A Trade Paperback (TPB) consisting of the Spiderman comic books was released on May 23. The compilation consists of “Peter Parker & Miles Morales: Spider-Men Double Trouble,” the third installment of Marvel’s “Double Trouble” line of comics, a four-issue comic book miniseries released from Nov. 2022 to Feb. 2023, and one issue from 2019’s “Spider-Man and Venom: Double Trouble.” The comics are written by Mariko Tamaki and Vita Ayala, and drawn by G. Gurihiru.
The plot begins when Peter takes Miles out for “Take Your Sidekick to Work Day.” They go to a hangar where Peter keeps all of his villains’ devices, but a series of mishaps ends with Miles trapped in an interdimensional can. The can ends up in the hands of Mysterio, who brings it to the Supervillain Convention. Miles eventually escapes but must face a group of supervillains. Meanwhile, a convention attendee captures Peter, leaving him unable to escape. Miles fights the attendee and frees Peter. But Thanos arrives, and fighting ensues. Miles uses the can to trap Thanos, and Peter acknowledges his competence. He disposes of the can, which winds up in the hands of the Collector.
The story’s art is amazing, as it is highly colorful and reminiscent of a cartoon. This, along with the kid-friendly action and simple plot, makes it a great read for children just getting into comics. Gurihiru also portrays a great sense of movement, with running, jumping and attacking being accompanied by affective motion-blur effects, helping to give a sense of urgency and intensity to the scenes.
The comic also contained a surprising amount of personality and character development. At first, Peter considers Miles to be his sidekick, and his initial screw-ups seem to reinforce the idea that he needs help. However, Miles eventually develops into a competent character who rescues Peter and defeats Thanos, proving himself worthy of being a hero.
The comic also did an impressive job showing off Peter’s personality; the hangar where he keeps his villain’s devices seems very in character for him, being a scientist who can experiment on them. Meanwhile, his capture while assisting the convention attendee is also much in line with the character, as he is known for wanting to help despite being constantly inconvenienced. Most of the villains, on the other hand, do not seem to have much of a personality — other than Thanos’ egotism — which makes sense given that the series’ length gave the authors little time to develop them.
As for the first issue of “Spider-Man and Venom: Double Trouble,” its inclusion is logical, seeing as Venom appears as Peter’s roommate at the beginning and end of the comic, and that issue helps to explain his presence. In it, Venom becomes Peter’s roommate and demonstrates himself to be very rude. After going to sleep, Peter finds that he has swapped bodies with Venom. This demonstrates the interconnectedness of comics, while also leaving readers wanting more.
There is also a full “Spider-Man and Venom: Double Trouble” trade paperback, which involves them searching for the figure who swapped their bodies, as well as another installment in the series, “Thor and Loki: Double Trouble,” which focuses on a conflict between the titular characters when Loki has Thor take a relic that unleashes chaos.
“Peter Parker & Miles Morales: Spider-Men Double Trouble” is thus a great comic with character development, personality and a beautifully cartoony art-style.
Bailey Kanthatham is an Entertainment Staff Writer. He can be reached at bkanthat@uci.edu.