MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #3 (MARVEL COMICS)

Revenant, a new villain with hard-light construct powers, reveals how he came to be and Jefferson’s role in his origin.

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #3 by Bryan Hill,Nico Leon, Valentine De Landro, Bryan Valenza, & Cory Petit (Marvel Comics) advances its’ new arc.

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #2 by Bryan Hill,Nico Leon, Valentine De Landro, Bryan Valenza, & Cory Petit (Marvel Comics)

*** POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING ***

Martin Moore was just a clipboard guy. Now, he’s something else entirely.

In The Burdens of the World, the third issue of the new ongoing Miles Morales: Spider-Man series by Bryan Hill and Nico Leon, Revenant (formerly MartinMoore) reveals why he seeks revenge against Jefferson Morales.

Last issue, we learned that Jefferson used Martin to infiltrate one of The Kingpin’s operations on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here, Martin attempts to flee New York but is caught by Kingpin’s henchmen and brought in. Instead of killing him, though, Kingpin sends him to a remote spot somewhere in South America. Through brutal experiments with the so-called mutant-growth-hormone, Martin gained hard-light construct powers and escaped.

READ LAST ISSUE’S REVIEW!

Now, he’s hellbent on making Jefferson pay for what he did, starting with attacking his family.

Honesty, or rather, dishonesty, and its consequences, are the running themes of this arc. Miles’s new love interest, Valentina, values honesty, while as Spider- Man, he is trapped in a perpetual cycle of dishonesty. Maybe she’s worth bringing in on the secret.

His dad’s dishonesty, though, created an all-new villain with personal ties to the family. It turned a harmless man into a killer, and now it’s created a bit of a rift between Jefferson and his son. I’m interested in seeing how that’ll go.

All in all, though, I don’t see Revenant becoming a major player in Miles’ rogues gallery, if he has one. To be honest, this is my prediction: they’re going to team up to hit Kingpin.

Just a theory!

Nico Leon’s art is fantastic, with bits that look like 3D cell-shading tech, straight out of XIII, which I just learned was adapted from a 1984 graphic novel series of the same name. Were you outside for XIII? Anyway, Bryan Valenza’s colors give off a glossy brightness that makes the page pop, but he shines when the colors are toned down in the flashback scenes.

Those scenes, drawn by Valentine de Landro, have shades of early Sean Phillips’s work on Criminal and David Aja. Minimalist art that nails this certain dirty atmosphere the past inhabits. It’s really good.

FINAL GRADE: 7.9

While it is a fun read, Revenant doesn’t come off as the archenemy for Miles that this series is trying really hard to sell. It looks great, though, and I want to see him get with Valentina. He definitely needs someone like her by his side.

Let me know your thoughts on Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 in the comments below. Thanks for reading!