Spider-Man 2099 #1

[Revolutionary_Jack]

They instantly dated it once they slapped 2099 on it.

The weird part is the comic came out in 1992, so it was like some kind of early end-of-millennium hype thing.

At the time, no major publisher had done anything like a futuristic AU of the Present Day and introducing legacies like that. And it allowed Marvel to explore a kind of 90s edginess in art and theme without transforming the mainline MU so much. So it seemed like a decent idea at the time.

I mean doing an AU line was pretty new and radical in the early 90s because it wasn't very common and 2099 was the predecessor to MC2, to Ultimate Marvel and other stuff that came after that.

Miguel O'Hara in publication terms is Spider-Man's first legacy character preceding Ben Reilly, Mayday Parker, and of course Miles Morales.

I also don't think Marvel had decided whether it was the true future or not.

I never bought/accepted that it was the future either. To me, it was always a quirky AU and it just felt totally disconnected from the Marvel Universe as a whole.

Spider-girl benefitted because, despite being in the future, it was still close enough to the familiar landscape of the present. Also helped because you could do cameos and whatnot.

Yeah. I guess it needed to be something like Batman Beyond, the cartoon that came out in the end of the 90s and which probably was inspired by Spider-Man 2099. It was still tied to the legacy of the original Batman and his adventures. Whereas by 2099 the entire world of Peter Parker and his supporting cast, and the other Marvel heroes, seemed to have been forgotten almost entirely.

[Hypestyle]

just make it fun. make new villains too. I'm not sold on [fill in the blank]-2099 for everybody.

[Huntsman Spider]

The weird part is the comic came out in 1992, so it was like some kind of early end-of-millennium hype thing.

At the time, no major publisher had done anything like a futuristic AU of the Present Day and introducing legacies like that. And it allowed Marvel to explore a kind of 90s edginess in art and theme without transforming the mainline MU so much. So it seemed like a decent idea at the time.

I mean doing an AU line was pretty new and radical in the early 90s because it wasn't very common and 2099 was the predecessor to MC2, to Ultimate Marvel and other stuff that came after that.

Miguel O'Hara in publication terms is Spider-Man's first legacy character preceding Ben Reilly, Mayday Parker, and of course Miles Morales.



I never bought/accepted that it was the future either. To me, it was always a quirky AU and it just felt totally disconnected from the Marvel Universe as a whole.



Yeah. I guess it needed to be something like Batman Beyond, the cartoon that came out in the end of the 90s and which probably was inspired by Spider-Man 2099. It was still tied to the legacy of the original Batman and his adventures. Whereas by 2099 the entire world of Peter Parker and his supporting cast, and the other Marvel heroes, seemed to have been forgotten almost entirely.

To be somewhat fair to 2099, the disconnect between that future and what was then the present was the result of a catastrophe that nearly destroyed the world and human civilization with it, which would have very likely resulted in historical records being lost and with the megacorps in charge, they obviously would manipulate the surviving records to ensure control of the remaining human populace.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

To be somewhat fair to 2099, the disconnect between that future and what was then the present was the result of a catastrophe that nearly destroyed the world and human civilization with it, which would have very likely resulted in historical records being lost and with the megacorps in charge, they obviously would manipulate the surviving records to ensure control of the remaining human populace.

True, but it also meant that 2099 felt totally fantastic and was definitely not "the world outside your window". It's very much based on Cyberpunk concepts and 80s science-fiction stuff, because it's an early 90s project so the aesthetics are very much 80s. It's not till The Matrix that you get an actually 90s science-fiction story and that came out in 1999.

As often as we like to think of superhero stories as being able to absorb genres and so on, doing an in-continuity exploration of futuristic themes with superheroes is pretty hard. The best example remains Days of Future Past which told a very post-apocalyptic story in the context of the superhero genre. The future of the world being a kind of genocidal apartheid state spoke to 80s themes in a big way and even averting it in the present left no sense that the future was averted forever. Days of Future Past believably felt like it could be the future of the X-Men and the Marvel Universe. Batman Beyond likewise felt like it could be the future of Gotham City. Whereas 2099 didn't for the most part with the exception of Doom...I can buy that Doom would one day take over USA and that some part of the public across the spectrum might welcome their new Latverian Overlord but it still felt inorganic and remote.

[Huntsman Spider]

True, but it also meant that 2099 felt totally fantastic and was definitely not "the world outside your window". It's very much based on Cyberpunk concepts and 80s science-fiction stuff, because it's an early 90s project so the aesthetics are very much 80s. It's not till The Matrix that you get an actually 90s science-fiction story and that came out in 1999.

As often as we like to think of superhero stories as being able to absorb genres and so on, doing an in-continuity exploration of futuristic themes with superheroes is pretty hard. The best example remains Days of Future Past which told a very post-apocalyptic story in the context of the superhero genre. The future of the world being a kind of genocidal apartheid state spoke to 80s themes in a big way and even averting it in the present left no sense that the future was averted forever. Days of Future Past believably felt like it could be the future of the X-Men and the Marvel Universe. Batman Beyond likewise felt like it could be the future of Gotham City. Whereas 2099 didn't for the most part with the exception of Doom...I can buy that Doom would one day take over USA and that some part of the public across the spectrum might welcome their new Latverian Overlord but it still felt inorganic and remote.

Actually a very good point, when you put it that way.

[SuperiorIronman]

Just finished the book and I genuinely can't figure out what direction 2099 seems to be going and not in a good way. Seriously, what the Hell is going on?

BTW Spider-man 2099 also isn't in this. This comic is a bunch of clumsy written backstory for reboot Miguel but he isn't Spider-man. So why is this even published?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

BTW Spider-man 2099 also isn't in this. This comic is a bunch of clumsy written backstory for reboot Miguel but he isn't Spider-man. So why is this even published?

Yeah, even Doom 2099 didn't really have anything to do with the "plot", it's a good issue by Zdarsky but it feels like a standalone mood-piece. That's fine for a one-off and fill-in issue but not for an Event Tie-in intended to explain what's what.

This entire 2099 event feels really rushed and thrown together and not properly planned.

[SuperiorIronman]

Yeah, even Doom 2099 didn't really have anything to do with the "plot", it's a good issue by Zdarsky but it feels like a standalone mood-piece. That's fine for a one-off and fill-in issue but not for an Event Tie-in intended to explain what's what.

This entire 2099 event feels really rushed and thrown together and not properly planned.

There's a few fairly obvious connections to make this more cohesive. It's well written but as a whole this event just sucks. ASM has little to no bearing on what's going on in 2099 and the one shots barely have anything to do with each other. Connective tissue would make sense given it's a singular event and not a new line of books that over time will alter each other's status quo. In terms of the event we should just get on with it. There's just too much going on with not enough connecting it to each other.

[Huntsman Spider]

The aggravating thing is that it all seems to be mood lighting or atmosphere-setting for 2099 Omega. Other than that, I'll cop to liking the worldbuilding for this new version of 2099, but I'd like it even more if there was more of an actual plot that wasn't apparently being withheld for the Alpha and Omega one-shots.

[Kintor]

I've already said as much in the Doctor Doom thread but I'll echo the same here. These 2099 one-shot are great character studies yet they don't form a cohesive narrative. I've bought every issue so far and I still have no idea how the events in Spider-Man are connected to the disaster that befell 2099. Nevermind this is all supposed to be wrapping up next week!

Regardless, I did enjoy Doom 2099 and Ghost Rider 2099 on their own merit. If we could get some 2099 ongoings out of this, unlikely as that may be, the event wouldn't be an entire waste of time.

[Snoop Dogg]

I really love this cool-ass world. I wish Spencer would drop societal ethics debates more often.

[Huntsman Spider]

I really love this cool-ass world. I wish Spencer would drop societal ethics debates more often.

Same. The societal ethics debates were some of the better parts of his Captain America saga.