*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote #1: "Police! It's the Alchemax building! Some nut came in here looking for Spider-Man! I sent him up to the executive level 'cause they don't pay me enough! Hurry!" -- Alchemax Security Guard #2, calling the police after the T.O.T.E.M. agent spared his life because his future offspring engages in important cancer research (Alchemax Security Guard #1 wasn't so lucky)
Favorite Quote #2: "No, I saw you with Spider-Man weeks ago. And even if I hadn't, I'd know you're not him. You sound older and you're not cracking jokes." "Fine. A priest, a nun and a rabbi walk into a bar. You'd think one of them would have seen it. Happy?" -- Liz and Spider-Man, with the banter
Summary
An armored figure appears in a flash of light in front of a truck driver, causing the truck to jackknife. A passenger in an approaching car exits his vehicle to check on the driver, and the armored figure kills him to take his car, announcing: "Subject never marries or sires children. Is irrelevant to future life." (Ouch.) In New York, Miguel is looking at an apartment with a real-estate agent, who tries to convince him that the red stain on the floor is "mercurochrome" and not blood. (Lyla confirms that it's blood.) The agent calls the super to come clean up the blood (ahem, mercurochrome), and Miguel informs her that he'll take the apartment. When she says that he needs first and last month's rent, he tells her that it's no problem, since he came into money lately. (Apparently, Lyla helped him pick lottery numbers.) Meanwhile, the pink-haired girl from "Amazing Spider-Man" #1 arrives, since she's apparently the super. Miguel tries to talk to her, but she doesn't really take the bait. He thanks her for cleaning the floor, and she tells him not to thank her, since it's her job. When he replies, "Okay, well...up yours. And thanks," she smiles and finally accepts his thanks.
Flying through the air as Spider-Man, Miguel ponders the enigma of the pink-haired girl. At Alchemax (where Miguel is headed), the armored figure arrives, announcing that he's there to see Spider-Man. The two security guards working the front desk inform him that Spider-Man isn't there, and the figure clarifies that he's looking for Spider-Man 2099...to destroy him. One of the guards tells him to leave, and the figure vaporizes him since he makes "no major contribution to the future." The figure spares the life of the other guard, since one of his twins will later perform serious cancer research. (The other twin is apparently hit by a car and dies.) However, he threatens the guard with bodily harm, and the guard sends him to the 18th floor and then calls the police (per Favorite Quote #1). On said floor, Miguel is arguing with Tiberius Stone, since he just sold the Spider-Slayers to a small dictatorship with a terrible human-rights record called Trans-Sabal. Tiberius informs Miguel that they're both heading there to finish the deal when the internal alarm sounds, sending Tiberius to his panic room. Since it only has room for one person, Miguel is in the office alone when the armored figure arrives. When confronted, Miguel claims that he's not Spider-Man, but the figure -- an agent of the Temporal Oversight Team Eliminating Mistakes (T.O.T.E.M.) -- confirms his identity. Miguel thinks that the T.O.T.E.M. agent is there to take him home, but he informs Miguel that he's there to destroy him. Miguel orders Lyla to change the hologram hiding his costume, and, after changing it briefly to a tuxedo (heh), she puts him in his costume as the T.O.T.E.M. agent opens fire. Miguel asks the agent just to return him home, but the agent tells him that he can't, since, by 2211, time travel is illegal except for T.O.T.E.M. agents. Miguel managers to escape by climbing through the air ducts while the police distract the T.O.T.E.M. agent.
Miguel winds up entering Liz Allan's office, and he tells her to hide behind her desk. She asks who he is, and he pretends that he's Spider-Man. She says that she knows that he's not, since she's seen them side-by-side, he sounds older, and he's not cracking jokes. Miguel then tells the joke in Favorite Quote #2 just as the T.O.T.E.M. agent arrives. The agent realizes that he's with Liz Allan, and, since she's already had her son, he offers Miguel a deal. Apparently, the reason why Miguel has to be eliminated is due to things that he does with Liz, so, if he lets the agent kill Liz, the agent can argue to his superiors that he was able to spare Miguel. Miguel takes the deal, since he doesn't have any attachment to her. Liz objects (obviously), and the T.O.T.E.M. agent says that their activities have disastrous consequences. Since Miguel's too problematic, he figures that he'll just take out her. However, Miguel grabs his wrist-blaster at the last minute and pulls it towards him, resulting in the agent vaporizing himself. Miguel tries to leave, but Liz again asks who he is. Miguel responds the "S-Man" and departs. Liz's assistant enters, and she asks if any windows are broken. He says no, and she asks him to pull files on all the employees and visitors to Alchemax. When he asks why, she tells him that Spider-Man only enters through windows and, since their windows are sealed, he'd have to have broken one to enter. Since none of the windows were broken, it means that he was already inside the building and likely an employee of Alchemax. Her goal, she announces, is to get him to superhero for her.
The Review
...and, we're off! Miguel O'Hara has returned to monthly comics, and I couldn't be happier. Actually, I could be less happy, because this series could be written by someone other than Peter David. But, Peter David is writing it, so, again, I couldn't be happier! Enough gushing. Let's get to the brass tacks.
David doesn't try to dive into the continuity mess that plagued Miguel at the end of the 2099 line. He only really confirms two facts: 1) Miguel got his powers in a lab accident due to his work with the original Spider-Man's DNA and 2) Tyler Stone is his father and Tiberius Stone is his grandfather. We don't even remotely address the numerous questions left on the table when Marvel canceled the 2099 line. Is Conchata also still alive? Did Miguel marry Xina? Was Gabe never really the Green Goblin? (All these developments were revealed in the terrible "2099: Manifest Destiny" one-shot that concluded the 2099 line.) The answer is that it probably doesn't matter. Based on the revelations of "Superior Spider-Man" #18, we seem to be somewhere in issue #26 of the original run, before Doom invades America, Miguel takes over Alchemax, Gabe becomes the Green Goblin, and Conchata and Tyler die. Moreover, we had just met an adult Xina in issue #23, so it's unlikely they've even resumed their relationship at this point.
Although I'm disappointed that some of the cooler parts of Miguel's history are no longer part of his continuity (like the Green Goblin stories), I'm happy with this re-boot. As the presence of the T.O.T.E.M. agent makes clear, Miguel's actions in the past will alter his future, putting even the world that we knew in issue #26 in doubt. As such, David has the license to do whatever he wants not only with our present, but also Miguel's present (assuming that he eventually returns). It's the reboot that the character needs, and I'm excited that we're not going to spend this series trying to sort out a lot of continuity problems. We're in an entirely new timeline (much like we are with the original X-Men in "All-New X-Men"), and we'll see where we go from here.
Turning to the issue itself, David doesn't really swing for the fences. Instead of the explosive debut that Miguel had in the original series' first issue, David focuses on the more mundane aspects of Miguel's life. We see him renting an apartment, we get some more insight into his work at Alchemax, we're introduced to a love interest: it's all pretty standard. But, I'm not complaining. David isn't the type of guy that needs splashy events to write an amazing story, so I'm actually glad that we're starting slow. Miguel's life will only get more complicated from here.
The Good
1) Using the T.O.T.E.M. agent as the first enemy in this new series was a clever move. As I detail in the "Unknown" section, it establishes that Miguel's actions affect the future, essentially freeing David from the constraints of keeping everything that happens in our present in line with the events in 2099 as we understand them (to the extent that we do). It's important for the vitality of this series, and David clearly knows that. Also, he's a hoot, which helps. I'd love to see him keep popping up every few issues, like the Brotherhood in "Uncanny X-Men," if only because the banter is good.
2) I like that Miguel used Lyla to win the lottery. At first, I was annoyed by the implication, but then I realize that it was totally something that Miguel would do. Peter might not do it, but Miguel wouldn't exactly be that morally upstanding. Also, it's clear that it wasn't like he hit Powerball or anything. It's just enough to rent an apartment in Washington Heights. It's only a little unethical.
3) Similarly, I like the idea that David has Liz put two and two together so quickly. Most authors go to great lengths to protect character's identities, but it seems like Liz is going to figure out Miguel's secret sooner rather than later. The idea that Miguel could help build Alchemax. Talk about moral dilemma! Plus, we know that their activities will have disastrous consequences (though, from T.O.T.E.M.'s perspective, that could presumably be changing Alchemax for the better, since it would still be messing with time). I'm assuming that Liz would use Miguel's desire not to appear officially in Alchemax records as leverage, but David clearly has a plan up his sleeve.
4) Beyond just the banter with the T.O.T.E.M. agent, I'm glad to see David really embrace a sense of humor for this series. Miguel's always been a darker character than Peter, but it's still a Spider-Man series, for Uncle Ben's sake. Lyla putting him in a tuxedo rather than his costume, him telling Liz a "...walk into a bar" joke when she notes that the real Spider-Man would be telling jokes: they're all great fun. In fact, in telling the bar joke, I could hear Christopher Daniel Barnes' voice (from the "Spider-Man: Edge of Time") in my head, always a good sign that you're feeling the character.
The Unknown
David is clearly going to have to suppress the urge to constantly tie everything he does in this series to the future. The T.O.T.E.M. agent essentially reminds us that everything Miguel does alters the future, and this series would be a drag if he takes that schtick too far, showing us every moment in the first series that now didn't happen. So far, we've basically established that nothing related to Miguel himself -- as a physical entity -- will change so long as Tiberius stays alive. But, if the future is changing the longer that Miguel stays in the past, you could make an argument that his memories of his future are going to diverge from the reality of the new future. So long as David establishes that (and doesn't have Miguel remember this new future every time that he does something, as if he lived said future), then I think that we're OK. Basically, the only thing that he has to do in terms of the future is keeping Tiberius alive. Otherwise, I think David has broad license to write the stories that he wants to tell. The danger there will be to get too cute, like revealing that Miguel has a kid with the pink-haired girl and that kid becomes Xina's parent, meaning that he's married to his own granddaughter. (Eww.)
The Meh
Speaking of the pink-haired girl, I can't say that I'm really feeling her. We first met her in "Amazing Spider-Man" #1, and she seemed just as crazy then as she seems now. But, David clearly has a Plan, so I'll try to withhold judgment.
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