{"id":303,"date":"2018-12-21T12:37:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T17:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/?p=303"},"modified":"2018-12-21T12:37:20","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T17:37:20","slug":"reflections-on-spider-man-into-the-spider-verse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2018\/12\/21\/reflections-on-spider-man-into-the-spider-verse\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven\u2019t seen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt4633694\/\">Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse<\/a> (2018) yet, you might want to treat yourself and your kids to a viewing over the holidays.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fun, action-packed, visually stunning film for all ages, and one that should appeal to old-school and new Spider-fans alike.\u00a0 A few of our Comics Studies Reading Group regulars offered some reflections on the film below.\u00a0 There are no strong spoilers here, but feel free to hold off until you\u2019ve seen it and join the conversation in the comments below!<!--more--><\/p>\r\n<p><br \/>\r\n\u201cAfter a night to reflect, I realize why I loved this film so much. Because it addresses one of the oldest and deepest themes in Spider-Man: his loneliness. From the start, he is the awkward nerdy kid who&#8217;s sensitive, shy, and self-conscious. He&#8217;s also an orphan who loses several people close to him&#8211;his parents, his Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy&#8211;before he even graduates from high school. He feels guilty for failing to save them. He has few friends (one of whom becomes his greatest enemy), awkward and brief relationships, is never a regular member of any &#8220;super-team,&#8221; and it&#8217;s never quite clear what he is: a mutant, an experiment, an accident? All of this leaves him very much the solitary hero and, at his core, a lonely kid. And yet, his whole purpose in life is protecting his community&#8211;the &#8220;friendly neighborhood Spider-Man&#8221;&#8211;even though he&#8217;s frequently attacked for it. This iteration of Spider-Man offers a really interesting variation on the theme: Miles Morales, while sometimes lonely, isn&#8217;t alone. He has a loving family, both parents, friends at school, mentors who want to help him. And in this story, he gets to meet other people like him: his &#8220;Spider-family&#8221;. Of course, he still faces the challenges of being a young Afro-Latino man in America, which is its own kind of loneliness, especially when he&#8217;s sent off to an elite charter school. But he also remains entrenched in the life of his own multi-ethnic neighborhood, which suggests that for all his lonely struggles as a young black man with extraordinary abilities, he&#8217;s still not alone. He\u2019s part of a community, a culture, and a family. I feel like this is an significant development for the Spider-Man mythos and one that&#8217;s critically important for those who identify with both Peter and Miles.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>&#8211;Dr. John Edward Martin, UNT Libraries<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cOf the countless things I loved about<em> Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse<\/em>, one aspect that had the biggest impact on me was how much the movie emulated a comic book.\u00a0 And not in the back-handed-compliment way that many live action movies get painted with the comic book brush because of their bombastic action and outsized personalities, although those are present here too.\u00a0 No, for me, the film captured the expansive universe that typifies the super-hero comics I grew up reading. The movie is able to convey a sense of history for the characters without falling into the trap of over-explaining or over-simplifying the characters relationships, origins, powers, etc. The filmmakers respected the audience\u2019s ability to read between the lines. Freed from the impulse to ground the film in a so-called reality that has so often undone live-action adaptations, they made a film that feels like a glimpse at a larger world that I can\u2019t wait to explore even further.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>&#8211;Todd Enoch, UNT Libraries<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cOne thing that&#8217;s stuck with me from <em>Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse<\/em> is the way the filmmakers made a conscious choice to not subtitle the Spanish dialogue. Miles Morales&#8217; identity is firmly Brooklyn, which is to say his Afro-Latino identity is unquestioned and naturalized in a way that would make subtitling egregious. The banter between Miles and his family, and with his neighbors as he strolls to school, is quick, clever, and polyglot. While my Spanish is non-existent, rather than kicking me out of the film, the absence of subtitles made me feel part of Miles&#8217; milieu and compelled me to watch more closely for context clues to help me parse the sparkling dialogue. I&#8217;m curious how this will be handled when the film is close-captioned. I&#8217;d love to see the captioning done bilingually to make it as seamless as possible, and stay true to the spirit of the film. <em>Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse<\/em> is a glorious transmedia text, and the Spanish dialogue is integral to the immersive experience it offers.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>&#8211;Dr. Spencer D. C. Keralis, Department of English, UNT<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you haven\u2019t seen Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) yet, you might want to treat yourself and your kids to a viewing over the holidays.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fun, action-packed, visually stunning film for all ages, and one that should appeal to old-school and new Spider-fans alike.\u00a0 A few of our Comics Studies Reading Group regulars&#8230;  <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2018\/12\/21\/reflections-on-spider-man-into-the-spider-verse\/\" class=\"more-link\" title=\"Read Reflections on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse\">Read more &raquo;<\/a>","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,36,4],"tags":[16,37,21],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-comics-reading-group","category-reviews","tag-news","tag-comics-reading-group","tag-films"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/12\/spiderverse.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9noXX-4T","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2025\/05\/22\/johns-spring-comics-studiesrecap\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":0},"title":"John&#8217;s Spring Comics Studies Recap","author":"John","date":"May 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Well, the Spring of 2025 has been a hectic semester of library work, scholarship, writing, service, travel, political happenings, life events, and general work-life imbalance, but I did manage to squeeze in some comics-related activities and events, both here at UNT and elsewhere in our comics community. So here's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/05\/blog-image_gold-bug_sacramento-bee-scaled-e1777402447790.jpg?fit=1200%2C343&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/05\/blog-image_gold-bug_sacramento-bee-scaled-e1777402447790.jpg?fit=1200%2C343&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/05\/blog-image_gold-bug_sacramento-bee-scaled-e1777402447790.jpg?fit=1200%2C343&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/05\/blog-image_gold-bug_sacramento-bee-scaled-e1777402447790.jpg?fit=1200%2C343&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/05\/blog-image_gold-bug_sacramento-bee-scaled-e1777402447790.jpg?fit=1200%2C343&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2019\/11\/27\/comics-studies-reading-group-fall-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":1},"title":"Comics Studies Reading Group, Fall 2019","author":"John","date":"November 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"After an interval this summer and a couple of postponements due to scheduling conflicts, the Comics Studies Reading Group started back up in November with a discussion of\u00a0Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner.Our conversation\u00a0was pretty wide-ranging, but touched on issues of teenage sexuality, sexual abuse, diaries & confessional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics Reading Group&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics Reading Group","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-reading-group\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover image of Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/11\/diary-211x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":76,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2017\/12\/11\/a-briefish-history-of-comics-studies-unt-libraries\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":2},"title":"A Brief(ish) History of Comics Studies @UNT Libraries","author":"John","date":"December 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Comics studies at UNT dates back to at least 2011 when Dr. Shaun Treat, a Communications Studies faculty member, organized the first UNT Comic Studies Conference.\u00a0 \u00a0This was a\u00a0scholarly and pedagogical conference devoted to, \u201cbroadly surveying the diverse disciplinary approaches to studying or using comics as a resource for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics in the library&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics in the library","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/libraries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"UNT Comics Studies Conference Facebook Page","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2017\/12\/unt-comics-studies-conference.jpg?fit=916%2C528&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2017\/12\/unt-comics-studies-conference.jpg?fit=916%2C528&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2017\/12\/unt-comics-studies-conference.jpg?fit=916%2C528&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2017\/12\/unt-comics-studies-conference.jpg?fit=916%2C528&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":630,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2021\/09\/02\/comics-studies-reading-group-fall-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":3},"title":"Comics Studies Reading Group-Fall 2021","author":"John","date":"September 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"For our first Comics Studies Reading Group meeting this Fall, we'll be reading Mariko Tamaki & Steve Pugh's multiple Eisner Award-winning graphic novel, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (2019). For fans of Harley,\u00a0Birds of Prey, or the recent\u00a0Suicide Squad films, this book offers a unique take on the coming-of-age story and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics Reading Group&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics Reading Group","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-reading-group\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki & Steve Pugh. Show's Harley in skater-punk gear leaping in the air with a baseball bat.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1777402948510.jpg?fit=1200%2C1086&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1777402948510.jpg?fit=1200%2C1086&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1777402948510.jpg?fit=1200%2C1086&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1777402948510.jpg?fit=1200%2C1086&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1777402948510.jpg?fit=1200%2C1086&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":264,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2018\/06\/25\/library-of-comics\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":4},"title":"Library of Comics","author":"Bobby","date":"June 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019re ever in Washington, DC, stop by the James Madison Building at The Library of Congress and see what has been touted as the largest publicly available Comic Book Collection in the United States. Most of the current comic books at the Library of Congress have been acquired through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics in the library&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics in the library","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/libraries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Madison Building at the Library of Congress","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/06\/madison-building-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C402&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/06\/madison-building-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C402&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/06\/madison-building-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C402&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/06\/madison-building-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C402&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":413,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2019\/12\/19\/comics-studies-happenings-fall-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":5},"title":"Comics Studies Happenings, Fall 2019","author":"John","date":"December 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This Fall has been a busy one for many of our Comics Studies Reading Group members, who have been reading, teaching, reviewing, and writing about comics and graphic novels, among other things. So I thought this would be a great time to share some of the interesting work they\u2019re doing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics Reading Group&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics Reading Group","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-reading-group\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of We3 Trade Paperback","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/We3_Trade_Paperback-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}