Friday, August 4, 2017

Not-Very-Deep Thoughts: The June 21 Spider-Affinity Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Peter Parker:  The Spectacular Spider-Man #1:  Teresa Parker!  I can't say this issue is perfect:  Peter recounting his origin story to Johnny Storm made absolutely no sense.  Moreover, we're in pet peeve #3 territory here, where Peter acknowledging it makes no sense doesn't make it better.  But, it's not the only problem.  It makes even less sense Peter would agree to go on a date as Spider-Man.  I get Zsardsky is going for an easy and fun vibe here, and, sure, hilarity may ensue.  But, seriously, disbelief can be suspended only so much.  But, I'm willing to put aside all that for the great art from Kubert (he can draw Johnny Storm whenever he wants) and the return of Teresa Parker from "Spider-Man:  Family Business."  Waid managed to make Teresa feel like an honest-to-goodness character (and not just a convenient plot device) in that graphic novel, and I've been waiting for her to return.  A light-hearted series about Spidey's downtime doesn't necessarily seem the right place, but we'll see where Zsardsky goes.

Spider-Man 2099 #24:  Honestly, only Peter David comes close to telling a time-travel story that remotely makes sense.  Miguel, the other Spider-Man 2099 and Tempest manage to grab one of the members of the mob trying to attack them before fleeing somewhere safe to interrogate him.  The other Spider-Man 2099 is able to control "arachnonauts" that force the man to tell the truth:  his phone told him to attack them.  They learn Aisa was using a popular app to control people's minds, and Lyla eventually figures out Aisa is the Fate Atropos.  She's trying to kill off humanity because she's sick of humanity fucking up everything on its way to eventually annihilating itself.  Honestly?  It's a pretty solid motive.  Miguel tries to defeat her, but she decides to off him, even though she usually likes to give her opponent a sporting chance.  However, Miguel doesn't have a thread in this reality because...he's already dead.  Aisa escapes, and Tempest later confirms Miguel did die.  Miguel refuses to learn how he dies before May 15, 2019, because he's afraid that information will again screw up 2099.  After all, at this point, he's got the hope he's managed to restore the 2099 he knew (even if, as I've mentioned ad nauseum, it's not necessarily the one we knew).  Peter ends with the surprise that the mysterious Spider-Man 2099 is Gabriel...Miguel's son with Tempest.  Dun-dun-DUN!  It's hard to believe David wrapped up this story so well, but it is really solid.  Aisa's motivation makes sense, her plan would've realized said motivation, and the team stops her in a believable way.  All win!  At this point, we have two loose ends.  First, we have Miguel himself.  It seems to me Miguel doesn't really have to die to recreate his 2099 timeline:  he just has to leave the past timeline at exactly the point he would've died, returning to his present timeline at exactly the point he left.  In so doing, you wouldn't encounter any paradoxes:  he's where he's supposed to be at the time he's supposed to be.  Second, we have Gabriel.  Gabriel is a grown man here, something he wouldn't be on May 15, 2019.  As such, two things clearly happen:  1) Gabriel is raised outside our timeline, possibly by Miguel and Tempest in the future, and 2) Tempest at some point becomes a superhero, possibly after Miguel dies.  I have full faith Peter David will answer that question since, after all, it's Peter David.

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