Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #4 Review

Written by: Steve Orlando
Art by: Alessandro Miracolo
Colors by: Jesus Aburtov
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: Ryan Stegman, J.P. Mayer, Marte Gracia
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: July 13, 2022

Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #4 takes the next step of preparation for Miguel O’Hara when he enlists the help of Black Widow 2099 to track down a mutant who can psychically speak to technology. Unfortunately, the mutant is a wanted man with a Hawkeye 2099-sized target on his back.

Is It Good?

Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #4 continues the trend of telling a Spider-Man 2099 story that’s focused on another set of derivative characters instead of Spider-Man. However, Orlando deserves some credit for incorporating Spider-Man as a participant in his own comic. That’s something, at least.

Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, enlists the help of Yelena Bolova, who’s much older but still weaving her web of spies as Black Widow, to track down a mutant named Nostromo with technopathic abilities. It’s not clear and never explained why Miguel is looking for Nostromo, but his search leads to the heart of the plot.

Once the parameters of the scavenger heart are established, the story shifts into the main conflict between Yelena and Hawkeye 2099. Orlando clarifies how Yelena is still around and kicking after all these years, but no effort is put into establishing who this new Hawkeye is, where he came from, and how he came to adopt the Hawkeye moniker. Of all the 2099 derivatives Orlando creates in this series, this is the weakest origin story by far.

In fairness, the action is exciting and there’s plenty of energy, but the way Hawkeye 2099 is defeated doesn’t make sense. (Since when does the cold of space create fires???). Once the conflict is settled, Miguel and Nostromo head to the Celestial Garden of Eden with a cliffhanger that sets the stage for an overwhelming challenge. Again, the story does what Orlando sets out to do, but the weakness is the lack of Spider-Man in his own title, and secondarily, the poor setup for Hawkeye 2099.

Miracolo is a favorite artist of ours, so there’s no issue with the quality of the art. The character anatomy and action scenes are excellent, Aburtov’s colors excel at giving every surface and costume a shiny, new-tech texture, and the overall look of the issue is eye-catching.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #4 offers more 2099 derivatives of established characters, this time Black Widow and Hawkeye, to help Spider-Man track down a fugitive mutant. The action is exciting, and the art is eye-popping, but the setup is severely lacking. Things happen with little explanation as to why, making this the weakest issue in the series.