Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1

History

Miles Morales was conceived by Bendis and Pichelli with editorial input from then-Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso; the idea of recasting Spider-Man as a character of color had been informally discussed as early as 2008, during the planning stages of the 'Ultimatum' event, but was shelved because the story wasn't ready yet. The creative spark that crystallized Miles's visual and thematic identity came when Bendis saw actor Donald Glover wearing Spider-Man pajamas in the Season 2 premiere of NBC's Community — a nod to Glover's own online campaign to be cast in The Amazing Spider-Man — and realized he wanted to write exactly that character. The series launched in September 2011 as part of a broad Ultimate Comics line relaunch following the conclusion of the Peter Parker–era Ultimate Spider-Man at issue #160, with Pichelli — who had already contributed to four issues of that previous volume — designing both Miles's civilian look and his now-recognizable black-and-red costume from scratch.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published September 14, 2011 by Marvel Comics; cover-dated November 2011. Written by Brian Michael Bendis; pencils and inks by Sara Pichelli; colors by Justin Ponsor; letters by Cory Petit; main cover by Kaare Andrews. Editors: Mark Paniccia and Sana Amanat.
• First full ongoing series appearances of Miles Morales (as protagonist and title character), his mother Rio Morales, his father Jefferson Davis, and his uncle Aaron Davis in his costumed identity as the Prowler — all four debuting in this issue per the Marvel Database.
• First appearance of Dr. Conrad Marcus (spelled 'Markus' in this issue; the 'Marcus' spelling appears, as a misprint, only in a later issue). He is the Oscorp scientist contracted by Norman Osborn to perfect the Oz Formula, whose stolen research spider ultimately bites Miles.
• The issue's narrative is set eleven months before the 'Death of Spider-Man' arc, functioning as a prequel to Miles's own timeline established in Ultimate Fallout #4 (August 2011), where he had first appeared in a single teaser sequence.
• Miles's unique power set — which includes proportionate spider-strength and wall-crawling shared with Peter Parker, plus a camouflage/invisibility ability and a bioelectric venom blast — begins to manifest at the close of this issue when he discovers he can turn invisible after fleeing Aaron's apartment.
• The issue shipped polybagged, a production choice noted in the Marvel Database issue entry.
• A Facsimile Edition reprinting this issue (with original ads intact) was published by Marvel in December 2022, reflecting the issue's recognized historical standing.
• Miles Morales went on to appear in the 2018 Academy Award-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequels, as well as the PlayStation video game Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2020), cementing the character's cultural reach far beyond the original comic run.

Cast · 7 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man

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#16.1 1st appearance — Conrad Marcus

Variants (4)