Review by Frank Plowright

Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garrón got off to a very good start with Straight Out of Brooklyn, yet the two chapter highspot of Bring on the Bad Guys is even better. Otherwise, though, Ahmed sets the bitty tone from the start with a bitty opening. It’s short chapters drawn by different artists and designed to show aspects of Miles Morales’ character as we follow him for a day.

What that leads into, though, is great, pitting Miles against a merciless foe only concerned with Miles’ co-operation in tests. Garrón puts one hell of a lot of effort into the sample spread, which barely hints at what’s going on, yet surely intrigues. The two chapters are a set-up for something to follow, perhaps in Family Business, and contrast a desperate Miles with his equally desperate parents and Uncle.

The opening stories set a pattern of different people handling the narration over Bring on the Bad Guys. It offers insight into their personalities in addition to Miles, and what’s surprising is how many viable characters Ahmed has introduced in a relatively brief run to date. Starling, for instance, is given her own five page origin story, which is followed at the end by the ultimate standoff between Spider-Man and Spider-Man over where the best pizza in New York is located, with even villain the Shocker contributing. It’s co-written with Tom Taylor.

Something you don’t often see in superhero series is confirmation that five months have elapsed, which occurs here after Miles’s traumatic experience, and several pages later there’s also an explanation for Miles having his mother’s name.

By the closing pages, Ahmed has enough on the boil to keep Miles busy for a while, and despite this being an allsorts collection it’s very readable. Ahmed’s entire run is collected in hardback as Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Saladin Ahmed Omnibus