*** (three of five stars)
Summary
A woman with cybernetic implants observes Spidey from the shadows as he swings through the city. Remarking to herself that he's gotten cocky, she fires a blast at him from her finger, which Miguel only barely manages to dodge (thanks to his accelerated vision). He tries to find the culprit, but the woman has already disappeared. Watching him depart, the woman remarks that she can't believe that Spider-Man gave her "brother" so much trouble and demands to know why a nearby flyboy isn't chasing after him. She accuses the flyboy of being afraid of Spidey and, when the flyboy grabs her wrist telling her that he doesn't have to take her abuse, she belts him.
Meanwhile, at Stark-Fujikawa, Kasey watches a holographic replay of Spider-Man saving her from the Specialist and bringing her to the clinic after his fight with Bloodsword. As she watches, Hikaru-sama appears from the shadows, informing her that he knows that she has strong feelings for Spider-Man and suggesting that he has the same for her given the number of times that he has saved her, "a total stranger." When Kasey accuses him of wanting to use her to get to Spidey, Hikaru-sama admits that he's in a complicated place, given that he must avenge the Specialist but also owes Spidey a debt for saving him (in the wake of Discord's attack on the city's computers). He observes that the latter is more important than the former, because the Specialist is just an employee. Kasey accuses him of egotism and he responds by saying that he has reason to be so, whereas she is merely the child of a mother who overdosed on rapture and a father who sold her on the black market for it. He continues, saying that she escaped from public care, but had to push drugs and her body to survive. He asks whether Spider-Man could care about such a "cheap little vermin" and tells her to let him help her with her pain.
Uptown, Miguel appears at Xina's apartment, where John F. Kennedy greets him. "Jack" tells Miguel that he keeps house for Xina and escorts him into her apartment, which is full of "twencen" memorabilia. Miguel wanders into Xina's bedroom, where he sees a picture of them by her bedside. He sits on the bed, only to be surprised that it's a waterbed, accidentally popping a hole in the mattress with his talons. When he hears Xina call him from the hallway, he uses his webbing to patch up the holes. Xina then shows Miguel that "Jack" is a robot, taking off his head (and prompting him to tell Miguel that he "used to be a head of state").
At Alchemax, Tyler Stone escorts the cyborg woman, named Risque, to see her brother, Venture, who's still in the process of being repaired. Risque promises to finish the job and vindicate Venture's name, a pledge that causes him to emerge from his coma and whisper to her that Spider-Man is his. She whispers back that he fumbled the ball and that she's going to run with it and then turns to the room and informs them that Venture wished her the best of luck. (Oh, sibling rivalry.)
At Xina's apartment, Xina tells Miguel that she would've decked him if he had shown up a year ago. He apologizes, something that takes her off guard, since he would've never done so previously. She says that she dated him because she felt sorry for him and that it annoyed his dad. He then tells her that he's engaged to Dana (whom she calls "Donna") and, when she asks what he wants, that he needs help reprogramming Lyla after the "tech glitches" the other day. She asks why she would do so for him, after he dumped her for "Deanna," and he says that it's something that Dana couldn't do in a million years. She then announces that she'll get her tools.
Finally, Gabe enters Kasey's apartment Downtown, where Raff expresses surprise that he's there, given that he thought Kasey ended things with him. Gabe asks where Kasey is and Raff tells him about the S.I.E.G.E. guys who grabbed her. He tells her that no arrest report has been filed on her and that he can't find her anywhere in the system. Gabe considers going to Miguel for help while, elsewhere, Kasey is hooked to tubes in a vat of some sort of liquid. (Think Luke Skywalker in "Empire Strikes Back.") She thinks to herself that she's going to use her new powers to take down Alchemax, something that Hikaru-sama knows she's thinking, commenting to himself, "Poor Karyn 'Kasey' Nash. How little you know."
In the back-up feature, Miguel's parents come to visit him at school, with George mistaking Xina for an Asian servant. Meanwhile, Gabe runs into Tyler Stone's son, Kron. Kron smacks Gabe and, when he cries, Conchatta arrives on the scene, smacking Kron. Kron throws a rock at George, who threatens him, only to have Tyler arrive on the scene and demand that George release his son.
The Review
David delivers a solid issue, letting some of last issue's revelations (Gabe's knowledge of Miguel's identity, Lyla's malfunctioning) fade into the background in order to develop some of the other ones (Miguel's relationship with Xina, Stark-Fujikawa's kidnapping of Kasey). As you can tell from possibly the longest summary I've ever written, David is spinning a lot of plates right now, but so far he's doing so in a way that keeps you wanting more.
The Good
1) I love how Peter David yet again shows how much he respects the audience by having Hikaru-sama note that Spidey saved Kasey at least twice in his first few appearances, hypothesizing that he therefore knows her personally in his civilian identity. No one has ever figured out that Superman is Clark Kent given the number of times that he's saved Lois Lane, but Peter David has someone do the math within the first 25 issues of this series. Great stuff.
2) So, Kasey and possibly Conchatta were prostitutes. Peter David is definitely not making 2099 seems like a world full of hope and possibilities.
3) David really makes you wonder why Miguel is dating Dana instead of Xina. Sure, their conversation is hostile, but they have a witty repartee that shows a spark that Miguel's relationship with Dana has never exhibited. In fact, Miguel implying that Dana is not as smart as Xina seems to prove George's point that Miguel only dates girls who he can insult. It makes me hope they get together at some point.
4) Seriously, talk about a fully realized cast of supporting characters. David is juggling so many balls here that you almost feel like he could spin off a second series just focused on Miguel's family and friends!
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