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Down But Not Out

by Drew Clements westofmiskatonic@gmail.com

With the third edition of Down But Not Out I’m going to be switching gears a bit. This will be the first of a three part series in which I take on the first three issues of Spider-man 2099! Spider-man 2099 #1 Original Release Date: November 1992 Writer: Peter David Artist: Rick Leonardi Inker: Al Williamson Letterer: Rick Parker Colorist: Steve Buccellato Editor: Joey Cavalieri If your only experience with the 2099 world is through Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Knights 2099 books then disregard EVERYTHING you know. Welcome to the REAL 2099! In 1992 Marvel created a line of comics set in a dystopian future in which the United States no longer exists and in its place North America (and other countires) is ruled by mega-corporations. The most prominent of these corporations was the highly corrupt Alchemax, run by the villainous Tyler Stone. The world of 2099 is one where heroes exist no more. All of the major players in the Marvel Universe are said to have perished years previous in a final war that ends what 2099 denizens call the “Heroic Age.” Fortunately for that world, a new hero arises, the first in years: Spider-man! When the 2099 line of comics was introduced in 1992 I remember wanting to have nothing to do with them. In particular I was highly opposed to the Spider-man 2099 title. Peter Parker WAS Spider-man to me back then. Why did we need ANOTHER Spider-man, even it was a future version? I mean, it’s not like they could pull it off without it being a total rip-off of the Peter Parker version, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. With that being said, I’m a latecomer to the series, so late that I actually didn’t begin picking up the back issues until last summer (the last of the 2099 books came out in 1998). I only finally decided to do so due to the overwhelmingly positive fan chatter surrounding it over on the CBR message boards. Add in the fact that most of the run sat in my local comic book store’s $1 box and there really wasn’t much to lose in trying it. I’m glad I did, as it quickly became one of my absolute favorite books of all time. I feel that it would be a horrible oversight for me not to write a thorough article on this title, so here begins the first part of the series. Before I move into the actual content of the issue I’ve got to speak about the cover. This was 1992 and if you’re unfamiliar with comic books from the 90s, the big thing back then was the gimmick cover. I’ll explain what this means: DC and Marvel believed that in order to move comic books en masse they needed to produce covers with some sort of gimmick. Sometimes they would use holograms, shiny chromium, or gatefold covers. Marvel seemed to outdo DC in this department and it’s quite a sad thing. It seemed as though Marvel was more interested in that outside piece of paper selling comics than the actual content. Despite my irritation with covers of these types, I won’t lie, Spider-man 2099 #1 has a very attractive cover but its strengths lie in Rick Leonardi’s art rather than the foil. Each of the first issues of the 2099 books had similar covers in that the outside border was a colored foil (red for Spidey 2099, silver for Doom 2099, etc) with the main character in the center. Gimmick covers are a pet peeve of mine, but whatever, it has no effect on the quality of the work within. So, moving on to the actual content: Issue number one opens with the new Spider-man fleeing multiple pursuers from the Public Eye. I’ll stop here for a moment to explain that the Public Eye is 2099’s version of the police; only these guys are owned and operated by the mega-corporation Alchemax. The members of P.E. are using one-man transports that look something like flying wave runners to follow Spidey through the massive city canyons of New York (Nueva York as it is called later). As the opening text boxes suggest, things have changed. Sure, New York is still a sprawling metropolis, but THIS New York is sprawling to a degree that’s unimaginable. It has a look similar to the Los Angeles of Blade Runner. With his savage attack on his Public Eye pursuers, you can tell that this Spider-man is wholly different from the Peter Parker incarnation, yet similar in that he goes out of his way to rescue that same officer. Those preconceived notions I had that believed this guy was nothing but an old-school Spidey rip-off were immediately thrown out the window. Something was definitely different here, that’s for sure. Next we meet a guy stumbling into his massive apartment at Babylon Towers. His name is Miguel O’Hara. An attractive female holographic projection named Lyla serves as something of a housekeeper and knowledge database. She greets Miguel when he enters his apartment and offers up six messages left for him. With the following sequence we get a feel for the life of Miguel. The first message is from Tyler Stone, head of Alchemax, who leaves a mysterious (to the reader, at least) message about Miguel coming back to work and needing some drug. Holographic messages from his brother Gabe, who worries about him working for Alchemax, and fiancée Dana, who talks about a previous day that he was “strung out on drugs” and is shown as bruised and beat up (clues for the storyline? Yup), round out this look in on his person life. Lyla suggests to Miguel that he make more entries in his personal journal and he agrees. Here begins the origin! FLASHBACK! The origin sequence begins at Alchemax with Miguel and coworker Aaron Delgato having a conversation about Alchemax’s Genetics Program in which Miguel heads. The dialogue between the two is top notch as writer extraordinaire Peter David gives Miguel O’Hara the sharpest tongue of just about any character in the Marvel U to date. This does a pretty good job of setting up Miguel’s personality as a no-nonsense smartass (this comes back multiple times! It’s a highlight of the book!). There’s witty dialogue throughout this entire issue and, really, throughout the entire series that harkens back to the classic Peter Parker, but on a much less innocent manner. It’s something of a similarity between the characters that’s actually different enough to define their personalities as completely separate. Miguel and his team of researchers have been experimenting with altering the genetic structure of animals in preparation for one day perhaps trying the same with humans. Miguel stresses the fact that it is way too early for human trials. Miguel lets Aaron in on the fact that he’s created a spider genetic imprint that would give the receiver the proportionate powers of a spider (sound familiar? If it doesn’t then you need to leave… now… quickly…)! As if on cue, Tyler Stone comes by to help push Miguel in the direction of human experimentation for the creation of super powered corporate raiders. The corporate raider program is really what it sounds like. With the world controlled by mega-corporations each of these companies has their raiders, which attack rival companies for takeover and whatnot. Miguel seriously opposes this, but Stone has brought along a volunteer that knows the risks are serious but is willing to try. Going forward, Miguel decided to simply try and increase the volunteer’s strength. The machine that alters the structure of DNA is, as Miguel explains, modeled after a pod from the movie The Fly. It is similar in that it is egg-shaped, but I figure the artist, Rick Leonardi, probably differentiated just enough so as to make it not look exact. After the experiment is over, the pod is opened and Miguel is attacked by the horribly mutated volunteer. Within seconds of having grabbed Miguel, the unfortunate creature dies. In the next scene we see Miguel resign in Tyler Stone’s office. He explains once again that the project was not ready for human trials and that he doesn’t want to have any part in it. Stone responds by accepting the resignation and offering Miguel a glass of wine (“1994 was an excellent year.”). Stone wishes O’Hara would reconsider, but Miguel stresses the fact that he will not. Stone then reveals that he has spiked Miguel’s wine with The Rapture, a LEGAL drug that instantly causes addiction. Of course, the only way to get Rapture is through its sole authorized supplier, you guessed it, Alchemax. This plot point makes it impossible for Miguel to separate himself from the corporation. The addiction to The Rapture is so severe that living without it is impossible. Miguel stumbles out of the office and goes to Dana, his fiancee’s apartment. In bad shape, Miguel accidentally strikes Dana, causing those bruises we saw earlier in the holographic message. He is instantly remorseful and explains he is on The Rapture. Later in the evening, Miguel heads back to Alchemax to try the one thing that will save him from the life of a drug addict: he’s going to use an imprint of his DNA, from before the drug poisoning, and return himself to normal, negating The Rapture’s effects. Once inside the pod, Aaron Delgato comes along and changes the DNA imprint to include that spider imprint Mig was talking about earlier. Delgato figures since the earlier test subject died, then this will kill Miguel, getting rid of him completely. The pod explodes and Aaron finds that Miguel has miraculously survived. But he’s been changed… somehow… You’ll find out how next week when you tune in to Down But Not Out #4 where I cover Spider-man 2099 #2!