NB of the Week

-IT IS NOT DOWN ON ANY SPOIL; TRUE PLACES NEVER ARE-

Ultimate Spider-Man #25 - Spider-Man No More: Part 3
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by David Marquez

If you go back to Peter Parker's origins, there will always be the one thing that will and should always define Spider-Man: with great power comes great responsibility. In Ultimate Spider-Man, Bendis shows that it's a mantra that should always inspire, Peter Parker or otherwise.
After the death of his mother (by a stray bullet from a police officer), Miles Morales has quit being Spider-Man for the last year. Last issue, after going out for a bite with his father, he runs into Gwen Stacy as she is their waiter. All are surprised when a powered battle envelopes everything around them. And what does Miles do? Nothing. He's done risking the lives of those around him.
This issue, we really just get a lot of Miles not knowing what to do. People who know him as Spider-Man are mad that's he's doing nothing and he's not sure how to fix things without putting back on the suit. Gwen Stacy isn't going to sit around and wait so she texts Miles' best friend Ganke (who may or may not be gay, apparently) who confronts him. Ganke's point is a damn good one:
"It must feel like an insanely big burden"
"Yes!"
"Like a giant responsibility."
"It is."
"That comes with great power..."
"I know what you're doing."
"I know you know what I'm doing. What are you doing?"
Later, Miles finds Jessica Drew(Spider-Woman) in his room waiting for him. What she tells him is the secret she's been keeping from him (though us readers have known since her start): that she is Peter Parker. Kinda. As his clone, she is him but as time passes, she looses more memories of his that she had. She never had a mother or a father. She's not even Peter Parker, not really. But she knows that the part of her that is still Pete would want her to fight. He'd want her to find the people that created her and are still trying to create more and stop them from hurting anybody else.
"I'm not trying to torture you, Miles... I'm just trying to show you why this is all so important. Why you need to be Spider-Man... Why there needs to be a Spider-Man."
And with those words and a note to his father saying he's off doing schoolwork, our last page gives us Miles back as Spider-Man, swinging into the action where he's meant to be.
Brian Michael Bendis has nailed this series from the start over a decade ago and he's still going strong. Just like Pete, Miles is figuring out that he has been handed a powerful tool. He's scared and confused and afraid and we understand that perfectly but thankfully, he's also remembering what good can and should be done with that power. Every issue of this series reminds us of why Spider-Man will always be one of the most iconic characters comics will give us and how one person can make all the difference. I look forward to each issue more and more.