Mostly, because I now know what it feels like to have a fully fleshed out version of Miles that doesn’t hinge on the writer’s preexisting notions of what life is like for Black people. Now, I know I’ve written about my beef with Brian Michael Bendis and how he wrote Miles Morales before, but I’ve returned to it in the time between reading Jason Reynold’s Miles Morales novel and seeing Into the Spider-verse. Recently, he almost always feels like an authentic example of a millennial trying to make it work in New York.

Peter has had decades of being written to be relatable. Sure, he’s a superhero that swings across the skyline saving folks from all kinds of crime, but he’s also a nerd who loves his aunt and gets distracted by cool weird things and makes bad jokes. Even in the recent Spider-Man video games, little and large things alike serve to make you feel like you get insight into Peter Parker’s familiar life.

Spider-Man is one of the most relatable superheroes out there and when he’s not relatable, you know he’s not being written well. It’s no secret that part of what launched Into the Spider-Verse into the stratosphere and gained it tons of love from critics and audiences alike was how, for an animated movie starring superheroes and a cartoon pig from another dimension, real and relatable a film it was. MILES’ APARTMENT – BEDROOM MILES MORALES draws HOME-MADE STREET ART NAME-TAGS at a desk, headphones on, singing along to a song he’s too young for (”Sunflower”), but he doesn’t quite know the words yet.

Jason reynolds miles morales spider man