Spider-Man 2099 #1

“Begin the Future History of Spider-Man 2099”

Cover Price: $1.75
Bargain Price: $0.50
Cover Date: November 1992

I’ve been meaning to pick this one up for awhile because I heard that it was the best of the 2099 titles. I also generally like Peter David and artist Rick Leonardi’s work. As a comic, there's a good deal to like here. Leonardi is in top form and his designs for the book are suitably cool and futuristic without becoming campy or seeming too extreme (for a comic book anyway) for the relatively near dateline. I also like that there is very little effort given to tying the 2099 world into Marvel’s then current continuity with even Peter Parker only getting the briefest mention. It would be so easy to make our hero Peter’s descendant or biggest fan or have him transformed by the same equipment that affected Peter all those years ago, but David wisely avoids all of that. The origin is instead entirely original, if a bit too rooted in the nineties. Ambitious scientist Miguel O’Hara is betrayed by employer Alchemax, an omnipresent, evil corporation. First they addict Miguel to a designer drug and then, when he tries to use a gene resequencer to un-addict himself, they splice him with a spider. The origin ultimately takes up the second half of the book, working as a flashback following a pretty exciting action sequence involving Spidey 2099 and some cops on hover bikes. All in all, it’s a solid first issue, but I’m not sure if it was quite engaging enough to get me to seek out the rest of the run.