Spider-Man 2099 #1 Review: Entertaining, Fun, And Welcoming

Miguel O'Hara returns in Spider-Man 2099 #1, written by Peter David, who wrote the original Spider-Man 2099 series, and drawn by Will Sliney. While featuring the same man under the mask, the series changes the status quo for O'Hara significantly, moving him into the present day rather than the future of the Marvel Universe, which helps to make the series more accessible to new readers and more exciting for old fans.

As the holographic Lyra explains in the issue's recap page, this story follows events that transpired in the main Spider-Man series. Miguel O'Hara was forced by his father, Tyler Stone, to travel back in time to the year 2014 in order to protect his grandfather, Tiberius Stone. However, O'Hara hasn't figured out how to get back to his own time yet, so he's taken on the alias Mike O'Mara in order to infiltrate Alchemax, the Stone family's corrupt company, while it is still in its early days and see if he can stop it from becoming the malevolent force he knows from the year 2099. In this particular issue, Miguel has to try to find an apartment in New York City, deal with working for his shady grandfather, and defend himself from an agent of T.O.T.E.M, an organization from the future tasked with correcting temporal errors.

Peter David's knack for writing fun dialog is on full display in this issue, particularly with the T.O.T.E.M. officer. In time travel stories, the hero is often concerned about taking actions that could accidently alter the future. The T.O.T.E.M. officer takes that idea and twists it in a sinister way. He knows enough about future events to determine exactly how violent he can be without doing irrevocable damage to future events, and he executes these actions in a cold, businesslike fashion. David juxtaposes this clinical and deadly efficiency, in a humorous way, against the agent's lack of personal investment in his mission. He's just a guy trying to do his job, after all. It all comes together beautifully when he literally walks in the front doors of Alchemax and asks to be pointed in Spider-Man's direction.

Similarly, the meeting between Spider-Man 2099 and Liz Allen also hits a lot of humorous notes, as Miguel doesn't fit the personality profile of Spider-Man, as set by Peter Parker, and even he isn't really sure what to call himself, since Parker is still using the Spider-Man name in this era. The comic keeps things light and makes for a very fun read.

Sliney's art takes an interesting form when combined with Atonio Fablea's colors. Sliney draws characters simply, but without exaggeration. Heavy inks and glossy colors, with a lack of texture, create a look that is somewhere in-between the TV show Archer and the film A Scanner Darkly. Occasionally things get a little too dark – notably during the night scene that opens the issue - but on the whole, the style fits the book well. Like David's other current ongoing, All-New X-Factor, this series seems like it will deal with the idea of a superhero entangled with a corporation, and the art style feels appropriately digitized for that theme. Sliney gets in some great shots of Miguel in all of acrobatic glory as well, particularly one of him leaping through the air while changing (holographically) into a tuxedo that invokes a kind of James Bondish flair.

Spider-Man 2099 #1 is an entertaining, fun, and welcoming read for both new readers and old fans. As a single issue, it's self-contained, but still manages to introduce Miguel's supporting cast and lay the groundwork for the series going forward, doing everything it needs to do to entice fans to come back for more.