Spider-Man #8 Review and *SPOILERS*

Changing The Future, One Death At A Time

Written By: Brian Michael Bendis
Art By: Nico Leon, Marte Gracia, Cory Petit
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 14, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

We're still in tie-in territory with our Spider-Man title and as we've seen recently, Miles Morales seems to be thinking that he's going to side with Tony Stark on the Civil War front........ and from everything that I've seen....... which isn't much, I'd have to go with Tony as well.  With that, we have Miles dealing with some precarious things, like his grandmother hiring Jessica Jones to find out what Miles is hiding from his family and as we saw from the previous issue, it all might come to a head here because the cliffhanger was Jessica Jones and Luke Cage showing up at Miles' school and saying that they need to talk.  Let's jump into this issue and see what these two heroes want, while also seeing where Miles definitely stands going into Civil War II.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue opens with Jessica Jones and Luke Cage showing up to tell Miles that he needs to be more careful with his secret identity because two hours into investigating him, Jessica was able to ascertain his identity and everyone who's in on his secret.  With that though, she promises not to tell Miles' grandmother what she found out as a way to make sure that Miles gets to continue doing what he's been doing, but offers him some advice in being more involved with his family and their expectations for him because if things continue the way they are, someone who's not as good at keeping a secret will find out and that wouldn't be good for anyone.  After the professional courtesy, Miles swings off because before he was stopped by Jessica and Luke, he was supposed to meet Tony Stark at the Triskelion........... which is a bigger meeting than he ever suspected.

Once Miles arrives........ after webbing Nova for a way to get over there, we see that this is more than just a meeting of a couple of heroes because everyone and their mamas are there, including Tony Stark and Carol Danvers working together.  Yeah, that's something right there and there's only one thing that could be big enough to get these two to see eye to eye and that's the future they all saw, where the Hulk massacred all of them.  To make sure that this future doesn't transpire, all of these heroes get together to confront Bruce Banner........... and even though I haven't been reading the main Civil War II title, this situation is no stranger to me from what I have been reading.  During the confrontation, Hawkeye kills Bruce and all hell breaks loose, bringing Civil War to a head.  

In the end, Tony, Sam Wilson, Miles, Nova and Ms. Marvel are flying back, when Tony breaks down and cries, but also declares that this was a setup and was exactly what Captain Marvel wanted to happen and if this is allowed, then who else is going to die on a whim.  This situation solidifies Miles' decision to follow Tony Stark because even though he's seen some shit as a superhero, it's another to see a contemporary taken down by another.  

That's it for this issue of Spider-Man and even though I was privy to the information we got here for the most part before coming into this, I loved the perspective we got here from Miles and how this situation propelled him into joining Tony's side.  Yeah, I've heard that most of this has been resolved by this point, but I haven't read any of that yet....... and probably won't, but this tie-in felt important and seeing the emotions of Miles....... even with the Spider-Man mask on was powerful.  I'll be happy to get our hero out of all the tie-ins, but I'm happy as hell that I read this one because there was a real weight to it and I could only imagine how heavy everything became for Miles in this issue from him discovering that his family was having him investigated to seeing another hero die in front of him.  It was just a really good issue, with great art throughout and I hope that this sense of reality banging at Miles' door continues because we're seeing him becoming a better hero with every issue.

Bits and Pieces:

This tie-in to Civil War II has got to be one of the best I've read so far and actually made me start thinking that I should read the event........ I probably won't, but I still thought about it for awhile.  With this tie-in, we saw Miles have to consider a lot of things and I can't wait to see what type of person that Miles becomes after this event is all over because it really feels like he's going to have to grow up fast.  Great art, great story, I love this Spider-Man.

8/10