- Sep 24, 2013
- 8,726
- 3,487
Just finished Spider-Man 2099 and damn.
There have been 2 different series for the character so far. The original from the 90s and the second one from 2014. The one I just finished was the original, which spanned 46 issues. This has actually been on my list for years, but I just never got around to reading it (Like a lot of other things). I just happened to find the entire series online a few days ago and decided why not? Funnily enough, I just read Batman Beyond 2.0 like a week ago as well. I really do think the two concepts are mirror images of each other, for Spider-Man and Batman respectively or Marvel and DC. Makes even more sense that these two series happened for two of the most popular fictional characters of all time, arguably the most popular characters for each company in fact.
Details
The Main Character
Of course, besides a good setting, every good series needs an interesting main character and Miguel O'Hara fits the bill. I remember that Peter David once said that where Stan Lee "zigged" with Peter Parker he "zagged" with Miguel, and it really does show. Peter went through high school, then college, then stuggled as an adult and often still lived with his aunt. Miguel starts out the series as a fully grown adult, with a prominent career at the mega corporation of Alchemax. Peter's often having trouble with multiple different girls, while Miguel, for the most part, is in a steady relationship and is even engaged at the start of the series. Peter began as this shy kid in his everyday life and needed the spider powers to boost his confidence, whereas Miguel (No doubt to being half Irish and half Spanish) is already outspoken and confrontational and will then often be fairly silent as Spider-Man. Peter never had parents, but had a solid support structure provided by his aunt and uncle. Miguel had an abusive father, a mother who favored his younger brother over him, and his younger brother in turn resented him on occasion. All these differences, along with slight differences in the actual powers each character has, allow for Miguel to be different enough than Peter so that the series itself doesn't feel redundant. You never feel like "This is something that would happen to Peter Parker" or "That's how Peter would react", and you'll never confuse one character for the other. So I think that Peter David did an excellent job when creating this guy. What's more, he actually goes through a good deal of personal growth as the series progresses. Really there's no better way to describe him at the start of the series than by noting his reaction to hearing Peter's classic motto
What was Gabe saying? With great power comes great responsibility? Wrong. Completely wrong. With great power comes great guilt.
Similar to Peter he gains his powers in an accident, after which he originally wants to get rid of them entirely. He has little interest in helping the common man and in general is often noted to be a bit of a jerk who talks down to other people. He is then dragged into more and more heroic actions as he see's situations that he has the ability to stop and eventually he makes the transition into a full blown hero, going out of his way to help others and to specifically defend the common man from the big bad corporations. The same message ends up coming across by the time the series wraps up, but it's not beaten into your head or anything, which I enjoyed. It's also interesting seeing Miguel deal with wanting to help people, but also being a part of the system that keeps them down. His character journey from selfish corporate stooge to selfless hero is genuinely interesting to see, with the change not happening overnight.
Other Characters
Spider-Man wasn't the only hero or character to have someone take up his name in 2099 or to get his own series, so other characters like Punisher and Doom drift in and out of the story. And because there were actual crossover events you'll get a little thrown at times when these characters suddenly pop up and Spider-Man talks as if they've been hanging out for a while. It's nothing too hard to get over however and it helps to give us a further look at the 2099 universe. What also helps is that Miguel constantly travels between a variety of different settings. The majority of the series is spent in New York of course, but he freely travels between the upper and lower levels. You then have a story that takes place in Cyberspace, one in the floating city of Valhalla, many more when Miguel goes on a cross country trip to clear his head, etc. You never get stuck in one setting, but a home type of setting is still established and I appreciate that. And because everything is so far in the future you're constantly learning new things about the world. So, again, boredom is never an issue here.
Conclusion
You don't really get any old villains showing up here. The most you get is stuff like the above, Venom 2099. An old take on a villain in a new form, similar to our hero. Though unlike the other villains that IS actually the original Venom Symbiote, just having been mutated over the decades. Overall, the cast of villains is interesting, unique, and they all fit the setting and what's going on in the story. None ever manage to really reach the level of the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus, but they all serve their purpose and provide credible threats. The supporting cast is just as interesting and in this area I will say that a few manage to become as integral/important to the story as some of the original Spider-Man's are to his. Honestly, this series reminds me of the benefit of having one writer work on a project for so long, because he gets to present and reinforce different themes and ideas and build up various characters. It's that much better of course when it's not in the main universe, because the writer then has a lot more freedom. I'm someone who has a massive amount of respect for Ultimate Spider-Man and really consider it to be an essential Spider-Man story as a whole. I probably wouldn't say that Spider-Man 2099 is better than it, but I do think it manages to do some things better, such as the setting, and really has a harder job since it's dealing with completely new characters, a new setting, and really just had to work its way from the ground up. It's really a testament to what Peter David did here that, of all the 2099 characters and concepts, his is the one that's continued to appear again and again over the years, even getting a brand new series over a decade after the original ended. If there's one complaint I have with this series it's that it ends on kind of a cliffhanger. David stopped writing at issue #44, because of a big upheavel that was going on with the Marvel 2099 imprint at the time, so the last 2 issues just have a fairly obvious disconnect from the ones that came right before (Like Reed Richards suddenly shows up out of nowhere) and then it just randomly ends noting that the events will be concluded in another series. And they are, but it sucks that to get the actual finale you've got to check somewhere else. Everything that came before is still great though and doesn't suffer for it.
Definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys Spider-Man or alternate universe stories.
There have been 2 different series for the character so far. The original from the 90s and the second one from 2014. The one I just finished was the original, which spanned 46 issues. This has actually been on my list for years, but I just never got around to reading it (Like a lot of other things). I just happened to find the entire series online a few days ago and decided why not? Funnily enough, I just read Batman Beyond 2.0 like a week ago as well. I really do think the two concepts are mirror images of each other, for Spider-Man and Batman respectively or Marvel and DC. Makes even more sense that these two series happened for two of the most popular fictional characters of all time, arguably the most popular characters for each company in fact.
Details
I'll say that this series really didn't disappoint at all. I knew bits and pieces from stuff i'd read on the internet over the years and I had experience with the main character through the video game Spider-Man Edge of Time, but none of that can really compare to actually reading a series with him. I've always seen Marvel's 2099 imprint as an earlier, somewhat less successful version of what they'd later do with their Ultimate line of comics. Funnily enough, Spider-Man was the most successful character both times around 
That being said though, I kind of like the 2099 universe more than I do the Ultimate one. This is because the writers really tried to make a different universe, whereas the Ultimate Universe, while different, was still set in the modern day in all. 2099 being set in the future therefore allowed for a completely different type of world to be built, similar to what Batman Beyond did with Neo Gotham. And really it's just all in the details. You've got a lot of classic future elements, such as floating cars and building, massive cities that have built on top of one another with upper and lower levels, mega corporations basically running the world, etc. Even then however I never found myself bored.
That being said though, I kind of like the 2099 universe more than I do the Ultimate one. This is because the writers really tried to make a different universe, whereas the Ultimate Universe, while different, was still set in the modern day in all. 2099 being set in the future therefore allowed for a completely different type of world to be built, similar to what Batman Beyond did with Neo Gotham. And really it's just all in the details. You've got a lot of classic future elements, such as floating cars and building, massive cities that have built on top of one another with upper and lower levels, mega corporations basically running the world, etc. Even then however I never found myself bored.The Main Character
Of course, besides a good setting, every good series needs an interesting main character and Miguel O'Hara fits the bill. I remember that Peter David once said that where Stan Lee "zigged" with Peter Parker he "zagged" with Miguel, and it really does show. Peter went through high school, then college, then stuggled as an adult and often still lived with his aunt. Miguel starts out the series as a fully grown adult, with a prominent career at the mega corporation of Alchemax. Peter's often having trouble with multiple different girls, while Miguel, for the most part, is in a steady relationship and is even engaged at the start of the series. Peter began as this shy kid in his everyday life and needed the spider powers to boost his confidence, whereas Miguel (No doubt to being half Irish and half Spanish) is already outspoken and confrontational and will then often be fairly silent as Spider-Man. Peter never had parents, but had a solid support structure provided by his aunt and uncle. Miguel had an abusive father, a mother who favored his younger brother over him, and his younger brother in turn resented him on occasion. All these differences, along with slight differences in the actual powers each character has, allow for Miguel to be different enough than Peter so that the series itself doesn't feel redundant. You never feel like "This is something that would happen to Peter Parker" or "That's how Peter would react", and you'll never confuse one character for the other. So I think that Peter David did an excellent job when creating this guy. What's more, he actually goes through a good deal of personal growth as the series progresses. Really there's no better way to describe him at the start of the series than by noting his reaction to hearing Peter's classic motto
What was Gabe saying? With great power comes great responsibility? Wrong. Completely wrong. With great power comes great guilt.
Similar to Peter he gains his powers in an accident, after which he originally wants to get rid of them entirely. He has little interest in helping the common man and in general is often noted to be a bit of a jerk who talks down to other people. He is then dragged into more and more heroic actions as he see's situations that he has the ability to stop and eventually he makes the transition into a full blown hero, going out of his way to help others and to specifically defend the common man from the big bad corporations. The same message ends up coming across by the time the series wraps up, but it's not beaten into your head or anything, which I enjoyed. It's also interesting seeing Miguel deal with wanting to help people, but also being a part of the system that keeps them down. His character journey from selfish corporate stooge to selfless hero is genuinely interesting to see, with the change not happening overnight.
Other Characters
Spider-Man wasn't the only hero or character to have someone take up his name in 2099 or to get his own series, so other characters like Punisher and Doom drift in and out of the story. And because there were actual crossover events you'll get a little thrown at times when these characters suddenly pop up and Spider-Man talks as if they've been hanging out for a while. It's nothing too hard to get over however and it helps to give us a further look at the 2099 universe. What also helps is that Miguel constantly travels between a variety of different settings. The majority of the series is spent in New York of course, but he freely travels between the upper and lower levels. You then have a story that takes place in Cyberspace, one in the floating city of Valhalla, many more when Miguel goes on a cross country trip to clear his head, etc. You never get stuck in one setting, but a home type of setting is still established and I appreciate that. And because everything is so far in the future you're constantly learning new things about the world. So, again, boredom is never an issue here.
You don't really get any old villains showing up here. The most you get is stuff like the above, Venom 2099. An old take on a villain in a new form, similar to our hero. Though unlike the other villains that IS actually the original Venom Symbiote, just having been mutated over the decades. Overall, the cast of villains is interesting, unique, and they all fit the setting and what's going on in the story. None ever manage to really reach the level of the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus, but they all serve their purpose and provide credible threats. The supporting cast is just as interesting and in this area I will say that a few manage to become as integral/important to the story as some of the original Spider-Man's are to his. Honestly, this series reminds me of the benefit of having one writer work on a project for so long, because he gets to present and reinforce different themes and ideas and build up various characters. It's that much better of course when it's not in the main universe, because the writer then has a lot more freedom. I'm someone who has a massive amount of respect for Ultimate Spider-Man and really consider it to be an essential Spider-Man story as a whole. I probably wouldn't say that Spider-Man 2099 is better than it, but I do think it manages to do some things better, such as the setting, and really has a harder job since it's dealing with completely new characters, a new setting, and really just had to work its way from the ground up. It's really a testament to what Peter David did here that, of all the 2099 characters and concepts, his is the one that's continued to appear again and again over the years, even getting a brand new series over a decade after the original ended. If there's one complaint I have with this series it's that it ends on kind of a cliffhanger. David stopped writing at issue #44, because of a big upheavel that was going on with the Marvel 2099 imprint at the time, so the last 2 issues just have a fairly obvious disconnect from the ones that came right before (Like Reed Richards suddenly shows up out of nowhere) and then it just randomly ends noting that the events will be concluded in another series. And they are, but it sucks that to get the actual finale you've got to check somewhere else. Everything that came before is still great though and doesn't suffer for it.
Definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys Spider-Man or alternate universe stories.
