Spider-Man: Miles Morales

by Ytasha L. Womack

Explore the Stories Behind the Legends

First introduced in 2011 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, Miles Morales reconceived Spider-Man as African American and Latinx, and his debut marked a new direction in the saga of a beloved character.

Miles Morales as Spider-Man is a coming-of-age tale of a smart, affable teen coming into his power. From his reluctance to becoming a super hero to his desire to help others, to the rocky balance between his school life and super hero responsibilities, Miles is always at the precipice of making tough decisions—choices whose consequences are as weighted in his personal life as they often are for the survival of the world.

184 pages, Paperback

Expected publication June 25, 2026

About the author

Ytasha L. Womack is an award-winning filmmaker/author/journalist and choreographer. She is author/creator of the popfuturist/afrofuturist novel 2212:Book of Rayla, first of the groundbreaking Rayla 2212 series. Her other books include the critically acclaimed Post Black: How a New Generation is Redefining African American Identity, a popular cultural studies text universities across the US, and her most recent work Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi and Fantasy Culture. She also co-edited the anthology Beats, Rhymes and Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip Hop.

A Chicago native, her film projects include The Engagement (director) and Love Shorts (producer/writer). A social media and pop culture expert, she frequently consults and guest lectures for corporations and universities across the world. She received her B.A in Mass Media Arts from Clark Atlanta University and studied Arts, Entertainment and Media Management at Columbia College in Chicago.

- summarised from http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/bio/wo...

She can be found at:

http://www.iafrofuturism.com/

https://www.facebook.com/iafrofuturism

http://postblackexperience.com/

http://www.postblackthebook.blogspot....

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

Inevitably, the early volumes of Bloomsbury's Marvel Age Of Comics series have mostly been by comics people, because they're the ones who have the enthusiasm and the knowledge as standard. But it has meant that occasionally the books lapse into a fan excitedly recounting what happened for an audience presumed also to think it sounds cool because superheroes are awesome, which is one thing in the clubhouse, but can get old fast in a book intended to bring a little more scrutiny and edification. As such, it's great that this volume by Ytasha Womack, as well as broadening the contributor demographic in more obvious ways, is by someone who's not a comics lifer, who came to the character they're writing about via a wider interest in Afrofuturism, who's more likely to cross-reference Sun Ra or Miles Davis than continuity minutiae, who draws parallels between Miles Morales getting invisibility powers Peter Parker doesn't and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Feeling much more collaborative than other volumes to date, the book solicits contributions from other fans and critics who talk not just about the general thrill of a new Afro-Latino Spider-Man, but about their experiences with the specifics of Miles' origin, like the school lottery which gives him so much to live up to in subsequent stories. And where, incidentally, I had no idea that the number 42, as seen also on the spider that bites him, was a reference to a baseball player who broke the colour bar, on top of the obvious Douglas Adams nod.

This is all good stuff, so it's a pity that, at least in my Netgalley ARC (and I really hope at least some of this gets caught before the final copies), Womack has been massively let down by her editors. Sometimes it's comics-specific oversights, like Anya Corazon becoming Ana, Steve Rogers sometimes being Rodgers. When she says she'll be looking at the first 15 issues of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, then goes on to talk about Ultimate Comics Spider-Man instead, that is partly Marvel's fault for getting hooked on endless relaunches with confusing names, but it should still have been caught – and ideally not illustrated with the cover from yet another different Miles run. But even outside this specialist turf, we get references to the website Tumbler, and musician Richie Valen*. Apostrophes and commas are distributed with more enthusiasm than accuracy, and as for the repetition, I thought opening two consecutive paragraphs by introducing someone as a "culture critic" was jarring until I saw Brooklyn described as "populous borough" on two consecutive lines. And calling anything "iconic" twice in a single paragraph would be unfortunate, but when it's The Cosby Show, and there's no mention of anything which might complicate that status... It's such a pity and, as I say, I only hope it doesn't mar the finished product, which deserves better.

*Though I would absolutely watch that Babylon 5 spin-off.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ostensibly a critical analysis, but there's waaaay too much about the author and her life and career, and the misuse of words grew really tiresome after a while. This is a review copy, so I can understand the typos, but there are tons of words that are either misused, or else totally made up, and her odd digression into the origin of the song "New York, New York" is just completely wrong. I appreciate her effort to describe the impact of a character like Miles on readers/fans of color- I've seen that impact myself on my niece and nephew- but this book was just a long, egotistical slog for me.

[Mrs. G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Spider-Man and Miles Morales will LOVE this analysis of Miles journey to becoming Spider-Man. The historical analysis and connections to the original Peter Parker are fascinating and captivating. If you have followed any part of Spidey's life, this is a must read.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I have read Spider-Man comics since I was a child and love the different trajectory that the universe has taken with Miles Morales. It was not exactly what I expected but nevertheless, I was not disappointed.



***NetGalley ARC Reader***