*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Otherwise going to the bathroom would be an adventure, and picking my nose would be lethal." -- Miguel, contemplating a life where his talons didn't automatically retract when he touches his own skin
Favorite Quote: "Otherwise going to the bathroom would be an adventure, and picking my nose would be lethal." -- Miguel, contemplating a life where his talons didn't automatically retract when he touches his own skin
Summary
Miguel resumes narrating his last few days to Lyla, describing his confusion after awakening from the explosion depicted at the end of last issue. He describes feeling disoriented when he sees Aaron, who panics at the sight of Miguel's fangs and talons. Fearing Miguel will try to kill him, Aaron pulls out a gun and fires at Miguel, who uses his new abilities to dodge the blasts. An errant blast strikes a container labeled "DANGER" and the two are thrown out the window from the ensuing explosion. Miguel manages to land on the edge of the building and grabs Aaron's arm to keep him from falling. Aaron starts screaming that Miguel is "killing" him, which confuses Miguel, given that he's trying to save him. Aaron eventually frees himself from his trench coat and falls to his death and Miguel realizes that his newly grown talons had indeed been tearing up Aaron's arm. At that moment, the Public Eye arrives and, clad only in Aaron's trench coat, Miguel leaps to his death, not wanting to be a freak. He has a change of heart, though, and uses his talons to grasp onto the building. Miguel climbs to the top of the building, cursing Aaron for interfering in his efforts to delete rapture's connection to his genetic code. Anticipating that the Public Eye will come after him shortly, Miguel spots a "Thorite" (a modern-day Thor worshiper) flying by him (using a special glider). Miguel leaps onto him and the Thorite asks who he is. Miguel responds, "Easter Bunny. Santa Claus. Spider-Man. Take your pick." The Thorite celebrates the return of one of the allies of Thor, viewing him as a harbinger of Thor's return. They crash-land and the Thorite gives him the kite material to mask himself because "Spider-Man must be masked!"
Meanwhile, at Alchemax, someone named "Tiger Wylde" tells Tyler Stone that his assassin failed in his task. Stone denies that he sent an assassin and Wylde comments that Latveria is willing to give Alchemax a war if it wants one. At the scene of the explosion, a being called Venture uses his cybernetic implants to investigate. He enters Stone's office while Stone is threatening to kill the inventor of the suit that was supposed to have protected the identity of Alchemax's spy in Latveria. Venture shows Stone an extrapolated video of the explosion's aftermath that he created using infrared afterimages and Stone observes the figure climbing up the side of the building, noting, "This has definite potential." He sends Venture after the figure. Meanwhile, Miguel awakens to discover that his Spider-Powers weren't a dream and that his talons have ripped up his sheets. Fearing he'll injure himself at one point, he discovers that his talons retract automatically whenever he touches his own skin, making him wonder if he could do so on command with practice. Miguel's brother, Gabe (whose holographic image we saw last issue), calls and informs Miguel he's on his way. Miguel roots through his closet to find a costume made of unstable-molecule fabric that he bought for his trip to Mexico the previous year to celebrate the Day of the Dead. He also puts on sunglasses to protect his now highly-sensitive eyes. Lyla notes he's distressed and suggests a change in her appearance might improve his mood. Her "fashion show" -- of a British punk, a proper butler, and Aunt May, who Miguel orders Lyla to "kill" -- is interrupted by Gabe's arrival. Gabe is concerned, given what Dana told him about the rapture, and tells him that he knows he's short-tempered because "when you're half Mexican, half Irish, you're not gonna be sweetness and light," but asks him to level with him. Miguel tells him that he was hooked on rapture, but managed to beat it. Gabe encourages Miguel to leave Alchemax because "it's a bad place" "with bad people." As Gabe's decrying the corporate-raider program, Miguel sees Venture from his window and rushes Gabe from his apartment. Realizing Venture will eventually follow his trail to his apartment, Miguel hypothesizes that Venture doesn't know he's Spider-Man, so, if he appears as Spider-Man, Venture will not know to look for Miguel. As such, he dons his Day of the Dead outfit, attaches the Thorite's light-weight glider material to it, and leaps out the window. He attacks Venture, but doesn't know what to do next.
The Review
Meanwhile, at Alchemax, someone named "Tiger Wylde" tells Tyler Stone that his assassin failed in his task. Stone denies that he sent an assassin and Wylde comments that Latveria is willing to give Alchemax a war if it wants one. At the scene of the explosion, a being called Venture uses his cybernetic implants to investigate. He enters Stone's office while Stone is threatening to kill the inventor of the suit that was supposed to have protected the identity of Alchemax's spy in Latveria. Venture shows Stone an extrapolated video of the explosion's aftermath that he created using infrared afterimages and Stone observes the figure climbing up the side of the building, noting, "This has definite potential." He sends Venture after the figure. Meanwhile, Miguel awakens to discover that his Spider-Powers weren't a dream and that his talons have ripped up his sheets. Fearing he'll injure himself at one point, he discovers that his talons retract automatically whenever he touches his own skin, making him wonder if he could do so on command with practice. Miguel's brother, Gabe (whose holographic image we saw last issue), calls and informs Miguel he's on his way. Miguel roots through his closet to find a costume made of unstable-molecule fabric that he bought for his trip to Mexico the previous year to celebrate the Day of the Dead. He also puts on sunglasses to protect his now highly-sensitive eyes. Lyla notes he's distressed and suggests a change in her appearance might improve his mood. Her "fashion show" -- of a British punk, a proper butler, and Aunt May, who Miguel orders Lyla to "kill" -- is interrupted by Gabe's arrival. Gabe is concerned, given what Dana told him about the rapture, and tells him that he knows he's short-tempered because "when you're half Mexican, half Irish, you're not gonna be sweetness and light," but asks him to level with him. Miguel tells him that he was hooked on rapture, but managed to beat it. Gabe encourages Miguel to leave Alchemax because "it's a bad place" "with bad people." As Gabe's decrying the corporate-raider program, Miguel sees Venture from his window and rushes Gabe from his apartment. Realizing Venture will eventually follow his trail to his apartment, Miguel hypothesizes that Venture doesn't know he's Spider-Man, so, if he appears as Spider-Man, Venture will not know to look for Miguel. As such, he dons his Day of the Dead outfit, attaches the Thorite's light-weight glider material to it, and leaps out the window. He attacks Venture, but doesn't know what to do next.
The Review
This issue is still pretty dark, but David starts to show us Miguel's wit, drawing another parallel to Peter and lightening the mood a little.
The Good
1) As expected, Aaron doesn't make it past the first few pages of this issue. But, David arranges for him to slough off this mortal coil in a way that advances the plot, using it as the device that gets Miguel to begin to realize that he's changed. As such, neither his death nor Miguel's realization feels forced. Peter David, people. Peter David.
2) Again, in the dark category, I thought it was interesting that Miguel wanted to kill himself when he realized that he's genetically bonded with the Spider-Man imprint. Maybe it's because most superhero origins I've read come from the kinder, gentler days of the 1960s, but I don't remember reading an origin story that involves the main character almost immediately trying to commit suicide. I guess Miguel has a bit more of a physical transformation, with the fangs and talons, than Peter did, so it makes sense to an extent that he'd lament becoming a "freak" rather than celebrate becoming powerful. But, it still contributes to the fairly dark tone of this series so far. I put it in the "Good" category because I feel like David is really telling a unique story here and I really applaud the editors for letting him do it. In just two issues, we've had the main character engage in drug use, domestic violence, and attempted suicide. I've been reading comics for almost 30 years and I don't ever remember anything even remotely similar, particularly in such a condensed time frame!
3) Continuing on this theme, Miguel's suicidal impulses and panicked responses speak to his not-great mental state right now. He's gone through this dizzying amount of changes -- from the drug addition, the power metamorphoses, and the fugitive status -- with no real time to catch his breath. Within essentially a day of getting his powers, he finds himself leaping from his window in a costume fighting a villain. Talk about a day!
4) However, as mentioned above, David starts to lighten up the issue a little with some humor. Miguel breaking the Fourth Wall by deadpanning to the reader after Lyla employs the Aunt May persona (and then ordering her killed)? Hilarious. Seriously. Other writers and artists might not pull off this scene so well, making it feel gimmicky, but I feel like David and Leonardi really sell it here. Similarly, Miguel falling and waiting for his glider material to catch an updraft while saying, "The updrafts should catch the light byte cloth right about...now! I said...right about...now!" I said..." was a great moment. Even if it was your standard hero-figuring-out-his-powers moment, it was still funny and still helped lighten the tone of this issue. For a moment or two there, it felt like Miguel was essentially going to just burst from his apartment as a fully formed hero, given that he had his costume essentially pre-made. (See below.) I'm glad David took the time to remind us that wasn't the case with this scene. Similarly, I love how he decided he needed to engage in trash talk with Venture to distract him from how scared he was, but could only summon, "Hi." Again, it's a great parallel to Peter, who also used his banter as a distraction.
5) If you didn't get the message that Alchemax was the bad guy last issue, it's made pretty clear in this one. Between Tyler threatening to kill the scientist whose suit design for an Alchemax assassin failed to the fact that Alchemax employs someone like Venture, it's pretty evident that Alchemax could, to quote Harry Potter, "solemnly swear [it] is up to no good."
The Unknown
1) As I did last issue, I end this issue wondering if someone is going to survive into the next one, namely Venture. Although Miguel's plan to throw Venture off his trail by appearing to him as Spider-Man was a sound one, it stands to reason that, if Venture survives the fight, he might consider returning to follow the heat signature...right to Miguel's apartment. Of course, I guess it's possible that Miguel will distract him long enough for the signature to disappear, but I think it's equally likely he's going to kill him by accident, due to his lack of control over his powers, like he did Aaron in this issue. We shall see.
2) Also, when I was thinking about Alchemax, I suddenly realized that we never really established how Alchemax wound up getting its hands on Peter Parker's genetic code. It certainly implies that someone in Alchemax knew who he was, but I guess it's a story for another day.
3) I had forgotten about the Thorites! I don't have much to comment about them, other than the fact that I thought it was really cool that the 2099 editors created a religious cult around Thor. Millennial religious cults are a tradition in science-fiction literature, since they usually hearken to older lo-tech eras and serve as a counterpoint to "modern" high-tech worlds. Giving the 2099 world its own such cult really helps imbue it with that science-fiction vibe that the editors and authors are so far doing a great job cultivating.
The Bad
1) Why did Aaron have a gun in the first place? Given how tightly controlled 2099 society seems to be, it seems weird that people can still have guns. I don't mean that in a "guns are bad" way necessarily, but more that an entity like Alchemax would want a monopoly on the use of force.
2) OK, I'm stretching to call it "Bad" but I thought Venture's powers were a little oversold. Can he really reconstruct whole scenes with just his infrared vision? Of course, Joey noted in last issue's editorial page that people always question technology in science-fiction stories, so I'm not going to make too big of a deal of it. But, it did make me raise an eyebrow.
2) OK, I'm stretching to call it "Bad" but I thought Venture's powers were a little oversold. Can he really reconstruct whole scenes with just his infrared vision? Of course, Joey noted in last issue's editorial page that people always question technology in science-fiction stories, so I'm not going to make too big of a deal of it. But, it did make me raise an eyebrow.
3) I'm a little disappointed in how Miguel gets his costume. I mean, I totally buy that, in 2099, people would be able to buy "Day of the Dead" costumes made from unstable-molecule fabric, but it was a little anticlimactic just to see Miguel pull his costume from the closet, seemingly a ready-made superhero.
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