Spider-Man 2099 (Vol. 3) #13 Review

“Opening the time gate caused Ulysses to have a vision of 2099.”

Spidey and Cap-back to the future, but not the one they knew, despite some old familiar faces! Can we keep the Civil War II crossover to a minimum? Please?

WRITER: Peter David

ARTIST: Will Sliney

COLOR ARTIST: Rachelle Rosenberg

LETTERER: VC’s Cory Petit

COVER ARTIST: Francesco Mattina

EDITOR: Charles Beacham

STORY: Miguel opens the portal so Captain America 2099 can go check on her family. By doing so, the Inhuman Ulysses gets a glimpse of the future New York and calls Peter Parker to warn him. Peter, in turn, warns Miguel. Meanwhile, Cap is having difficulty finding her family and gets surrounded by the Public Eye, but escapes with the help of Ravage 2099. Miguel jumps to the future as Spidey, only to get quickly subdued by Jake Gallows, the Punisher of 2099!

THOUGHTS: As Mattina’s striking cover proclaims in the corner, this issue crosses over with Civil War II. Thankfully, Miguel doesn’t get fully embroiled in that crossover as he goes back once again to 2099. In fact, the crossover itself is what leads Miguel back to the time he truly belongs. I was afraid that this event would derail David’s plans, but if it did, he disguised it very well in his storytelling and I for one am glad to be back in 2099 so soon.

I was a little surprised that Miguel let Captain America make the jump to the future to see if her family is okay. It would be far more effective if he could convince Cap to help him in the present to positively affect the future then go to a reality that theoretically is about to be undone by Miguel’s actions in 2016. He may have a very cavalier “oh, well” attitude about the trip, which I did find amusing, but Cap would be a big help in battling the Fist to correct their future world.

Cap gets dumped in the zoo and beats up a tiger, which David comes back to when Miguel jumps forward to 2099 a few scenes later. It’s a cartoony bit, but I found it funny and in keeping with his style and tone. However, Miguel kissing Jasmine’s hand as way of thanks seemed off to me, especially with the way Sliney focused and placed emphasis on the moment. Was this a throw away or will this come back later?

Cap searching for her family saw a few notable returns for me, mainly being the Public Eye(sore) and Stan Lee’s Ravage 2099. I’ll admit that I don’t think I’ve read more than one issue of Ravage 2099, but it’s nice to see one of the 2099 “classics” back, particularly one that Lee had a hand in. Sliney shows off Cap’s athletic prowess well and has a great panel of the Public Eye rushing in all G.I.: Joe style and throws in a splash page of Ravage to boot.

Peter calls Miguel and starts off with mentioning his anger issues, a nice way of pointing out the differences between the two Spider-Men. After a halfhearted apology from Miguel, Peter switches the topic to the Inhuman, Ulysses, and Miguel totally misunderstands the subject matter, thinking he’s referring to the book. I love how out of the loop Miggy is in this scene to present day goings on, showing his singular focus on his problems. His rationale of “I was out of town” is a classic snarky remark that he would make, as is the false bravado he displays to Peter when saying he can handle the dilemma solo, whilst his inner monologue states quite the opposite.

As Lyla informs Miguel about the possibility that the return fail-safe may be in a recycling phase when he wishes to return, you know exactly where David is placing Chekhov’s Gun. Before we get to that eventual scene however, a presumably altered-by-the-time-stream Jake Gallows, the Punisher of 2099, knocks Miguel into unconsciousness. Is he really altered in this timeline, or just keeping his extra-curricular activities a secret from his day job? Guess we’ll find out next time as the issue came to a close.

Whilst I was very happy to see some older characters make an appearance, this issue didn’t knock me out as much as some of the more recent entries. Not to say that it was bad; David’s wit is still on display and Sliney continues his usual solid job, but it felt like a derailment of the momentum built up with the Sinister Six storyline and Spidey’s determination to bring The Fist to task for altering his future, even with the welcome return to 2099.

MY GRADE: B-

JAVI’S HUH?: No mention of Father Jennifer/The Green Goblin getting murdered by Doc Ock in the recap? Her departure and Venture joining the team is kind of a big deal, even if not directly impacting this issue’s events.