Marvel Has Not Canceled Miles Morales' Comic

This week saw the release of Marvel Comics' solicitation copy and covers for its June 2018 releases. While there were a number of new titles launching as part of Marvel's upcoming "Fresh Start" initiative, there were some noticeable omissions from the regular line-up, with the biggest perhaps being the lack of Miles Morales' ongoing series, Spider-Man.

While the young Spider-Man will be in June comics thanks to both Champions and Venom -- the latter of which marks the first time he'll come face-to-tongue with Eddie Brock -- Miles solo book is nowhere to be seen.

The lack of a Miles-led series is certainly surprising. When it was announced that Miles' co-creator Brian Michael Bendis has left Marvel to helm DC's Superman comics, there was concern about what would happen to Miles and fellow Bendis co-creation Jessica Jones. Without Miles' solo book in the June solicitations, which has gone under the sole title of Spider-Man for two years, some fans have taken it to mean that his book has been canceled. But while it's possible Spider-Man may be finished, it's not canceled, a word that indicates a series' sales led to Marvel cutting its losses. More than likely, Miles is being rebooted, a la Marvel's new Immortal Hulk, Avengers or Thor titles.

Both Miles and Jessica's solo adventures have been confirmed to be continuing by Bendis months ago. Creative teams for either book has yet to be announced, but we'll more than likely learn who's taking over the characters in solicits for either July or August. (CBR has reached out to Marvel for further information, but has not heard back at time of this story's publication.)

Both characters are simply too popular to get rid of. Jessica just had her Netflix show's second season return earlier this month, while Miles is on the Spider-Man cartoon right now and serves as the lead for the upcoming animated feature Enter the Spider-Verse, along with being an existing character in Insomniac's upcoming Spider-Man game. It's not so much a question of whether Miles will return, but of who he'll be when he returns.

See, the Miles Morales comic has been setting up the teen webhead for a future outside of being Spider-Man. Not just in the sense that he's considered pursuing a normal life free of costumes and capes, but also an identity that isn't Spider-related at all. There's not only a multitude of heroes swinging around that are Spider-people in their own ways--Venom, Anti-Venom, Spider-Gwen, and so on--but being called Spider-Man just carries with it a lot of baggage, something he experience back in his original universe when he suited up for the first time.

Don't forget, Miles' first appearance way back in 2011 had him wondering if wearing the costume and calling himself Spider-Man was in bad taste. It comes as no surprise, then, that he may want to dump that name and try on a different moniker. During his recent travels to Tokyo, he got to act like a spy and found it to be something that came easy to him, considering his father was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. In the past, Marvel has said that it likens its relaunches and reboots to new seasons of a TV show, and this may mean that Miles' new "season" will see him as something other than Spider-Man -- for a while, at least.

As his final farewell, Bendis' Spider-Man #240 will give a definitive answer as to Miles future, both as a hero and as a person. Following that, we'll likely know where Miles Morales stands in terms of his name, but rest assured -- he's most certainly not going anywhere.

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