Knull? Yeah, it’s Knull. Miles fights against the goop from above in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23 written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Carmen Carnero, colors by David Curiel, and letters by Cory Petit.
I’m bored with the “King in Black”. I don’t care about Knull. I’m tired of seeing heroes who interact with Knull or one of his acolytes react exactly the same – with a look of horror and some sense of guilt – when a fellow hero is taken over by the symbiote.
I’ve been frustrated with this Spider-Man run. It feels rudimentary as opposed to revolutionary. A character who should be a marquee for the entirety of Marvel Comics seems to just be running in circles, not maturing or growing.
So to no surprise I’m uninspired by this story. It is incredibly basic: Spider-Man sees a symbiote dragon. Spider-Man uses blasts to free said dragon. Spider-Man sees symbiote Ms Marvel (because of course). Spider-Man uses blasts to free Ms Marvel. Spider-Man is now tired.
That’s literally it: the dialogue is bland. No personality. No character development. It is simply a means to further the plot. You could have literally plugged in any pairing of heroes, used the same dialogue, and you’d have the same comic.
But! It’s February and the remnants of Valentine’s Day are still floating around my heart. So, in the spirit of spreading love indiscriminately, I’ll focus on the three things I did like:
- The art is really, actually dope and effective. Carmen Carnero is doing work. I love the lines. I love the panel breaks showing action. I love the details. The coloring (by David Curiel) is amazing, especially skin tones. I really, really, like *looking* at this (even if I don’t love reading it. Oh crap, I’m supposed to be nice. Sorry.)
- The only three characters with speaking lines are people of color. Some (we know who) might say this doesn’t matter; that we should look “past” color; that quality is ultimately what matters most. I certainly agree with the last point; it’s why I’m so hard on this series, because the quality isn’t always there. But as a child of the 80’s who *never* saw more than one token sidekick with my skin tone growing up, seeing this diversity happen so fluidly and naturally is noticed and appreciated. I am a Black man in position to critique another writer of color who wrote a comic filled with people of color. This is progress, and while It’s not enough (not nearly enough), it is something, and something is good.
- Spider-Man rode a dragon. That’s just cool. Absurd, underutilized (I absolutely would have yelled dracarys), and ancillary to the story yes. But still hella cool.
Spider-man had its moments of joy and, ultimately, small joys are still joys all the same.
I just wish joy was something I didn’t have to search for.
A proud New Orleanian living in the District of Columbia, Jude Jones is a professional thinker, amateur photographer, burgeoning runner and lover of Black culture, love and life. Magneto and Cyclops (and Killmonger) were right.
Find more of Jude’s writing here.
