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A couple of years ago, Iinterviewednovelist Walter Mosley about comic books.
He lives in a one-parent house its not even a parent, its an aunt.
He has all of this power, but every time he uses it, it turns against him.
People are afraid of him; the police are after him.
Thats a black hero right there.
Of course, hes actually a white guy.
But black people reading Spider-Man are like,Yeah, I get that.
I identify with this character here.
How lucky we are, then, to have the opportunity provided by Miles Morales.
There, Peter died and Miles took up the Spider-mantle.
This is a big week for him.
That was then, this is now.
After all, Peter comes from New Yorks outer boroughs, which are astoundingly diverse in the present era.
That historically doesnt always work.
In fact, it rarely ever does.
In this case, it did work.
Sales spiked and fans were abuzz about this somewhat radical development.
Fan and former Marvel employee Bon Alimagno told me about his feelings upon readingUltimate Comics: Spider-ManNo.
A lot of that is a credit to the way Bendis writes his stories.
Bendis was Miless primary writer from his first appearance up to Bendiss amicable departure from Marvel earlier this year.
However, thats about it, when it comes to favored comics stories from before this week.
Others took issue with the fact that Miless black father and uncle were both portrayed as criminals or ex-criminals.
But one moment particularly drove people up a tree.
Miles bristles at the designation while watching the video with Ganke.
I dont want to be the black Spider-Man, Miles says.
I want to be Spider-Man.
Right away, there was asignificant backlashto the storytelling choice.
As comics critic J.A.
That bit of dialogue still stings for lots of Miless devotees, especially nonwhite ones.
It was tone-deaf, says Jonathan Hurrell.
It just seemedoff, in a way.
Most likely, hed say Latino, but more likely, hed say Puerto Rican, she opines.
Ergo the cautious optimism about Ahmeds new comics run with Miles.
At some point, Miles should be written by an Afro-Latino writer, Ahmed tells me.
I make a run at know my limitations.
Its not a ton, but its a start.
Insomniacs creative director, Bryan Intihar, is proud of their decision to include him.
Were representing them, hopefully in the right way.
Theyre making him more commonplace everywhere now.
Thats true, and nowhere more than inInto the Spider-Verse.
Well do it if we can tell the story of Miles Morales.
And the studio said yes.
So he really became the catalyst for everything else that was in the movie.
Thats all audiences of color want.
Sure enough, Miless background is at once very visible and wholly hidden inInto the Spider-Verse.
If youre looking for a complex investigation of ethnic dynamics, you wont find it.
But what you will find is the first trulygreatstory to star Miles Morales.
The road to this moment has been rocky, to be sure.
Thats such a special story to tell.
