*** (three of five stars)
Summary
Riding on top of a truck speeding through the desert, Spidey climbs down the side of the truck to the driver's window. The driver, who Spidey calls "Dash," tells him to return to keep lookout, but Spidey reports that he hadn't seen anything. Dash tells him to look again since the "old boys" are coming up fast. Spidey does just that and sees them this time. Miguel expresses disbelief at his situation, sparking a flashback. He had been walking on the side of the road, wondering how he failed to save Angela, either as Miguel or Spider-Man, and lamenting that Xina probably thought that he was a coward for running. However, he realizes that it's probably better that she thinks that he's a coward rather than her knowing the truth. A woman approaches in a car, calling him handsome and asking why he's walking on such a hot day. She offers him a ride and then, as he gets into the car, pepper sprays him, telling him that she attacked him before he could attack her (claiming to know what he was thinking of doing to her) and stealing his backpack. She then leaves him shaking on the side of the road.
Miguel awakens to the aforementioned Dash, telling him that he got himself into another "fine fix." Dash mentions that Miguel "growed up some" since last they saw one another and offers to give him a lift. Miguel notes that Dash is no longer a cabbie and he responds that he's done a lot of stuff and that he's currently doing delivery runs, this one to Velo City. Miguel says he's never heard of it and Dash looks at him pained when he asks where it is, responding, "Oh, neither here nor there." Miguel hears voices in the back and Dash invites him to open the door, revealing a train car with waitresses serving the passengers. Miguel notes that Dash's cargo is people, though Dash responds, "Not people, 'zactly." Before Miguel can get him to answer what, exactly, they are, one of the waitresses turns and reveals herself to be Angela. Dash responds to Miguel's shocked response at seeing her that "we" saw that she had potential and put her to work immediately. Miguel demands that Dash stop so that he can go, but they run into a roadblock and Dash comments that he often changes his route but "they" always find him. Dash rams the roadblock but curses, declaring that they've been detoured. Miguel asks why the road is so choppy, to which Dash responds, "Because it's paved with good intentions." Dash says that they've got to get to an off-ramp five miles up the road to return on the main road, telling Miguel to turn into Spider-Man and keep off the bikers. Miguel expresses shock that Dash knows that he's Spider-Man, but Dash tells him to jump to it.
Miguel, who seems to have an inkling of where he is, spots the bikers and manages to take down one. Another two leap onto the truck, but Miguel repels them. The lead biker appears before him, noting that Miguel is more vicious with his claws than he used to be. As the biker uses his spiked-ball hand to swing at Miguel, another biker breaks into the truck and grabs Angela. Miguel gets knocked off the truck by the lead biker, but hears Angela's scream and manages to get a Web-Line onto the truck as he falls. Being dragged behind the truck, Miguel wonders when he's going to wake up, noting that in dreams you're not supposed to feel anything, yet he feels the abuse that his body is taking. Another biker approaches him from behind, but Miguel uses his foot talons to shred his wheel, sending him flying. The main biker breaks into the cab and Spidey arrives in time to prevent him from clubbing Dash by attaching a Web-Line to his club. Meanwhile, the biker who grabbed Angela pulls her from the train as Miguel and the lead biker struggle. The lead biker tells Miguel that he doesn't know what's at stake and that he's already his, even though Miguel doesn't know it yet. The lead biker tells Miguel that all his struggles so far have been basic training and that he won't understand any of it until "doom has you by the throat!" He throws Miguel off the truck, but Miguel uses his Web-Line to swing around him and smash into his head feet first, knocking him off the truck.
Dash congratulates Spidey for getting rid of the lead biker and tells him that the turn-off is just up the road. Miguel then rescues Angela from the biker but, as the biker comes at Miguel, the lead biker appears on a bike, telling the other biker that Spider-Man is all his and that he shouldn't hurt him. The lead biker then uses his other hand, which stretches into a barbed rope of sorts, to grab Angela's ankle. Miguel blinds the other biker with a Web-Line and then uses his talons to cut the barbed rope. The lead biker pledges to get him when the "game finally begins" and the other biker, who can now see again, fails to see the tunnel behind him, getting smashed when they go under it. In the darkness, Miguel apologies to Angela, who tells him that he did the best that he could and that she doesn't blame him. She tells him that he's superhuman, not suprahuman, and makes him promise not to add unresolved guilt over her to his list of problems. However, at that point, Miguel awakens to Xina, who tells him that she returned for him because she felt bad about leaving him alone in the desert without her to hold his hand, given how frail he is. Miguel notices a slice of the lead biker's barbed-rope hand on the ground and Xina asks if it's a piece of cactus. He says that he hopes that it is and they head for Xina's car. She tells him that he has a guardian angel watching over him, to which Miguel responds that he has a feeling angels aren't the only one watching over him.
The Review
This issue is intriguing. David is perhaps giving us a "Revelations"-esque insight into Miguel's future, portending a dark time to come without giving us anything too specific to spoil the upcoming fun. The most obvious clue is the reference to Doom, but we're going to have to see how that develops before we can understand it. At the very least, it seems to imply that Miguel should stop worrying about the small stuff, like Tyler being his father or him not having to have become Spider-Man, because he's got a lot bigger stuff about which he should be worrying.
The Good
1) I totally initially rolled my eyes at the idea that someone that Miguel knew just happened to stumble across him. But, when Dash mentioned that the bumpy road was paved with good intentions, I realized that I should've trusted Peter David from the start not to go with something so obvious.
2) I'm intrigued by the idea that Dash was seemingly bringing people to Heaven (Velo City) but that the demonic biker gang hijacked them, forcing them onto the road to Hell. I'm not sure what all the theological implications are, but it seems that 2099's afterlife is just as "kill or be killed" as its real world.
The Unknown
Have we met Dash? If he knows Angel from "life," then is he someone that we're going to meet in the "Young Miguel" back-up stories?
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