The end of this month will see Saladin Ahmed‘s final issue on Miles Morales: Spider-Man, as the prolific writer announced his departure from the series last July. While no Miles Morales book is currently in the October or November Marvel solicitations, it’s hard to imagine that Marvel would keep fans waiting too long for a new Miles Morales book especially with the much-anticipated Spider–Man: Across the Spider–Verse animated film next summer. Sure enough, courtesy of an exclusive from The Root, Marvel has announced a new Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 is set for release in December from writer Cody Ziglar and artist Federico Vicentini.
As readers can tell from the cover, Miles is ditching his current costume and returning to his more traditional look. The new book will find Miles battling a new villain who “threatens everyone and everything Miles loves. It was also teased that “when this new foe is finished, Spider-Man’s world will be changed forever.”
A writer for animation and television, including the current She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Disney+ series, Ziglar is no stranger to Marvel or comics for that matter. In fact, his work on the She-Hulk television series led to Ziglar joining the Beyond storyline writing team of Amazing Spider-Man. Moreover, Ziglar has written Miles a few times before, with stories in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #25 and 30, as well as the book-end issues to the What If…Miles Morales miniseries.
As Ziglar told The Root, the book will bring Miles to a more grounded level:
“He’s done super cool multiple dimensions, but let’s just take him down to the street level guy, and also give him a new mentor,” he said. “Peter has been there a lot for him…I wanted to bring him a new Black mentor. I really wanted to pair him up with a Black street level character. That’s the story that I want to tell because I’m a big fan of the apprenticeship and the mentorship.”
It appears Misty Knight, who also played a key role in the recent Spider-Man Beyond storyline, will be serving as the aforementioned mentor for Miles:
“There’s a lot of things that you can learn from people that have been doing this a really long time, but there’s some things that you get insights from people that have been doing the same job that look like you,” Ziglar added. “Misty Knight experiences a much different reality than Matt Murdock does or Peter Parker just by the fact of being a Black woman so, I know that was an important thing to have in there. Also I love the character of Misty Knight and I wanted to hang out with her and Miles for a couple issues.”
Ziglar added:
“There’s the drama of it, he’s fighting villains and stuff but also, he’s a young kid, he’s a teenager. He’s got his best friend, he’s got cool powers and yes that comes with some negatives, but he’s trying to do his best. He has a great support system. His parents know that he’s a superhero, they support him fully, but they’re also like just be careful out there. I love that optimism that this Spidey has had and I definitely want to continue to bring that through because I’m a comedy writer. I dip into the drama when I need to, but I like having a good time. I like smiling when I read a book.”
Look for the relaunched Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 to arrive in stores and digitally this December.
