The Weirdest Team Up In History Expands In Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3

The strange team of Miles Morales and the Rhino has just added a new member with Captain America. They need all the help they can get to the bottom of this strange kidnappings that have been happening in the area. Someone has been snatching kids and turning them into mind-controlled super-powered weapons. This includes Rhino’s niece and Miles’ sort-of-girlfriend’s brother.

When you throw three unique characters like this together, you expect some fun dialogue. I mean, what could these folks possibly have to talk about? Writer Saladin Ahmed delivers with some great lines, especially from Miles. There’s a fantastic interaction between Cap and Miles where the former can’t quite figure out his phone. As much as we all love Captain America, I think we forget that he is a man out of time and some of this crazy new technology should probably confuse the heck out of him.
Artist Javier Garron makes Cap look strong for the most part, but in moments like this where he’s utterly bewildered, he looks rather comical. He has this awkward look on his face, like he knows he’s out of his element and is embarrassed by it. This helps humanize the character a bit which helps for Miles, who sees Cap as the epitome of a hero.

Miles is definitely the star of the show here. Granted, this is his comic after all. Cap looks to him to lead the charge instead of just taking over. We get a glimpse into how this makes Spider-Man feel in his internal narration, once again shown as snippets from his journal thanks to letterer Cory Petit. This helps reinforce just how young the character is and what a big deal it is for someone like Captain America to look to him for guidance.
Colorist David Curiel creates a quiet, shadowy tone for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 as Miles, Cap, and Rhino start in on this mission. The night is otherwise peaceful. This all changes when they find the man behind the kidnappings. The comic explodes with fiery colors. Reds, oranges, and yellows fill the page as a fight breaks out.

This issue wraps up this storyline and I’m a little torn by that. On the one hand, I’m all for condensed storytelling since there’s no need to drag an arc out over six issues if there’s not enough content to fill it. On the other, the ending feels a little rushed. We meet the villain behind all this, but don’t really get a reason why he was doing it aside from money. Granted, that’s what motivates a lot of people, especially bad guys, but it just feels like we’re missing something. I wonder if there’s more to it that will be explored in later issues.
This didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the comic. I especially liked how we got to see another side of Rhino. He’s painted as this tortured soul, struggling to do the right thing, despite how the world sees him and expects him to act. Yes, it’s a cliché to say that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but that is definitely true here.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man has the bombastic adventures of the wall-crawler without all that guilt and baggage. It harkens back to the time when Peter Parker was a kid suddenly thrown into the world of super heroes. Miles is goofy, awkward, and most of all fun. He’s a good kid all around, both in and out of costume.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 from Marvel Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.