Spider-Man (2016) #2 Review: New Spider Troubles?

Check out Our Review [WITH SPOILERS] for Spider-Man (2016) #2!

Our friendly neighborhood hero continues to try and balance being Spider-Man with everyday life, but will his wall-crawling lifestyle start to cause new spider-troubles for Miles Morales? Find out in our review of Spider-Man (2016) #2

[Spoilers Below]

Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-man, arrives in the aftermath of Blackheart’s attack and he’s none too happy. Blackheart’s been defeated, so everything’s back to normal for Miles, right?? Well his grades are still not doing so hot so there may be a few problems there, and this is on top of the normal Spidey problems.

Much like the previous issue, Spider-man #2 keeps a lot of the same elements that worked so well in the series. Miles and his supporting cast remain great characters and Brian Michael Bendis’ writing paired with Sara Pichelli’s pencils is fantastic as always. What we get in Spider-Man #2 is some interesting build-up for possible storylines in the future, as well as some really great scenes. I particularly love the scene where Peter gives his thoughts on how Miles handles his legacy, and the scene where Miles reacts to an internet personality referring to him as “The Black Spider-Man”. It’s moments like these that make me love the Miles Morales stories, and what keeps me reading every month. But even with all that, I felt this issue was lacking a bit of substance.

In no way do I think this is a bad comic, nor am I saying you shouldn’t read it, but there was just a little something missing that could’ve made this good comic into a spectacular one. Like the first issue, this comic was very quick to finish, maybe even quicker, and again…not a lot happens. It’s actually eerily similar to the last comic and I can’t say that’s a good thing.

I also found myself confused about Blackheart as a whole. The villain disappeared in the last issue, only to come back to ambush the two Spider-Men. Unfortunately, just like before, he’s taken out very easily which stretches my suspension of disbelief a little too thin. How come Blackheart can take down multiple Avengers (including Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor) by himself, but can’t seem to handle one spider-powered teenager? I feel there’s more to this, but so far, between last issue and this one, we know nothing. On that, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The cliffhanger of Miles’s grandmother also felt a bit underwhelming. I’m sure with the next issue we’ll get a better idea of her character and how she’s going to make life hard for Miles, but I felt they could’ve given that last scene to set up a new villain, or even shed some light on Blackheart’s role in all of this. But hey, we’re only two issues in, so maybe things will be explained with issue #3.

Even though this comic had a few problems, I still recommend picking it up. The parts where it does shine make the comic a fun (but brief) read, and it does have some good build-up in the form of Black Cat. Now that she’s in the mix, you can expect things to get much more interesting really soon. With standout scenes, good supporting characters, and a consistently likable protagonist, Spider-man #2 continues to be a very unique Spider-man story.