#shockyeahmiguelohara

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

TYLER: You have no idea what you're doing... who you're crossing. Everything you have... everything you are in this world you got from me. You will do as I tell you, when I tell you. Because I'm your father. MIGUEL: [drinks coffee from yellow mug, undaunted] MIGUEL: Yeah, I know. TYLER: Wha... what? You know? MIGUEL: Yep. Now get out of my office... Dad.

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

The post(s) I've seen on my dashboard discussing the explicit and weasel-y language used to describe Miguel O'Hara in the script for Across the Spiderverse, doesn't surprise me.

Doesn't surprise, but otherwise confirms what I was feeling about how they approached the character wasn't at all inaccurate.

And to top it all off, their language towards Gwen Stacy's father, or and cops in general (including Jeff Morales), is couched in the most blatant "good cops, bad apples" sentiment.

And, when you think about the fact that Miguel O'Hara's character was established and lives in a future where all of Nueva York is a Judge Dredd-type police state, and he is routinely attacked by said police? A script calling him an "animal" but asking the audience to capitulate sympathy for Officer Stacy, is some ole bullshit.

These fools really decided that, out of all the Spider-Man affiliated characters to use in their movie about Miles Morales, they were gonna pick the Spider-Man character whose entire narrative was antithetical to their storytelling.

And then on top of that, create a "utopian" Nueva York specifically to cast criticism on Miguel as a character, who is a cop-esque character hunting down a Black teenager.

I've seen the argument that if he'd been characterized as he was in the comics (leaning more towards whiteness than anything), the writer's sympathies might've been for him. I honestly don't think that'd be the case.

In a lot of ways, Miguel's character is defined by the fact that he is Mexican first before he's white. It's like how Miles was advertised as "Half-Black, Half Puerto-Rican" and that colored everything about Miles as a character was approached pre-Into the Spiderverse. Specifically what parts of his character weren't addressed.

I think you can make the argument of how Miguel was initially promoted to the masses in the 90s ("he's not the nice Spider-Man") carried with its some uncomfy ideas about Mexicans and aggression. (And now carries the consequence of allowing certain writers to mishandle him.)

His whiteness is his access to capital (his job, etc), his general outlook, most of which forms so much of his story. Oppositely, his status as "half Mexican" is typically only used or mentioned in passing. A way to highlight the poverty of his dysfunctional family.

(It doesn't have the presence of say, Miles' connection to his culture through his parents and his neighborhood in the Insomniac game and PS5 sequel.)

And then there's his choice of costume (an outfit he modified from a Dia de los Muertos shindig) and sarcastic references to his status as a biracial child.

His being a biracial Mexican man, and the dystopian future he lived in has always been a big component in framing him as the "take no prisoners" Spider-Man legacy character. But, for all the problems that come with how PAD approached in his titles, there was always context for Miguel's actions and his environment.

And I feel like Across the Spiderverse stripped Miguel of that nuance.

It's also why we ended up with Bendis', "Who cares if I'm Black? I'm also half-Puerto Rican!" speech from Miles in the comics back in 2015/2016.

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

XINA: What the shock happened to you? MIGUEL: I'm not sure. What're you doing here? I thought you were heading home. XINA: I hit a roadblock. MIGUEL: That being...? XINA: My picturing you out here alone, trying to make it without me to hold your hand. After all, Miguel, you're so frail. You know how I worry about you.

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

Sorry if this is annoying but how do you feel about Miguel's new suit in ATSV instead of his og suit?

You're good, it's no problem.

I don't have any particular issue with it. It's close enough to the original Rick Leonardi design without being completely radical. I even like the distracting visual effect in the red of his suit.

I'm always gonna miss the tattered webbing cape and wish it showed up more. Most artists seem eager to do away with that aspect of his design (which is a shame imho).

It's fairly close to how the suit looked in Spider-Man: Edge of Time from 2011, which was the first time I realized that a lot of artists (including Leonardi himself) viewed the color of Miguel's suit as blue and not black (which is how I always saw it).

If I have any issue with Miguel's design in ATSV, it's how hulking huge they made him compared to how they designed him for the post-credits scene for ITSV.

Like, I'm not gonna pretend that Leonardi and Wil Sliney didn't also play into the Statue of David idealism with Miguel, especially in the suit, but

my guy was a character with a proportionately "slim" and "athletic" figure for most of the time they worked on their respective SM2099 titles. ATSV decided to give him the Johnny Bravo treatment and make him top heavy (most likely to play into the "scary" and "animal" bits of their characterization in opposition to Miles, which, again, is extremely racialized).

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

Hello! I love your blog and find your posts really insightful I was wondering, what do you think is a key aspect of Miguel's character that makes him challenging for writers outside of Peter David to write? Some people told me that the key part of Miguel’s essence that ATSV failed to portray is that he’s a rebel is that true? I hope I'm not bothering you with the question I'm just fascinated by your perspective

what do you think is a key aspect of Miguel's character that makes him challenging for writers outside of Peter David to write?

The short version: I think a lot of writers try to make Miguel O'Hara a version of Peter Parker that works for them or that they grew up with. It falls in line with the idea that there is only "one true Spider-Man" of the franchise that fuels the backlash to Miles Morales. But instead of overt racism, you end up with a milquetoast version of Miguel that's closer to Peter Parker than a genuine iteration of Miguel.

Some people told me that the key part of Miguel’s essence that ATSV failed to portray is that he’s a rebel is that true?

I think Miguel is a collaborator by nature, but rebels when something directly opposes his principles' and moral compass (and usually after he cannot ignore it any longer).

Take for instance, the catalyst that led to his becoming Spider-Man. Alchemax experimented on a human being without any real authorization, and Miguel's cooperation led to the senseless death of Mr. Sims.

The only way he felt he could hold himself accountable for his part was quitting and putting distance between himself and Alchemax. Tyler Stone undermined that by spiking his drink with an addictive drug that would eventually kill him. The aftermath of an deliberate attempt to murder him basically gave him the means to fuck up Stone's corporation and make some kind of amends for his complicity. But it also left him with disabilities (extreme sensitivity light being one of them).

So, in general, I think Miguel is a team player when it counts, but prefers to do things his own way (which, I guess is a rebel depending on the context).

Other elements that make Miguel 'difficult' for other writers is

1): Generation Gap and the Passage of Time

In particular, Spider-Man 2099 came around the time of the much derided "extreme era" of Marvel Comics, and comics in general. Which was nothing, if not a reaction to the Comics Code Authority and its particular brand of censorship (ah-la BS&P), and the desire to cater to a much older audience of readers.

So, the end result was overcompensation and a lot of antiquated ideas that remain fairly prevalent within the modern industry's of comic book publishing (see: Ultimate X-Men, Ultimatum, One More Day, Dan Slott, Comics Gate, etc.).

Spider-Man 2099 is very much a reflection of that "extreme era" ethos, from its character design, writing, and particular depiction of the future. It's Robocop or Judge Dredd flavored, so to speak. I also think it's easy to forget that Spider-Man 2099 was apart of a larger comic book series that included Ghost Rider 2099, Hulk 2099, Punisher 2099, and etc. It was beta Ultimate Comics.

The original Spider-Man 2099 debuted in 1992, and ended in 1996, officially putting the character on ice. Even as one of the better received titles of their 90s catalogue, with a cult following, it's hard to ignore the fact that Marvel treated their 2099 titles like damaged goods, something they had to run away from to recuperate their image.

As a result, they intentionally never did anything else to really promote Spider-Man 2099 so that he'd become a household name.

A similar thing happened to May Day Parker and the Spider-Girl franchise. Despite being relatively well received, Marvel as a company did its best to basically make sure she'd never become a household name.

So, by 2014 you've got 22 years of nothing happening with Miguel O'Hara. Then Dan Slott's Spider-Verse title debuted, and introduced a bunch of a Millennial and Gen Z era readers to all of these Spider-Mans they've never heard of, or only knew in the vaguest concept.

Almost immediately after, Peter David gets to write two more volumes of Spider-Man 2099. Except this time, he more or less does away with original continuity and all its narrative ties to cater to newer readers.

2): He's treated like a novelty or an aesthetic

The cancelled Spider-Man Unlimited series from Fox Kids, a reaction to Batman Beyond (Kids WB), was initially shopped around as a Spider-Man 2099 series. But because the general audience didn't know Miguel O'Hara (a consequence of the lack of promotion), Marvel decided to use the trappings and ideas of 2099, and created another Spider-Man series with Peter Parker. They treated the series like a spiritual sequel to Spider-Man: The Animated Series (a show they cancelled).

Prior to Spider-Verse, we got things like Timestorm 2099, Shattered Dimensions, and Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

Like an extension of Unlimited, with instances like Marvel's Spider-Man that uses Miguel's costume as an alternate skin to unlock in the PS4 game. It's why The Amazing Spider-Man production process wholesale lifted the design scheme of Miguel's costume as a possible final costume for their version of Peter Parker (see: the film's concept art), but never considered, maybe, making Miguel an actual character. (But honestly, given that its TASM, that's probably for the best.)

Thirteen years after the original comic, Timestorm 2099 was some kind of an attempt to introduce Miguel O'Hara to another generation of readers (Ys and Zs). I guess, to see if they could turn a profit with him. It's one of the few SM2099 titles not written by PAD. It solidified my belief that no one at Marvel, except PAD, really considers Miguel a unique character, just a reskin of Peter Parker.

Timestorm 2099's Miguel is a really bland version of teenage Peter Parker, whose dad is a genius scientist, and no elements of his family and life from SM2099 vol 1 (Gabri, Conchata, Xina, Dana) exists in different/alternate forms. The story basically exists just to get Peter to meet teen Miguel, and not much else. It's a less entertaining version of Spider-Man 2099 meets Spider-Man.

Exceptions to the rule are Edge of Time, a story co-written by PAD. It treats him like a whole and fully realized character, it uses an iteration of his universe as part of the stakes for Miguel and Peter, whose futures are altered by Dr. Sloane. It builds on their back and forth through dialog that doesn't just fill game-time space, but informs their character. And they do this with, arguably, the most recognizable Peter Parker voice actors of their time (Christopher Daniel Barnes, and Josh Keaton).

Were it not for the game's less than stellar performance, I'd argue that was a solid selling and starting point for newcomers to Miguel that Marvel could've really pushed. If I can say anything about Dan Slott, he kept trying to make his "fetch" idea (Spiderverse) happen, and it was, in part, the reason why we ended up with more PAD-helmed 2099 stories for Miguel.

But even with that in mind, the novelty aspect of Miguel's universe as one that Marvel constantly reinforces. It refuses to give 2099 its own space to exist outside of sporadic moments. To a large degree, Across the Spiderverse is very much a representation of how Miguel is treated like a niche or kitchy idea.

And you'll notice, with Miles (the one alternate/legacy Spider-Man they're capitalizing on, however disengeniously), the way they legitmized him is by keeping him trapped within the sphere of Peter Parker (specifically, alternate or cloned versions of Peter Parker).

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

Sometimes, I truly find myself crying about what they did to Miguel in Across the Spider-Verse.

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

I can’t say I’m vibing with ATSV’s characterization of Miguel. Mostly because the entire conceit of the film is the type of situation PAD!Miguel would let get hit by a flying bus, and sleep it off in his condo the next day.

It’s definitely a case of “for the purposes of this story, this is how we need this character to act” as opposed to “this character would definitely do this kind of thing”.

[shockyeahmiguelohara]

Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5, 2019) #036 - “Time After Time”

TEMPEST: Miguel? [Yeah, hard to tell these days what's an end, anyway. A lot of the time...]

[x]