Review by Frank Plowright

All you really need to know about this Omnibus is that as written by Saladin Ahmed it’s a joy from beginning to send, and it’s extremely rare that the art dips below desirable.

An indication of Ahmed’s diligence is that in an era where Marvel’s editors can’t schedule an artist to draw more than a couple of chapters at a time, Ahmed plans ahead. His system is to break down stories into short chunks with a different tone, meaning they can be drawn by assorted artists without harming the flow. Furthermore when superhero writers know anything they create is company owned, he has enough confidence in his own imagination to supply one new villain after another. Only the Rhino is from the shed of stock Marvel villains, and Ahmed uses him well on several occasions as more than a guy who runs through walls.

The strength of a good story about Miles, though, isn’t the villains, but how Miles interacts with his family and friends, and his initiative in overcoming the odds while in costume. Ahmed delivers all that succinctly and joyfully, rarely striking a wrong note. You’ll believe in the people and like them.

While other artists are used, in order of publication only Javier Garrón, Carmen Carnero and Christopher Allen draw more than a couple of chapters. The first two supply the sample art, and all three give the cast the necessary emotional strength, choreograph the action to ensure it’s dynamic and exciting, and believe the backgrounds should be more than speedlines and a splash of colour. All three are excellent.

Reviews more specific to individual story arcs can be found over eight separate volumes, beginning with Straight Out of Brooklyn, but this collection has stories not included in the paperbacks. Despite having featured one grim future in the main run, Ahmed supplies ‘The End’ as a look at Miles as grey-haired and elderly, and running Brooklyn at a time when the remainder of New York has fallen to alien monsters. Damion Scott’s heavily stylised cartooning might not appeal after a succession of artists with a naturalistic approach, but it’s very good, and he designs great tech. It’s not Ahmed at his best, though, with the imagination applied to the background rather than the story.

It’s a rare lapse in what’s a consistently thrilling experience that you’ll live alongside Miles, his friends and his family, always with the human touch at heart.