** (two of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Pardon me, Father. I'm going to take these sinners out where they can see the light. Maybe they'll repent." "Hope springs eternal, my son. If, however, they continue to harbor thoughts of hostility...kick their shockin' faces in." "Yes, ma'am, Father." -- Spidey and Father Jennifer, with the banter
Summary
After going through a portal at the end of last issue, Spidey finds himself in his apartment, standing over a bleeding Prophet. At Alchemax, Tyler Stone has returned from his meeting with the C.E.O. to discover both the Prophet and Spider-Man gone. He demands answers from Jordan Boone, but one of the security guards who initially escorted the Prophet responds. The guard informs Stone that the Prophet escaped (as depicted last issue) and, when the guard opened fire on him with a stun blast, the Prophet "warped the air in front of him" and absorbed the shots. (The guard says that the Prophet seemed as surprised by that turn of events as the guard.) The Prophet then leapt through the warp and knocked him unconscious. Stone asks Jordan to continue the story, which he does, recalling that the Prophet stormed into the lab, demanding to know if Spider-Man was in the portal. When Jordan confirmed that he was, the Prophet shoved past Jordan, grabbed the mechanical arm as an anchor, and then leapt into the portal. Jordan says nothing happened until Thanatos' distorted and roaring face appeared the portal. Panicked, Jordan shut down the portal, just as a massive arm started to come through it. When the portal was finally closed, the only thing remaining was the now-carbonized arm. Just as Jordan confirms that neither the Prophet nor Spider-Man returned, Dana enters the room, demanding to know where Miguel is.
At Miguel's apartment, Spidey uses a "heat sealer" to seal the Prophet's wounds (received when Thanatos slashed him last issue), given that going to a clinic would be like "sending up a flare to Alchemax." Spidey asks Lyla to load up a medical text on wounds, but gets no response. With the wound healed, Spidey asks the Prophet who he is, a question that the Prophet can't answer. Meanwhile, at Kasey's Downtown apartment, Gabe learns that Kasey is sick from Raff, who informs him that she's dizzy, tired, and vomiting and that Gabe put her in this condition. At Miguel's apartment, the Prophet looks at a holophoto of Dana and Miguel together and marvels how much technology has advanced. Miguel takes off his mask and introduces himself, telling the Prophet that, since they owe each other their lives, they might as well be straight with each other. He asks the Prophet what happened and the Prophet informs him that he had no interest in being a prisoner so he leapt through the portal to save Miguel, since he somehow seemed familiar. When Miguel asks how he broke free, the Prophet tells him that he used powers that he doesn't still understand, positing that he believes that he used to have other abilities, but they've somehow changed due to the cross-over or his time trapped in interspace. He tells Miguel that he had initially wanted to shield himself from harm, but wound up warping space in front of him, creating a field that causes anything to enter it to vanish, except the Prophet and whatever it is that he's touching. When Miguel asks how he knows that, the Prophet explains that he uses the warp to surround him and Miguel when Thanatos was pursuing them and, realizing that his powers are psionic in nature, instinctively decided to take Miguel and him to the place where Miguel felt the safest. Elsewhere in the apartment, Lyla appears to answer a call from Dana, lying to her that Miguel wasn't there. Dana tells Lyla to tell Miguel that she's at Alchemax waiting to hear from him and that she's safe and that she loves him. Lyla agrees.
Miguel gets the Prophet some clothes, because he's asked to see New York and explore this new world. As they leave, Miguel tells Lyla to call Dana at Synthia. Lyla agrees and, meanwhile, asks Miguel if his companion is the "Net Prophet" everyone is discussing. Miguel asks the Prophet what he wants to see and he tells him that he wants to see the best and the worst. Lyla tells Miguel that Dana isn't at Synthia, Alchemax (liar), or her apartment. When Miguel asks if Dana has called, Lyla says no (double liar). Miguel tells Lyla to tell Dana, if she does call, that he's looking for her, that she should stay put, and that he loves her. Lyla agrees. The Prophet grabs Miguel's hand and teleports them to where Miguel has decided where they should go. Downtown, Gabe proposes marriage to Kasey, assuming that she's pregnant. Kasey laughs and Raff tells him that she's not pregnant; she's got a concussion from when Gabe shot her (at the end of issue #7). He asks what Gabe is going to do to rectify the situation and Gabe doesn't have an answer. Miguel shows the Prophet (who he calls "Proph") Stark Tower, the highest point in the city. He asks about Thanatos and the Prophet tells him that he doesn't remember much. He recalls a great battle involving many beings from different worlds. He wonders about Thanatos' claim that he killed Thor, noting that it's hard to trust the words of "such a creature," and then tells Miguel that "there was a massive flash of white, and...the rest is blank." But, he reveals that he seems to remember having a daughter and he can feel her like an amputee feels his missing leg. He realizes that she's long gone by now and asks Miguel to take him to where the "despondent and desperate" are. Miguel agrees, but notes that he should dress for the occasion and changes into his Spider-Man costume.
At St. Pat's in Downtown, a group of Fenris thugs arrives to steal the church's food stash. Father Jennifer tells them that they can only enter if they renounce violence. The lead thug begins to beat her, telling her that her god has no power over him. He screams to "God" that he is Oguun of the Fenris talking to him in his house and tells him to take his best shot. At that moment, Spidey and the Prophet arrive. Spidey apologizes to Father Jennifer for the Vulture "fracas" and seeks to make amends. The Fenris wonder who's with him and Spidey informs them that it's the Prophet..."and he's real annoyed." The Prophet then blasts one of the thugs from the room with a newly discovered eye power. Spidey webs up the rest and takes them outside the church. The lead thug warns Spidey that "Bloodsword" will get him for this affront. Spidey tells him that he's not afraid of Bloodsword and announces that St. Pat's is under his protection. Elsewhere, Kasey, Raff, and Gabe go into the street because "the vine" said that Spidey had returned. Gabe tries to get Kasey back into her apartment, but she refuses, excited to see Spidey. She then loses consciousness, causing Gabe to shout her name. She next awakens at a clinic, where a doctor reveals to her that he's not going to report her gunshot wound to the authorities because Spider-Man asked him not to do so. Raff reveals that Spidey heard Gabe's scream and took Kasey to the clinic after telling Gabe and Raff where he was taking her. Spidey, meanwhile, returns to the Prophet, who thanks Spidey for the tour and tells him that, armed with dehydrated food from Father Jennifer, he's going to see the world with his eyes. He then departs via one of his warps after the two wish each other well.
The Review
That summary seems really involved, given that, honestly, nothing of real significance seems to happen in this issue. It feels mostly like a transition issue, wrapping up some of the loose ends related to Thanatos, deepening the mystery of Lyla, and making us wonder where the Kasey/Gabe relationship is going. Unfortunately, I'm not really pleased with the way that David wraps up the Thanatos plot and the Prophet storyline also had some serious flaws. It's the first two stars of the series, but, hopefully, it's an isolated incident and we're going to get some higher marks as we move into "Fall of the Hammer."
The Good
I'm really stretching to find something I liked in this issue. It wasn't that I hated everything, but I found most of it annoying. I guess the best part, for me, was the Father Jennifer storyline, since I originally hoped at her initial appearance in issue #8 that she would serve as a liaison between Spidey and Downtown. So far, my favorite stories have taken place in Downtown, where we see Spidey as a crime-fighter and avoid some of the high-concept plots that are starting to get a little dull. So, hopefully, with Father Jennifer and Spidey starting to work together, we'll see more of those sorts of stories. That's about all I've got at this point.
The Unknown
How did Spidey know the clinic doctor so well that he was willing to risk the ire of the authorities at Spidey's request? Was it the same place he went in issue #6? It doesn't seem like it, since this clinic seemed a bit fancier. I think it's actually David showing that the public has started to be taken with Spidey and supporting him, but I feel like we probably needed that clarified a bit.
The Bad
1) OK, I'm disappointed in David, because I'm just not feeling this Thanatos/Prophet story. It seems pretty clear that, at some point, it's going to be revealed that they're both characters that we know from the 1990s era of Marvel Comics. As I mentioned last issue, my problem with this sort of mystery is that I'm just eager to get to the reveal. The 2099 world has worked best so far when it's avoided playing up its direct connections to the 1990s era. I'm so much more interested in the 2099 world itself -- with all the discoveries that we have yet to make -- that I can't say I'm all that interested in getting plagued by the baggage of the 1990s era. I'm not saying that I don't find how the 2099 world evolved from the 1990s era interesting; I do. For example, I thought the 2099 Vulture in "Spider-Man 2099" was pretty bad-ass and the thirty-mile mall in "2099 Unlimited" #2 was brilliant. I'm just less interested in seeing direct connections to the 1990s era, characters from that era suddenly appearing in 2099. It seems to really break our suspension of disbelief somehow, and I find myself just hoping that we learn who Thanatos and the Prophet are in "Fall of the Hammer" so we can get onto more interesting stories.
2) Moreover, I'm still confused by what Thanatos' motivations are. Last issue, we learned that he wanted to destroy the 2099 world for his host. Is that it? I mean, if the guy is powerful enough to have survived whatever bad thing happened at the end of the Heroic Age, does he really care about his host? I'm not sure I buy that he feels so indebted to him that he's willing to destroy the entire world just to thank him. Wouldn't he have his own goals? Why would he want to destroy the world rather than rule it or something? I mean, if he was powerful enough to kill Thor, you'd think that he'd be powerful enough to rule the world. (Also, I think the Prophet is wrong here. I don't think Thanatos said he killed Thor; he just said that he was there when Thor died.)
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