Writer: Nick Spencer
Art: Ze Carlos, Brian Reber, Andrew Crossley, and VC’s Cory Petit
Price: $4.99
Release Date: December 11th, 2019

I was a fan of the original Spider-Man 2099 so I am going into this issue with cautious optimism that stems from being disappointed by most of the 2099 books we have already got. I don’t think this can sway me over to loving this “event”, but that’s fine because all I need is a good time. Did I get that at least? Let’s find out…

The issue opens with Miguel in his apartment and after a 19-hour sleep, he’s got some messages piled up. His brother, Dana and then Tyler Stone. Things are a bit different and that’s good and bad. He didn’t beat the crap out of Dana and that’s a big check mark in the “good” column, but I don’t know how I feel about Miguel taking the Rapture drug on his own. I guess that you are supposed to laugh when Tyler jokes that he didn’t slip it into Miguel’s drink, but that actually made me a bit angry. Also, why does Miguel look a lot like Peter Parker here?

We get a little background of what Miguel has been up to recently through the conversation going on here and this is where Miguel quits Alchemax because they are doing bad things in the Ravage. Since we are only told about it, this scene and the quitting fall flat. Plus, the Yakety-yak here makes it a chore to get through. After getting the rundown of the Rapture withdraw, Miguel decides to go out and leave a sad and lonely Lyla behind. Again, I don’t care so it is almost laughable.

After going back a month to see what went on in the Ravage (a bit too late), we get to see Miguel do some Rapture, get attacked, get saved and wake up in a church with his brother. That’s where things slow down again as the two talk a lot about the problems that Alchemax has caused and Miguel’s plans to be better. Throughout all of this, Miguel keeps seeing Spider-Man 2099 and while he can’t catch up to him and find out more, the issue ends with a twist that throws possible time travel into the mix.

Well, this issue didn’t change my mind on the 2099 stuff at all. In fact, it made me hate it more. This issue was such a boring read and I just don’t get why that would be allowed. After all these years, why bring this back with boring issues with lame twists that make everything we are getting in 2019 so much less than what we got back in the 90s??? I liked the art in this issue enough, but everything else was just a slog to get through and like almost all of the previous 2099 issues, the payoff didn’t equal the leg work to get there. That may change with the 2099 Omega issue, but you need to convince people to get there and I’m sure a bunch have already bailed.

Final Thoughts:

Nick Spencer gives us the big book of this 2099 “event” and it’s a bore to read and a chore to finish. There is no reason to read this and instead, I suggest you go back and read the far superior original.

3.5/10