Spider-Man 2099 #2 Review: Less Money, Mo’ Problems For Miguel

If you’ve just jumped on-board the craziness that is Miguel O’Hara’s life, Spider-Man 2099 #2 will make you glad you did.

More from Comics

• X-Men: 6 reasons why Marvel’s mutants are the best superhero team
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
• Marvel Comics announces seven important X-Men comic books
• The X-Men were betrayed by Captain America in Uncanny Avengers
• Spider-Man: Miles and Peter team-up for their first ongoing series

You’d think that being displaced in time and trying to prevent your own grandfather from going down the wrong path would be the top cause of stress in anyone’s life, but not for this particular Spider-Man. Even relatively simple things like going to the bank, talking to a superior at work and trying to get an attractive female resident of his building to talk to him are turned into complications for Miguel by writer Peter David, and this story has a bit of a “woe is me” quality to it that calls to mind one of the dominant themes of early Peter Parker stories.

We never end up feeling sorry for O’Hara though. He is a super hero, after all, and even though his use of his spider-powers is barely more than a couple pages that tie into the overall tangled web his life is quickly becoming, the lone action scene is once again expertly illustrated by Will Sliney. Just two issues in, he’s really shown a creative mind when it comes to creative poses and moves for Miguel to show off during combat.

Just a fun read that also made you curious about what is going to happen next and it’s no wonder that our Matt Conner made it his Marvel Pick of the Week. As for the nuts and bolts …

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

It’s not that Spider-Man 2099 doesn’t like helping people, he just wishes that he could do it at different times than when he’s trying to deposit a check. Miguel prevents a bank robbery but never does get to deposit the check.

Not that he’s paying rent on much furniture, as we learn when Liz Allan pays him a house call. She’s done her homework, and after deciding against throwing her out a window when she thinks she’s figured out his secret identity, O’Hara does the only logical thing: he denies being Spider-Man but tells Liz the truth about where he’s from — a charade made more believable by some nice work by Lyla on a “futuristic” outfit. Liz one-ups Miguel in the surprising move department by kissing him on the way out … and naturally, Tempest comes in right after that, noticing the lipstick on his lips.

Tempest’s secret is worse than Miguel, and probably many readers, would have guessed. That she does open up about it only seems to make O’Hara feel worse about pushing her to do it. Yep, David has made things appropriately complicated in a very classic Spider-Man way.

Favorite moment: One of the bank robbers tries to blame peer pressure for his role in the crime, but Miggy is having none of it.

Final thought: Miguel’s realization that he can fit in by telling the truth to people and have them just assume he’s being sarcastic would probably work in real life.