EARLY REVIEW: Spider-Man 2099 #1

Welcome back Miguel. The future is now! Spider-Man 2099 #1 is out now.

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Spider-Man 2099 #1. Writer: Peter David. Artist: Will Sliney. Color Artist: Antonio Fabela.

It’s strange. Peter David seems to have been born to write the adventures of Peter Parker, what with David’s thoroughly human and relatable characters and signature sense of humor, but other than the seminal Death of Jean DeWolff and a run on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, David really hasn’t done much work with Spider-Man. Instead, David’s major contribution to the Spider-Man mythos was Spider-Man 2099, an exercise in world- and hero-building from the ’90s. Well, Spidey 2099 is back and so is David, and this old-school fan of both David and Miguel O’Hara is happy to say that the writer has lost no zip off his fastball. This is an excellent book that is so much fun to experience even if a reader has never read an issue of Spider-Man 2099 before.

Set in the modern day Marvel Universe, this new series is a great fish-out-of-water tale of a greatly missed hero. The book contains everything someone will need to fall in love with O’Hara. There is no clunky exposition explaining his origin or motivations, everything a reader needs is contained in the story, in the future Spidey’s interactions with his boss and great-grandfather Tiberius Stone, with Liz Allen, with the mysterious time agent villain that Spidey must take out this issue, and with his hologram assistant Lyla. The time traveling elements will please even the most hardened Whovian and it remains clear that David still understands the character he brought to life so many years ago.

The premiere issue looks great. I am not familiar with Will Sliney but the man was born to draw a Spider-Man book as the art just moves with a palpable kinetic energy. As we head toward the Spiderverse event, it will be fun to watch Spider-Man 2099 develop under David’s eye.

Grade: A

Author: 13th Dimension

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