WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man #240 by Brian Michael Bendis, Oscar Bazaldua, Sara Pichelli, Laura Martin, and Justin Ponsor.
Late last year, Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis went to the hospital for a sudden MSRA infection that went septic, an experience that nearly led to his death. In the five months since, it's taken him a considerable amount of time to recover so he can finish up his remaining Marvel Comics work before transferring over to DC to write Superman. Bendis has been fairly open about his recovery process, even revealing that his final issue of Miles Morales' Spider-Man book would reflect the experience he went through.
As Spider-Man #240 opens, it's clear that he was wasn't exagerrating. Rather than continuing from last issue's cliffhanger of Miles and his uncle Aaron Davis falling from a stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier during a fight between Aaron's Sinister Six, the Champions, and the Latverian army, the book opens with Miles regaining consciousness for the first time at a hospital. He doesn't remember how he got there, prompting a winding back of the clock to explain everything.
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Following their fall, Latverian forces shot at Miles and Aaron. Only Aaron was hit, and his body fell down to the ground below, enraging Miles to the point where he swings back onto the Helicarrier and beats Lucia von Bardass. The situation had only escalated further with the young Bombshell Lana Baumgartner blasting her mother into unconsciousness and demanding that someone finally arrest her. While the rest of the Champions are able to take down the remaining Sinister Six, it's not long before Miles passes out, catching us up to speed in the present day.
As Miles' mother Rio informs him, the doctors found...something wrong with him, a viral infection that can't be dealt with, despite the tests run by both Claire Temple and Tony Stark. It's here where Bendis' parallels Miles' story with his personal experience, with the young hero blacking out and coming to repeatedly, only to find someone new waiting with him each time. Miles is no stranger to danger, but it really is truly unnerving to watch him pass out and awaken repeatedly at random, conveying just how helpless he is even with his considerable abilities.
Each subsequent visitor in their own way shows just how far Miles has come since he was first created seven years ago and the corners of the Marvel universe he's touched. First are Lana, Fabio, and the Champions, the very team he co-founded, all of them begging him to keep fighting. Then comes Uncle Aaron in the dead of night, who keeps his visit brief, simply telling his nephew that he was right when he said the villain could do better. In a touching moment, Aaron even puts his hand on top of Miles' to assure him (and the reader) that this isn't some hallucination, indicating the Iron Spider may actually turn over a new leaf in the future.
Finally, in the dawn of a new day, we get to Ganke and Peter Parker. Peter, as it turns out, has been right outside the window pretty much the entire time, and is currently comfortably snoozing away in a web hammock. While Miles appreciates the gesture from his mentor, what he really is to just watch a bunch of movies with his best friend, which the two of them happily do to close out the issue in a page illustrated by his co-creator Sara Pichelli and colorist Justin Ponsor.
It's a fitting ending for a Spider-character, and for Miles in particular. These heroes have always been average people despite their ability to get caught up in the more cosmic events of the Marvel Universe, so it's only appropriate that Miles' final issue closes out with him doing the most average thing possible. By no means is it a coincidence that Miles is discharged as the sun comes up, serving as a visual metaphor for Bendis passing the torch to whatever creative team takes over his character's reins from now on.
There are, as expected, several loose ends left hanging; namely, what will Aaron and Lana do next with their new leases on life, and how will Miles be involved the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. now that it's out of the super spy game -- but those answers will come in time. It's clear Bendis wanted his final issue with the Spider-Man he co-created to be one where both he and Miles get to live in the moment and take a much needed rest after having spent so long being put through the ringer. Whatever the future holds for them, both Bendis and Miles know that the best thing you could do for yourself is to take a day off and have some laughs.