Comics Cornerstone: Miles Morales is No Longer Spider or Man. He’s a Servant of Carnage!
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Hey, everybody! Hopefully, you’re all having a good week and are ready for another review! Today, I’ll be looking at a tie-in of sorts to the stellar “Absolute Carnage” event. More specifically, the focus today will be “Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales”. A 3-issue mini-series written by Saladin Ahmed that focuses on the second Spider-Man and how he factors into the larger event. Since it’s only 3 issues, I figured I’d do it all in one shot. It just flows better that way. It’s pretty great! So, I hope you’re ready for an exciting ride! Let’s get to it!
So, we start off with Miles duking it out with the Scorpion in the middle of the shopping district. It seems that these events take place concurrently with the events of “Absolute Carnage” issue #2 because the minions of Carnage show up and quickly overwhelm Scorpion and Spider-Man. Naturally, they call a temporary truce in order to attempt to fight off the horde. You know, as you do. Unfortunately, the two of them alone aren’t enough to defeat the monsters. Spidey and Scorpion are on the verge of defeat until, thankfully, Venom shows up to save the day. Though not before one of the creatures stabs Scorpion in the back and rips out his spleen. Venom is able to evacuate Scorpion from the scene, leaving Spidey all on his own. This obviously doesn’t go well because he’s quickly overtaken and becomes a part of Carnages’ mindless army. Uh oh!
This is where things start to get really crazy because we’ve now veered way off the normal track of a Miles Morales book. Instead, we’re reading what’s essentially a monster book where Miles has become one of those monsters. That’s something I never would have expected for this character! However, I do have some gripes – particularly with the second issue. Before going into detail, I’ll give you the short of it. I honestly think this could have been two issues. Why? Well, I just don’t think we needed to spend the entire second issue with Miles in monster form. Sure, there are great moments in it. But I just feel that it was a little too drawn out. Probably the best part of the second and third issues is when Miles is trying to fight for control of his own body. It’s not overly graphic, but it still feels very much like a body-horror type of situation. Maybe a bit too much. I guess my overall complaint is that I think this concept goes on for too long. Though I have to say, one of Peter Parkers’ supporting cast ends up getting taken over in the book and it’s actually pretty hilarious even though I don’t think it’s meant to be. No spoilers!
For me, the third issue is the highlight. That’s because Miles finally manages to break free of the symbiote using his signature “Venom-Blast”. Now, don’t get mad at me for breaking my rule because that’s only a minor spoiler. Believe me, something much more significant happens at the end. Basically though, once he’s free, he spends the rest of the issue trying to free his partner that he was sent with from Carnage’s control. It’s an interesting dynamic because the person underneath happens to be a serial killer. Miles realizes that, even though he’s a criminal, that doesn’t mean he should have to be stuck as a monster. He’ll still have to be locked up though
As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also the issue of a certain side character from the main Spidey book. Without spoiling, said person also gets briefly covered by a symbiote and Miles has to deal with that as well. It’s who that person is that makes it interesting. If you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favor!
All in all, I’d say it’s a good 2/3 of a story. Yes, I think it could have been done in two simply because the whole body-horror concept seems to drag its feet. On the other hand, I can’t complain much because everything else is rock-solid and ties in very well to “Absolute Carnage”. So, yes, I definitely recommend it. And that goes double for those of you who are reading the larger event! But, for now, that’s going to be it for this one. I hope you enjoyed it! And don’t worry because there’s plenty of good stuff coming down the pipe! Until next time, stay comical!
