Spider-Man 2099 #6 Review – Back To The Future

The current Spider-Man 2099 series had an interesting premise, what with Miguel O’Hara living in the present trying to make sure Alchemax doesn’t end up quite as evil a conglomerate in his own time. It also lasted for all of five issues.

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But there’s a good reason for that: Spider-Man 2099 #6 is part of Spider-Verse, and with the crossover pulling in Spideys from all kinds of different realities, Miguel can probably count himself lucky he only ended up in the future he knows. Accompanied by Lady Spider from Earth-803 and a six-armed Spider-Man from Earth-91200, he’s trying to do some research on the dead body of Daemos, one of the Inheritors. Unfortunately, the Inheritors can clone themselves (this is a Spider-Man story, after all), so another Daemos is chasing them.

Despite the overall tale not being his baby, Peter David does a nice job making this into a proper Miguel story, complete with the 2099 supporting cast, a few lighter moments, and even a little romance. It’s also fun to see Will Sliney get to play in the world of the future after drawing all of the previous issues that were set in the present. I’ve really been liking his art on this run, and shifting things by almost 100 years doesn’t lessen that enjoyment at all.

This is only the first of three issues that are Spider-Verse tie-ins, so if you have absolutely no interest in the overall epic, you might be able to skip this one. Still, it’s a good read even when considered on its own merits, and that’s what a quality tie-in should be.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

Tyler Stone is just finishing up congratulating himself on getting rid of Spider-Man 2099 when his security guy notifies him that not only is Miguel back, but he has other Spider-People with him. They buckle down to try to stop Miguel, but he’s got bigger fish to fry.

The three spiders hide out with Miguel’s half-brother Gabriel while they plot strategy, correctly figuring that Daemos can track them. Sadly, the Inheritor finds them much quicker than they anticipated, and the six-armed Spider-Man pays for that miscalculation with his life. Lady Spider looks like she’s going to get her life force drained as well, but she’s not a “real” spider, just a human with a mechanical exoskeleton. Daemos decides to lust after her in creepy fashion instead, though Gabe is able to save her with a weapon left behind by the late Dana D’Angelo. He gets a kiss from Lady Spider for saving her life, which works out nice since he seems pretty smitten with her.

Miguel is able to convince Tyler and Alchemax to cooperate with a stunt he’s cooked up to capture Daemos in a stasis cell. The two remaining spiders lead him on a merry airborne chase but eventually manuever him into position, and since the cell once held Venom, Spidey figures it’ll work on Daemos. The cover for the next issue shows our heroes examining the clone body, so we’ll have to assume they succeed, at least in the short term.

Favorite moment: Daemos, wondering aloud what the six-armed Spider-Man is going to do to stall him: “Try to seduce me, perhaps? You do have a surplus of hands. Think of the possibilities.” Um, dude. Where did that come from?

Final thought: It’s bothered me just a tad that Peter Parker is an Avenger and Spider-UK is a member of the Captain Britain Corps, but neither of them thought that maybe Spider-Verse would be a little less lethal if they called upon their teammates for help. So it’s nice to see Miguel plan on getting the Punisher, Hulk and Dr. Strange of his time to assist, even if I doubt we’ll actually see them in action.