right now, I thought it would be best for me to check out what’s going on with Miles Morales. And I am extremely glad that I did, because Miles is going through some wonderfully interesting developments right now. To make a long story short, Miles has been going through the ringer since the start of this run. In the first volume, he had to deal with a new villain named Rabble, who kidnapped and tortured people close to him. And during the Carnage Reigns event, Miles almost dies during a fight with Carnage. Finally, after a near death experience with Hobgoblin during this volume, Miles Morales is met with a question I wish other superheroes thought about. Maybe he needs therapy? And Miles does go to a special therapy program for superheroes, helmed by Doc Samson. I really enjoy this part of the book, since it expands on something I want more of with the Marvel Universe. Do superheroes go to therapy? With the amount of stress superheroes go through on a daily basis, it should be a no brainer for there to be something. But, for the most part there hasn’t been that much discussion over therapeutic outlets for superheroes (one exception being Jed MacKay’s run on Moon Knight). So, it is nice to finally see some sort of therapy program for superheroes in this universe. This factor also leads me to another part I enjoyed, Tiana Toomes, AKA Starling. She is a superhero in New York City and Miles Morales’ girlfriend. For this entire run, she and Miles make a pretty good romantic couple. They both help each other with their problems when asked and they fight crime together. Tiana is very supportive of Miles but calls him out whenever the need calls for it. And, of course, Starling kicks a lot of ass, which is very fun to watch.
Spoiler Alert: The first main story with Hobgoblin was a bombastic and vibrant display of nonstop action. There isn’t much development when it comes to any overarching story (other than the therapy arc, which I already went over), but the action sequences were spectacular. During a music festival, Miles and Starling catch Hobgoblin trying to steal military equipment and fight him. I got to be honest, the amount of collateral damage and explosions during this first part could put The Avengers to shame. The second part, which takes place underneath this military installation, has a different approach. Miles and Starling have been separated, and Hobgoblin takes full advantage of this, acting as a sort of horror movie villain. But as soon as Miles and Starling reunite, it goes right back to an explosive action-fest of awesome. Hobgoblin is defeated, Miles accepts that he might need psychological help, and the day is saved. The only thing about this story which disappoints me is the fact that it was only used as a teaser for Gang War, a Spider-Man event that I have no interest in ever reading. But other than that, this story was incredibly entertaining.
Another Spoiler Warning: The second main story with Blade wasn’t as explosive as the previous one, but still quite delightful. This story was my first big introduction to the Marvel Universe’s version of vampires, which surprisingly have a significant role within, especially recently. This story also gave an interesting viewpoint on Blade and his daughter, Bloodline. It represented their vampire hunting as a major responsibility that only they can do. It is a rather fascinating angle to do with these two characters since there are so many vampires within the Marvel Universe. This story also brings back the electricity sword that Miles can create with his powers, which I think is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a Spider-Man comic. The only other aspect of this story that caught my attention would be the primary antagonist, Sandra Santos, AKA Hightail. She is a villain, specifically made for Miles, who has superspeed. She is fine as a villain. She does become a vampire during this book, which was kind of fun. And that’s about all I have to say on that. The only thing that kind of annoyed me was that there was another teaser for the Gang War event, but I’ve already gone into that. But, even with that, this was still a thoroughly engaging story.
The art for this book is really good. Each one of the artists within this book keeps an overall energetic and exciting look. For the first story illustrators Federico Vicentini and Federico Sabbatini really knocked it out of the park with the action scenes. I also love the way both artists drew Hobgoblin as some sort of monstrous demon, which stole every panel he was on. In the second story, illustrators Partha Pratim and Federica Mancin both did a really good job. I particularly liked how both artists created a spookier atmosphere for the vampire story represented. All the vampires looked cool, and the action scenes were still great. There was also an awesome design of Miles as a vampire hunter, which looked great. I also really enjoyed the coloring, done by Bryan Valenza, since it gave an overarching look throughout the entire book. So, overall, the art for this book was quite spectacular.
Overall, this book was really great. It is amazing that Miles Morales can develop as a character. A luxury that many other top tier Marvel characters do not have. I also just really enjoy the setting of many Miles Morales stories, this one included. Both stories are great in their own way, which is key. The art was also great, especially when it came to the action scenes. Overall, I would recommend this volume (and series in general) to anyone who loves Spider-Man and Miles Morales.