
Title: Miles Morales: Shock Waves
Author: Justin A. Reynolds, Pablo Leon, Geoffo (Illustrator), Ariana Maher (Letterer)
Genre: comic book; middle grade; superheroes; sci-fi
Synopsis: (from Goodreads) Miles Morales is a normal kid who happens to juggle school at Brooklyn Visions Academy while swinging through the streets of Brooklyn as Spider-Man. After a disastrous earthquake strikes his mother’s birthplace of Puerto Rico, Miles springs into action to help set up a fundraiser for the devastated island. But when a new student’s father goes missing, Miles begins to make connections between the disappearance and a giant corporation sponsoring Miles’ fundraiser. Who is behind the disappearance, and how does that relate to Spider-Man?
Review: 3 stars
I think this was one of my first actual comic book-esque experiences. I love the Spiderverse movie and wanted to see if the Miles Morales books stood up to that. I enjoyed the story, especially the snippets of his family and home life, but I did not like the format. That’s on me.
The story begins talking about Hurricane Maria, and I liked the contemporary, real feel of that – like a superhero and his family trying to do a fundraiser for Puerto Rico. It grounded the story for me in a really cool way.
After that, we meet Miles’ new friend Kyle, and her dad, and this is where the story takes off. Kyle’s dad works for one of the really important businesses where all villains come from in comic book movies. Said villain (soon to be understood as such) tells Kyle’s dad that he’ll sponsor the Hurricane Maria fundraiser. Then we don’t really hear much more about that.
Miles does his spidey-thing and meets up with Peter Parker to talk about growing pains. I enjoyed this too – a teenager would still need a mentor, and in this universe, Miles doesn’t have an Iron Man to connect to.
Overall, it took me a second to figure out how the petty crimes Miles is trying to stop connected to the overall arching plot point (the business). I liked the reveal, and the questions this reveal brought up, especially with Kyle’s Dad being a victim of it.
I would absolutely attempt the next one, but I don’t think comics are really my thing.