Summer (and Fall) of Spiders is taking us on a trip to the future! Where corporations control an increasingly ecologically damaged world of dwindling resources and the rights of the average citizen are almost nil.
We should fit right in.
Even in the early '90s the Marvel Universe had no shortage of visions of shitty futures. Days of Future Past, obviously, but the Guardians of the Galaxy hailed from a 30th Century where the entire solar system was under the thumb of the Badoon. Killraven's Earth was conquered by Martians. The original Deathlok was from a lousy future. But those were usually confined to a single book or sometimes a single storyline. In 1992, Marvel started up an entire line of comics set in the far off - but not too far off - year of 2099.
I never got heavily into the line as a whole. I think I've read one issue of Ravage 2099, and less than a half-dozen of X-Men 2099. I heard good things about Warren Ellis' Doom 2099, but, eh, maybe if I could buy it used, for cheap. From the parts I've seen online of it, Punisher 2099 was either meant to be a parody - the character, asked where he lives, says in total seriousness, "Over the edge," - or really ought to have been.
I had a bit of Spider-Man 2099 when it first came out, but tracked the entire series down in back issues in the early 2010s. For Peter David and Rick Leonardi's book, we get Miguel O'Hara, a brilliant gene engineer for Alchemax, one of a handful of "mega-corps" that basically run things, at least in the U.S. I was never all that clear on how things worked in the rest of the world.
Miguel is smart, but also arrogant, condescending, sarcastic (so David can give him plenty of clever insults) and a bit of a coward. He's got a comfortable life, and he's reluctant to rock the boat. But David's careful to show Miguel has some sense of responsibility, even if it comes from an overconfidence in his own skill and importance. When he finds out how far his boss will go to keep him there, he makes a risky move to slip the leash and ends up the victim of sabotage by a supervisor that hates his guts. Because Miguel always talks down to him. Couldn't be Spider-Man without ego coming back to bite him!
The costume Leonardi designs is unlike most Spider-Man outfits, other than the marks on the mask form a space roughly similar to Spidey's big eyes. The skull covering the chest is closer to the Punisher, or maybe the symbiote costume's torso-covering emblem. While Spider-Man was the inspiration for the genetic enhancement Miguel got, Miguel mentions this costume is just something he got for a Day of the Dead celebration he once attended. He only wears it initially because he needs a disguise he won't accidentally tear up with his new talons (unstable molecules for the win.) The "web" on the back is some lightweight cloth from a hang-glider that saved his life. It adds a bit of a cape, although sometimes it's drawn as barely more than a fringe.
Overall, it works. Distinctive, but just enough touches to hint towards the inspiration. Leonardi has Miguel move differently as well. Given the ubiquitous "Public Eye Security", Miguel doesn't webswing from place to place more than necessary. (The fact that his webbing is produced by his body might also make him unwilling to rely on a supply of unknown quantity and strength.)
We also don't see a lot of elaborate leaps and flips across rooftops. In part because the rooftops are so high up, and in part because Miguel doesn't seem to retreat into Spider-Man as a way to blow off steam or improve his mood. Also because he can't stick to a surface with any part of his body, only the fingers and toes. So his movements are more controlled, more regular. He'll almost lope along the side of a building in a four-limbed stance, keeping one hand and one foot in contact with the wall at all times.
For most of the two years Leonardi's the series artist, he and David stick to mostly original enemies. Miguel does encounter a Vulture, but it's a guy with big metal wings who set himself up as a boss in the literal underbelly of the city. Otherwise, it mostly hired guns for the corporations, concerned with this new element they can't control, or stuff related to the "Thorites" and their belief the Gods of Asgard will be returning soon and that the return of Thor's ally Spider-Man is a portent. Where Peter Parker started his career fighting people who gained great power and continued to use it selfishly, Miguel O'Hara fights people who accepted (unwittingly or otherwise) being used as weapons by the forces controlling the world.
The last 20 or so issues of the book aren't as strong. It kicks off with a big reveal about Miguel's father, which felt unnecessary, and then more 2099 versions of characters start popping up. Strange, Venom (ugh), a Goblin. Apparently Peter David had one character planned for that and someone else rewrote the story to have a different character be responsible. The whole storyline felt kind of half-baked, as stuff was just getting thrown into and out of the book like crazy. Miguel's in charge of Alchemax! Doom became President, and he wants Spider-Man on his cabinet! The people of New Atlantis are gonna teach those surface dwellers what for!
Maybe it made sense for Miguel, who had been tangled up in the mega-corps stuff since he was a promising young mind, to be involved in all this world-spanning stuff, but it squeezed out the interpersonal drama with his supporting cast.
2 comments:
There's some irony in that Goblin 2099 behind-the-scenes shenanigans story. Just seems to keep happening.
All mystery Goblin-character storylines must have editorial interference. It's probably a condition of some demonic pact Marvel made in the '80s.
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