When Titan Books published Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Art Of The Game, it wasn’t just a pretty reveal of some concept art and character models that didn’t make the game; it showed you how Marvel Games and Insomniac built bridges towards one another with the resulting landmark being the 2018 PlayStation 4 game Marvel’s Spider-Man. Once again Titan Books is telling a different behind-the-scenes story in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales The Art of The Game. This time fans of the game and readers can learn just how the once controversial character and Insomniac Games were bonded.

Marvel Spider-Man: Miles Morales – The Art Of The Game

Author: Matt Ralphs

Published By: Titan Books

Available Now

The best part of Titan’s new art book is, like Insomniac’s 2020 game Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the uncanny heart of its title character is on full display. It isn’t just 190 pages of gorgeous poster spreads (though it has plenty of those) that do it. Author Matt Ralphs collects more than just the art department’s thoughts. You’ll read brief snippets of stories from Marvel Games about Miles’ growth as a character since his 2011 debut in Marvel’s Ultimate universe. One in particular, by Marvel Games VP Bill Rosemann talked about a time in the early days of Miles where he had talks with parents who were ready to burn their kid’s Spider-Man comics. Bits like that are a sobering reminder of how intolerant people can be over fictional characters.

quotes from various members of Insomniac on Miles Morales impact

But a decade after his debut, Miles Morales is more popular than ever. It’s something celebrated in this book from the forward by narrative design producer Evan Narcisse and Insomniac Games leadership. Matt Ralphs collects a library of thoughts from nearly every part of Insomniac about what putting Miles in a spotlight this big means.

One of my favorite quotes by John Enricco of Insomniac Games, “Miles Morales…truly means “next-gen” not just personally striving on the next step in art for our games, but also in this moment.” This book, Insomniac, and Miles Morales share a soul we’ve seen throughout 2020. One that’s worth supporting.

On a surface level, this book fills in some previously unexplored viewpoints of the studio’s Spider-Man direction. Insomniac gets to talk about essentially doing the origin story with Miles Morales that they never had to do with Peter Parker in 2018. Much of the art you’ll get to see shows just how different the process was to create this game around Miles, even if it used the same tech as the game featuring Peter.

The pages are loaded with unused designs from Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, museum-quality renderings of the gadgets and the smallest detail props the team behind the game had to create.

The only bit missing from the book which would have been a good story to tell is how the studio deep-dived into PlayStation 5’s tech in developing the game. There are developer diaries somewhere on the internet that likely covers this but it just felt like something that could have added to the value of the book.

Just like Miles Morales game can stand alone, so can Titan’s Marvel Spider-Man: Miles Morales The Art Of The Game from the publisher’s previous behind-the-scenes books. In addition to some awe-inspiring eye candy for fans of the game, it tells the story of how this studio and this character found each other’s common ground. You will not regret picking this book up.