*** (three of five stars)
Summary
At the Baxter building, Miguel hacks into Tyler Stone's private satellite to gain a visual of the "unidentified geological mass" heading to Earth. Mr. Fantastic congratulates him, saying that they should now be able to determine why the planetoid is wrecking such havoc (specifically, melting the polar ice-caps and flooding the Northern Hemisphere). Miguel reminds him that they also have to determine why the Atlanteans have declared jihad. Reminded of Atlantis, Miguel asks how the search for the Human Torch is going and Reed goes to the computer , asking it to transmit visuals of the former colony using the surveillance system that Alchemax installed in it. The computer complies and they are greeted to an image of a destroyed Fantasticar. Miguel assures Reed that Sue and Ben are OK, given all that they've faced together. Reed agrees, saying that he has faith that they'll survive; he stresses that a destroyed Fantasticar is only circumstantial evidence. He then reminds Miguel of the task at hand and, as they resume work, Miguel privately observes to himself that Reed's concern is eating at him. Miguel decides to check on Downtown and orders the computer to provide a visual of St. Pat's. When he sees that the city is once gain flooded, Miguel decides to head to the cathedral, to see if he can save Father Jennifer. Reed wishes him luck as he observes a "thermo-dynamie pattern" moving up the coast and heading to New York.
Downtown, Miguel plunges into the water only to be horrified when he encounters a mass of floating bodies, including several Alchemax employees that he recognizes. He remembers that one lived on the West Side, making him realize that he either came to the cathedral to make peace with God or the undertow dragged him clear across town. Realizing that he's got limited time before he needs air, even with his enhanced respiratory system, Miguel attempts to enter St. Pat's, hoping that Father Jennifer left in time. He ponders how Father Jennifer would been his sister-in-law (even though, technically, he and Dana weren't married, so she wouldn't have been) and how Gabe would go ballistic if she died. He can't open the doors, but then sees a Public-Eye skybike floating in the water. He exposits that he had the bikes modified for use in extreme conditions and then revvs up the bike, crashing it through the door. He's shocked to discover Father Jennifer's body floating in the water and he does something that the narrator tells us that he hasn't done in years: he prays. He moves to where she is, seeing that her chest isn't moving. As he realizes that he's too late to save her, the Goblin attacks, asking what type of hero Miguel is for failing to stop the flood. He tells Spidey that all the blood is on his hands and Miguel realizes that he doesn't have a lot of oxygen left. However, the Goblin presses his attack, meaning to kill him. The two float outside the cathedral while, inside, the Vulture emerges from the shadows, grabbing Father Jennifer, who's revealed not yet to be dead. Intending to use her for his victory feast (ick), he bursts from the cathedral into the sky, with Father Jennifer in his clutches (literally). He lists to himself the three things that have kept him from taking over Downtown: Father Jennifer, Spider-Man, and Alchemax. He notes that he has Jennifer and the Goblin is going to kill Spidey, leaving Alchemax as his sole remaining obstacle: he then asks a barely conscious Father Jennifer if she can see where this story is going as he passes Alchemax Tower.
In the tower, the rising waters threaten Alchemax as Tyler Stone makes his way through the halls, noting that none of the water is an exploitable resource. Pondering the profit to be made from "this little global catastrophe," Tyler uses his "retina-morph implant" to pretend to be Miguel and enter his office. Inside, he speaks with the hologram of someone named Captain Pike, who observes that Tyler received his communiqué. Tyler expresses annoyance at how long it took Pike to send it, but Pike tells him that they were suffering some complications on Mars and wanted to keep their presence hidden from the general population. Tyler asks about the complications and Pike says that he doesn't know much: the population has dropped, due to unexplained disappearances. Tyler says that it means that Mars has more room for him, hypothesizing that Earth will be little more than a giant puddle if the polar ice-caps keep melting. Pike tells him that the interplanetary transport is scheduled for him and Miguel for the next day and Tyler says, cryptically, that they'll be there.
Downtown, Miguel feels his lungs close to bursting as the Goblin tells him that it's the one fight that he won't win. Miguel webs up the Goblin's mouth, distracting him, and then heads to the surface. The Goblin tears off the webbing and tells Miguel that he can't escape, since the Goblin knows Miguel almost as well as he knows himself. (Gee, I wonder why.) Miguel makes it to the surface and wonders if he has a punctured lung as he crawls onto a ledge. Miguel hopes that the Goblin (calling him "Batboy") ate right before entering Downtown so that he'd cramp and Miguel could go after Father Jennifer. (Sure, ok...) Unfortunately, the Goblin surfaces, calling Spidey "Miguel" and announcing that he's smarter and stronger than Miguel and always has been. Miguel tells him that he's suffering from "debilitating neuroses" as he privately wonders how the Goblin knows his identity and why he used the term "always." The Goblin continues his tirade, telling him that he knows all the demons that haunt him and all the secrets buried in his conscience. He fires on Miguel, but Miguel knows now to avoid his blasts. Miguel wonders how to shake the Goblin, given that he seems so calm and collected. He realizes that the Goblin thinks that he has the advantage because he knows Miguel's identity so Miguel decides to take that advantage from him. Miguel swings under a ledge, but the Goblin announces that he knows all his moves; he hypothesizes that Miguel wants him to think that he's fallen off the roof while he really just jumped to a lower ledge. Miguel surprises him, however, leaping at him feet first, knocking him under the jaw. (In reality, he was using his talons to cling to the building, not hiding on a lower ledge. The end result, though, is the same.) Miguel wonders how the Goblin fell for that, as does the Goblin, who realizes that he got too cocky. Miguel tries to take off his mask, but the Goblin recovers and decks him. The Goblin tells him that he's better than Miguel and Spidey and Miguel wonders why the Goblin is so competitive about both Spidey and Miguel.
Miguel suddenly notices a broken mirror and uses it to deflect the Goblin's incoming blast back at the Goblin. Miguel exposits that he knows that the blasts cause hallucinatory episodes, like the one that Miguel experienced when he entered cyberspace with Gabe, as well as crippling fear. The Goblin reels from the blast, fearing that Miguel will learn the truth. As Miguel pulls off the mask, the Goblin is revealed to be Gabe: images flash in front of him of Kasey telling him that she wanted him to be more like Spider-Man, or Dana cheating on him with Miguel, and of Conchata telling him that she forgave Miguel. Miguel stands shocked as Gabe mutters that Miguel was always everyone's favorites. Miguel says that he doesn't know what to do, but Gabe says that he's done enough, having taken everything and everyone that was ever special from him. He mentions Dana and Kasey, but then also their mother, the "one woman whose love [he] thought would be [his] alone forever." Gabe then tells Miguel to get "the shock out of [his] life." Miguel tells him that he can't just disappear with things as they are and asks why Gabe didn't ever tell him how he felt. Miguel calls him his kid brother and Gabe says that he's been in Miguel's shadow for too long; he's now playing with power. Miguel asks who gave Gabe his powers, but Gabe tells Miguel that he's not going to make it easy for him. He tells him that he should go ask Jenny D'Angelo about it, making Miguel remember that he has to save Father Jennifer.
Diving into the water, Miguel wonders what he's going to do about Gabe and worries that Gabe's suffering side effects from whatever gave him his powers. He tells himself to pull himself together, allowing worry about Gabe but focusing on the task at hand, finding Father Jennifer. He arrives at St. Pat's and moves some equipment, but can't find Jennifer, even near the altar. He searches the pews, but he doesn't find the woman "who gave him a reason to believe in himself." His wounded lung starts to hurt and he realizes that he has to head to the surface because he can't hold his breath any longer. He recognizes that Jennifer couldn't possibly have made it from the water alive. He asks God for forgiveness, saying that he's done his best and that he's going to miss Father Jennifer. Saying to himself that the day couldnt' get worse, he surfaces to discover the Atleantean armada invading New York.
The Review
This issue, oddly, is written as if it happened in "Fantastic Four 2099" and not "Spider-Man 2099." It's peppered with editorial notes about previous "Spider-Man 2099" issues that regular readers of the title wouldn't need. It also goes into details that regular readers would already know, like how Downtown is New York's seamy underbelly or how Miguel respected Father Jennifer. Conversely, it fails to mention that the events that drive this issue -- the massive flood caused by a mysterious planetoid rocketing towards Earth -- happened in "Fantastic Four 2099" #6. If you didn't know to read that issue -- something that you wouldn't know to do since issue #44 didn't direct you to it -- you probably spent most of this issue completely and totally confused, since the flood caused by Roman in issues #43 passed in issue #44.
In fact, it's clear that "Spider-Man 2099" #44 was this series' final issue. The larger event that Marvel is planning to use to wrap up the 2099 line -- begun in "Fantastic Four 2099" #6 -- has hijacked this title. I mean, Raab and Kavanagh do a good job focusing on Spidey-specific elements in this issue, like his relationship with Father Jennifer and the revelation of the Goblin's identity. But, as I mentioned in my review of "Fantastic Four 2099" #6, the re-flooding of Downtown feels awkward, given that we just had a similar story in this title. Moreover, the potential destruction of Earth certainly sweeps away the more subtle stories that David had been telling, such as Xina's struggle to cope with her survivor's guilt, Miguel's new relationship with his mother, or Tyler's obvious intention to unseat Miguel as CEO. Although they all may be addressed in the remaining issue of this series or the "2099: World of Tomorrow" series, they'll unlikely be done in a satisfying way; instead, it's likely to be done in a rush to tie up loose ends. They certainly won't be unfurled with the sort of care that David would bring to them. (That said, we're at least treated to a decent resolution of the Green Goblin storyline, as I'll detail below.)
All in all, I can tell that the next few issues are going to be difficult to read, given that we're now nearing the end.
The Good
Despite hating the "Fantastic Four 2099" series that they write, Raab and Kavanagh did a better-than-expected job, in my book, of presenting the denouement of the Goblin mystery. They have a good read on Gabe and Miguel, both their individual personalities and their difficult relationship. In the confrontation itself, Raab strikes all the right emotional notes, stressing that Miguel essentially stole all the women in Gabe's life (Dana, Kasey, and Conchata) from him. Raab makes you understand why Gabe has essentially been driven to assert himself after a lifetime in Miguel's shadow. Moreover, Gabe doesn't view himself as a villain. Although some of his decisions might have been questionable, Gabe hasn't directly put anyone's life in danger: he's really only gunning for Miguel. In that way, David and Raab didn't take the easy path by having Gabe make a heel turn. In so doing, it makes you wonder where Gabe is going from here, since a heel turn could still be possible if his frustrated attempts for revenge against Miguel eventually override his moral compass. But, by not rushing him there, it makes the character all the more fascinating and makes his ongoing evolution feel more organic. Finally, we now learn that David gave Gabe a power set that flows from his comparative advantage: cyperspace. Raab and Kavanagh make it clear that the Goblin's power comes, in part, from Gabe's experiences as Firelight: Miguel specifically draws the connection between the Goblin's powers and the trippy experience that he had when he followed Gabe into cyberspace. In the end, Raab and Kavanagh pull together the various clues that David had left to present the Goblin as a fully formed character with a clear motivation and a questionabel future. I honestly don't think that David could've done a better job on either front and it's the reason why I actually felt like this issue deserved its three stars, despite my disappointment in the obvious shift in focus and tone of the series.
The Unknown
1) Why would Miguel have to hack into Tyler Stone's personal satellite? Wouldn't he have access to it as CEO of Alchemax?
2) How did Gabe get his powers? He tells Miguel to ask Father Jennifer about them, but I don't get why she would know. Did she give them to him? If she did, did she know that he intended to use them against Spider-Man? If so, did she know that Miguel is Spider-Man? If so, why would she be OK with that? Is it revenge for Dana?
The Bad
1) As I may have mentioned in my review of "Fantastic Four 2099" #6 (and should've mentioned, if I didn't), I'm annoyed by Raab's scripting of Miguel. He tries too hard to make him like Peter, despite the fact that he's not anything like Peter. Although Peter is quick with the puns, as Raab writes Miguel here, Miguel is actually quicker with the sarcasm. It's pretty clear that Raab wasn't well versed in Miguel when he was handed the task of writing him and it shows here, in his depiction of Miguel's humor the most.
2) Really? Miguel just happened to order the Public Eye's skybikes to be able to operate under water? How convenient.
3) How the Hell are Miguel and the Goblin talking under water?
4) How
did Jennifer survive the deluge? If she was just holding her breath,
why didn't she respond when Spider-Man knocked down the doors of St.
Pat's? Why did she just float there with her eyes closed? Of all the unbelievable moments in this issue, the revelation that she was still alive was the most ridiculous in my book.
5) The whole part about the Goblin saying that he knows that Miguel is trying to trick him into approaching the ledge...and the Goblin approaching the ledge anyway...was totally bziarre.
6) Despite Miguel unmasking Gabe, he doesn't actually do so per the art. We never see Gabe's face; he keeps on his mask the entire time. It seems a pretty big missed opportunity, to show the anger on Gabe's face when his hatred of Miguel is finally revealed.
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