** (two of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Poor girl's nearly killed by walking sewage and right away she wants to get involved with a guy wearing head-to-toe tights? Maybe I should start wearing thicker underwear with this suit." -- Miguel, implying why he's so popular with the ladies...
Summary
The Hulk fights a group of "mall-trolls" in a 30-mile mall that was constructed across the San Fernando valley, "in the dying days of the Twentieth Century," by linking a series of existing malls to one another. Quirk is also there. In a flashback, John reveals that he used the access to Sweet Dreams' network that he gained last issue to locate Gawain. Running from his office, he encounters Keisha, who tells him that he can't leave, because they've got a meeting with Audra about the "big green monster" that she wants to be the subject of their next program. John tells Keisha that he has personal business and leaves. Keisha, eager to find information that could get John fired so that she could take his place, hacks into his computer. As depicted last issue, John takes a detour in his search for Gawain and rescues Quirk. In this issue, he deposits her in his apartment, not revealing that he and the Hulk are the same person. John tells her that he has to go to rescue another Sweet Dreams victim and Quirk insists on coming with him. They head to Sweat-Tech, the place that the Sweet Dreams' network listed as Gawain's location. It's a "virtual reality sports center" and Quirk pretends to be interested in becoming its spokesmodel as the guys fawn all over her. Posing as her agent, John learns all about their research projects into enhancing human strength, speed, and stamina, in addition to their investments in radioactive fuel and explosives and their leases to stores in the abandoned part of the mall. He asked for their suppliers' names, hoping it would help him crack their database to find Gawain, but he's surprised when Gawain himself appears, having recognized John's voice. Gawain loudly denounces him as a murderer and John offers to help him. The Sweat-Tech guys attack John, calling him as a spy. John turns into the Hulk and battles the guys, while another set of them bundle Gawain into a car heading to the other end of the mall. Mall security arrives, delaying the Hulk even further. After the Hulk defeats them, Quirk grabs onto his mane and they make their way through the mall. They progress from the upscale part (with great security) to the middle zone (with limited security) to the unsupervised zone (with no security). Here, the Hulk encounters the "unmeltables," immigrants who refuse to mix with the "L.A. stew." These refugees scraping out a living in a market are suspicious of newcomers and open fire with stashed weapons on the duo. They flee to another part of the mall, an area that Quirk notes had radiation leakages. On cue, they're attacked by the aforementioned mall-trolls, who grab Quirk. The Hulk ponders his situation, realizing that the old him would've let Quirk go and kept his eye on the prize (Gawain), but that the new him has to shoulder his burdens because he's "a man." He frees Quirk, who stumbles onto a stash of leather shoes, a gold mine for her vintage-scavenging self. The two flee another round of trolls and find themselves in a department store, where the mannequins attack them. The Hulk disables the mannequins and Quirk scrambles to find more shoes, finding a trapdoor in the process. The two descend ("hidden passages lead to the hearts of things") and discover a lab full of test subjects who are "being changed" (possibly into the mall-trolls, possibly into something else). The Hulk busts through a door to discover the Sweat-Tech guys from earlier threatening Gawain to tell them the secret of the Knights of the Banner experiments. The Hulk informs them that he can tell them all that they want to know about the experiments and attacks. The guy holding Gawain informs him that the "Programmers" won't let him take them and, emphasizing his point, the "Programmers" remotely detonate a bomb. Given the choice between saving Gawain or Quirk, the Hulk chooses Quirk, figuring that the guys would save Gawain. He tells Quirk that he's going to find them, because he's pretty sure they're trying to create an army of Hulks.
Spider-Man takes down a group of thugs in the process of attacking a prostitute, who offers to become better acquainted with Miguel in return (an offer Miguel doesn't accept). In a lab elsewhere, someone named "Damian" notes that some simulations look good. His colleague, "Carmen," tell him that he's understating the success of their three years of hard work, commenting that they're going to be famous for inventing the "first working software that can be fully input right into the brain through the sense of sight." Damian cautions that it's still untested and that they can't "forget scientific principles in [their] haste to win fame and fortune." He also warns her that they can't risk drawing the attention of Alchemax, which funds their think tank, Macroware, and which would inevitably claim the project for its own. Carmen tells him that he's being paranoid, because they swept for bugs just that morning. Damian broaches the idea that they need a test subject. Carmen notes that "close-minded people" would work the best and, at that moment, Damian notices that "Mitchell," a former colleague who got him fired from his last job, is working across the street. Damian realizes that their device is still connected to Carmen's vidphone and sends a virus program to Mitchell, telling him to kill himself. Mitchell answers the phone...and then runs straight into the plate-glass window. His secretary hears the noise and discovers his body and Damian exults over the success of their project, telling Carmen, "From now on, I...I mean, we can write our own ticket!" At an Alchemax control center, a guy at a computer calls over a supervisor, telling her that the Macroware folks have made a breakthrough and tested their device on Mitchell. He exposits that Alchemax knows that Macroware tests for bugs every day, which is why Alchemax bugs them by "bouncing satellite lasers off their windows." The supervisor dispatches a team to Macroware. At the lab, Carmen is disturbed when the cops arrive across the street to investigate what happened to Mitchell, but Damian tells her to ignore it, pondering the applicability of their device to the military and the broadcast industry. He tells Carmen to collect all their data and equipment so they can vacate the premises and then they can discuss their "split." Not trusting Damian, Carmen sees a photo of Miguel on her vidphone and notes that she meant to call him that week. Instead, she sends a virus program to Miguel to get him to kill Damian. Just after it successfully goes, Damian bludgeons Carmen to death. Meanwhile, Miguel arrives home and Lyla informs him that he has a message from "Dr. Carmen Lynch." Miguel tells Lyla that Carmen used to work at Alchemax but transferred to Macroware two or three years earlier. Lyla tells him that the message is garbled and she plays it for Miguel, who immediately puts on his mask again and heads into the night. At Alchemax, a team of corporate raiders prepares to take on Macroware, with one of them stressing the importance of the job so that they don't stay second-stringers. At Macroware, Miguel breaks through the window and attacks Damian, who mistakes him as a corporate raider. Damian heads to the lab, with the intent to use the device to protect himself. Meanwhile, Miguel suddenly realizes what he's doing, but can't exert control over himself. At that moment, the corporate raiders arrive and decide to take on Spider-Man, given the bounty that Alchemax has put on him. Miguel defeats the raiders and heads after Damian, trying to fight the mind-control for fear that it's going to turn him into a killer. The corporate raiders recover and decide to refocus on getting Damian and the data. Meanwhile, Damian is setting up the device when Spidey arrives. Miguel manages to throw himself on an exposed electrical cable, shocking himself to his senses. He offers to help Damian, warning him the raiders are coming, but then sees Carmen's body and realizes that Damian killed her. He belts him across the room and the raiders arrive and open fire. The blasts hit Damian and cause an explosion that Miguel only narrowly escapes. He realizes that he feels just like the girl whom he saved earlier that night must feel, "violated...helpless," and bids farewell to Carmen, noting that she might be in a better place, since she's "free of a world where...everything's under control."
The Review
OK, I gave this issue two stars, because I feel like the mediocre Spider-Man 2099 and terrible "R-Gang" stories really pulled down the solid Hulk 2099 story. I'm actually enjoying the Hulk story so much that I'm considering buying up the remaining "2099 Unlimited" issues that I initially didn't buy because they don't feature Spider-Man. The Spider-Man stories, unfortunately, have mostly been forgettable, if only because they suffer from comparison to the amazing stuff that David is doing in the main title.
The Good
1) I loved the 30-mile mall in the Hulk story. I used to spend summers in the late 1980s visiting my aunt and uncle in the Valley and I have all sorts of memories of numbly staring out the car window as we passed mile after mile of strip malls and parking lots. The idea that the Valley would one day evolve into a giant mall feels like a totally logical conclusion to where it was going in the late 1980s. I loved that Jones added this detail, because it realistically portrays the dystopia that Southern California has become in 2099 by firmly placing the roots of this decline in 1989.
2) Every time I questioned the believability or logic of one of the plots in the Hulk story, Jones had an answer. For example, I wondered how Keisha could've so easily gained access to John's computer (given what I assumed to be pretty decent computer security in 2099), but John informs us that he was moving "too fast" in his attempt to get to Gawain, implying that it caused him to leave his computer unlocked (or whatever the 2099 version of leaving your computer unlocked is). When I wondered why the Sweat-Tech guys would give all that information to John, Jones implies that they did it to impress him, hoping that he would allow Quirk to be their spokesmodel. The fact that I had the questions and then Jones answered them shows how tightly scripted of a story it was.
3) I love that Disney tried to buy Southern California.
The Unknown
I thought the Sweat-Tech stuff was really interesting in the Hulk story, for all the questions it raises. Sweet Dreams appears to either be working with Sweat-Tech to develop the army of Hulks (providing Gawain to Sweat-Tech to get answers from him) or have sold Gawain to Sweat-Tech (having somehow known about Sweat-Tech's interest in the Knights of the Banner experiments). I'm led to believe it's the first, because I'm wondering if it's why Audra sent John to investigate the Knights of the Banner in the first place. Either way, it's not good. Plus, it's unclear how the "Programmers" are involved. Jones definitely knows how to keep a guy interested!
The Bad
1) OK, my biggest problem with the Spider-Man story is that Damian goes from cautioning Carmen not to lose her scientific principles in her rush to be rich and famous to killing a former colleague and Carmen herself in his rush to be rich and famous. It's a sudden, and seriously lethal, change of heart. I mean, I totally understood why he'd decide to kill Carmen, wanting to keep the money for himself when he realizes that their project was a success. But, why kill the former colleague? After all, it just calls the Public Eye to their location. I think Skolnick was implying that the sudden realization of how much money he could make drove Damian to his erratic behavior, but I think that he could've done more to underline that aspect of the story.
2) I feel like Skolnick didn't make an obvious connection in the Spider-Man story, the fact that Miguel was facing corporate raiders for the first time. Given that he works on the project, something that upset Gabe deeply in the first arc, you would've thought that Skolnick might've had Miguel realize that he was reaping what he had sown in facing them, since I'm pretty sure he hasn't faced one previously. (Maybe Venture?)
3) Unless I missed it, Skolnick never tells us why Carmen was going to call Miguel in the first place. I mean, it seems a minor issue, but, in fact, the whole plot revolves around the fact that Miguel's photo is on her vidphone. Miguel didn't seem to be all that buddy-buddy with her based on his comments to Lyla, so I feel like Skolnick probably should've clarified this point a little more than he did to make the overall story a little more believable.
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