Punisher 2099 #13: "Fall of the Hammer" Part 5 ("All for One")

** (two of five stars)

Summary

The four "heroes" -- Doom, the Punisher, Ravage, and Spidey -- remaining on Valhalla agree to band together to stop Alchemax as they're attacked by the Berserkers, a group of "genetically created warriors, a first wave designed to weaken the enemy...destined to die gloriously!"  Spidey saves the Punisher from getting stabbed by a berserker and the Punisher tells him that he owes him one.  During the melee, Doom informs the group that he's found a way to save New York and Valhalla.  Doom instructs Ravage to accompany him to the anti-gravity chamber where they'll remove the stasis field from the long-wave generators and Ravage will destroy them just as Doom re-routes the city's power to his "null-g warp matrix."  Before Doom can assign roles to the Punisher and Spidey, the CEO (aka Avatarr) appears.  He taunts Doom, telling him that he never thought that he'd walk straight into his web.  Ravage leaps at him...and through him, revealing him to be a hologram.  The Punisher chastises him for not realizing that it was a hologram, but Doom uses the momentary disruption of the holo-field to get "a fix on Avatarr's 'transmit and focus' frequency" and dispels the hologram.  Before he disappears, Avatarr notes that the Aesir are on their way and Doom asks the Punisher to list his weaponry, which, needless to say, impresses.  Doom resumes giving instructions, sending Spidey with the Punisher to confront the Aesir.  Heimdall and Baldur (finally!) arrive and the four "heroes" engage.  Spidey asks what the Punisher's beef with the Aesir is and the Punisher responds that it's personal.  Privately, he thinks about how his brother was named Baldur and how Alchemax killed his girlfriend, taking down Baldur while he does.  He returns the favor from earlier to save Spidey from Heimdall's sword, which cuts through the Punisher's armor.  Spidey webs up Heimdall and Baldur resumes his attack, telling Heimdall that defeating the Punisher and Spidey will help get the "common herd" to follow them by getting its attention.  The Punisher's conscience (really his "alter-ego") tries to convince him not to kill them with his plasma-gas cannon, telling him that he's not a murderer and that he grew up a Thorist so he can't kill a god anyway.  Spidey tells him to pull himself together and pull the trigger, punching him to disrupt his reverie.  The Punisher resumes control of himself and destroys Baldur and Heimdall.  Spidey looks below Valhalla and realizes that they're right above New York.

Below, Ravage takes out the generators and, as planned, the power shunts to Doom's matrix, stabilizing Valhalla and making it navigable.  At that moment, Thor arrives, declaring that "there must be a Ragnarok!"  He uses his hammer to strike something (possibly the matrix), causing unfocused energy to pour into the sky.  Thor declares it the "Midgard serpent" and rides the wave of energy through the ceiling, appearing before the Punisher and Spidey.  They grab onto him and Spidey warns him that millions will die.  Thor declares that it will be a cleansing that will allow Asgard to rise from its ashes.  Arriving topside, Ravage instructs the Punisher to grab his hammer and Doom tells him to throw it at the head of the vortex to "ground the power back into the city."  Thor decries the plan and the Punisher recognizes Thor's voice as that of his parish priest.  He tells him that he's Jake Gallows and the revelation makes Thor remember that he's Cecil McAdam.  Spidey uses Thor's confusion to strike a blow, allowing the Punisher to wrest the hammer from Thor's grip and throw it into the energy stream.  Thor chases it and he's destroyed as the Midgard serpent disperses.  Avatarr appears again, in holo-form, telling the heroes that the "chessmaster" doesn't die when his players are swept from the board.  He tells each of them that he will have his revenge against him in his own time.  The Punisher asks (a totally valid question) why Avatarr bothered with the Aesir and Valhalla in the first place when he could've just gotten rid of them (the heroes).  Avatarr responds with another chess metaphor, saying that the player cannot become one of the pieces; a Grand Master "influences events from above."  He departs threatening the Punisher first, saying he'll use his molecular disintegrator on him.

The Review

OK, at the end of the day, we still never really learn what the CEO had in mind when it came to the Aesir and Valhalla.  I go into much more detail below, but the failure of the authors to really clarify the CEO's intentions left me feeling disappointed with this arc.  I get that the CEO is supposed to be all mysterious, but I feel like the authors fell into the usual trap (paging Morrison) of confusing "intentionally confusing" with "interestingly suspenseful."  The CEO looks more like a crazed idiot than a brilliant strategist, which is definitely going to impact how I see him when he appears in the future.  On the plus side, the event does what I think it was actually intended to do, getting the heroes to interact with one another and creating a more tightly woven 2099 tapestry.  I now have a better sense of the other battles Alchemax has been fighting in the other series, making my understanding of the 2099 world all the deeper.

The Good

1) Spidey reminding the Punisher to kill someone:  2099 is a weird, weird world indeed!

2) Answering my questions in "Doom 2099" #14, Mills and Skinner seem to confirm here that personal ties successfully override the Aesir's programming.  Just like Tiana's transformation in "Ravage 2099" #15 when she saw Ravage, we see the Punisher successfully shake Reverend McAdam from his programming, at least for a moment, when he makes him remember their other selves' personal connection.

The Unsure

1) Isn't it weird that the X-Men 2099 motored?  They were all for saving New York from Valhalla, but, when the going got tough, they got going.  Really?  I mean, I get that they originally left to evacuate people, but no one returned, not even Bloodhawk, who had the means (his wings) and motivation (his environmentalism)?

2) I think we got the answer to my question about Tyler sending Miguel to the opening of Valhalla on purpose or on accident (see "Spider-Man 2099" #15).  I'm guessing that it was by accident, since the CEO seemed not to have planned to have the heroes on board.  More on this subject in the next section.

The Bad
1) OK, as mentioned above, I'm confused by the CEO's motivations.  Originally, I figured that the CEO planned on having both groups -- the Aesir and the heroes -- on board Valhalla when it crashed into New York, discrediting both of them with the common people.  The Aesir would've caused the disaster and the heroes would've failed to prevent it.  However, in this issue, it seems clear that the CEO hadn't wanted the heroes on board Valhalla when it crashed into New York.  It seems like he just wanted the Aesir to be involved.  However, as I mentioned in my review of "Doom 2099" #14, I don't see how killing millions of people in New York would rally people to the Aesir's side.  Wouldn't they be more likely to blame it on the Aesir, given that it was their Floating City that crashed into New York?  After all, why believe in gods who can't keep their floating cities floating?  If I'm giving the authors the benefit of the doubt, I can extrapolate that Alchemax seemed to be hoping that Ragnarok would rally people to the Aesir's side by making them fear the wrath of the gods, but it seems to me that only the faithful would see it that way.  (Moreover, I have to note that the authors don't ever really have anyone state that scaring people into believing in the Aesir was Alchemax's plan; I'm just gleaming that motivation from comments the CEO and Thor made.)  As the Punisher himself notes here, though, it seems like a lot of work to crash Valhalla in New York if all he wanted was just to get rid of the heroes.  So, if he didn't want to get rid of (or, at least, discredit) the heroes and he didn't want to rally people to the Aesir's side, what was the CEO planning in crashing Valhalla into New York?  I think Marvel would argue that we don't necessarily need to know what the plan was, since the heroes stopped it from coming to fruition.  But, by not clarifying it, it makes it all the more difficult to take the CEO seriously as some sort of brilliant nemesis, since he couldn't even reasonably predict that the heroes would try to stop Alchemax from crashing the Floating City into New York.

2) OK, I generally give the authors of the 2099 world a pass on technology stuff (like the "null-g warp matrix") but I don't see how Ravage jumping through the hologram of Avatarr let Doom triangulate his position or whatever it is that he does to dispel the hologram.

3) The ending is...odd.  First, as I mention in the "Summary," I'm not exactly sure what Thor hit to cause the "Midgard serpent" to appear.  The "null-g warp matrix?"  Second, I'm not really sure what the Midgard serpent was.  It seemed to be the unfocused power of the Floating City, but Mills and Skinner weren't totally clear on that.  Finally, I really don't understand how throwing the hammer into the energy stream would "ground the power back into the city."  I'm no physicist, but I'm not sure how a free-standing hammer would "ground" anything, let alone some immensely-powerful energy stream.  I felt like Mills and Skiller really rushed the ending, which, combined with my questions about the CEO's motivations, left me disappointed in the overall arc.

Doom 2099 #14: "Fall of the Hammer" Part 4 ("The Anvil or the Hammer")

*** (three of five stars)

Summary
Enraged by the defeat of Heimdall, Thor asks who's responsible.  Loki directs him to the X-Men and Meanstreak tells his former friend to stop playing games, having been the one to give Meanstreak the means to defeat Heimdall in the first place.  Doom appears, telling Meanstreak not to waste his time on the fake Aesir and noting that the real threat is Valhalla itself.  Bloodhawk advocates destroying the Floating City, though Meanstreak urges caution, given the enormity of the structure.  Fitz and Krystalin commit to defeating Thor, who attacks Doom with Mjolnir in fury at having his divinity questioned.  Doom is surprised that the ionic energy-field that powers the hammer is more powerful than he thought.  Loki arrives to warn Doom from attacking Thor directly, observing that Mjolnir is the source of all his power.  Thor attacks Doom again and Doom uses the information provided by Loki to recalibrate his systems and block the flow of power from Mjolnir to Thor.  The pent-up power results in a huge explosion that sends the two of them plummeting to Earth.  Meanstreak tries to stop Loki from leaving, but Loki mutates into his wolf form, telling Meanstreak that he brought him and Ravage to Valhalla to sabotage it.  The storm building outside the Floating City causes it to rock and Loki reveals that the gyroscopes aren't working because the ship's reactor can't maintain its weight at that altitude for that long, something the top officials at Alchemax knew because they designed Valhalla to fail.  Downtown, Alchemax has created a perimeter around an unconscious (or dead) Thor, using a machine to lift him from the crater that his impact created.  Doom watches from the shadows, expositing that he phased his body into intangibility before the crash, which is why the Alchemax workers don't find a second impact crater.

Thor awakens in a lab, disturbed both by the loss of his hammer and finding Sif in a tube.  The CEO appears, informing Thor that the geneticists missed a DNA strand in their reprogramming of Sif, causing her to resist the transformation.  Thor threatens to kill the CEO for "killing" Sif and the CEO orders the computer to revert him to his human form, revealing him to be Revered McAdam, an "unremarkable priest of Thor."  The CEO "reminds" him that he didn't hesitate to take up the mantle of Thor, the god he "jealously" worships, and that, once transformed, he forgot his mortal identity and truly believed that he was Thor.  The CEO gives him a choice and he chooses to become Thor again; the CEO directs him to Mjolnir and sends him to Valhalla.  After Thor leaves, Doom (who followed the workers who brought Thor to the CEO) appears, observing that the Aesir served no real function except to initiate conflict.  The CEO informs Doom that conflict was the point.  Alchemax wanted to create its own heroes to control the effect the appearance of other heroes had on the public.  Doom warns that heroism "is a contagious idea" and the CEO notes that his previous self would've likely considered the Heroic Age to have been a "plague of heroes."  Doom balks when the CEO calls him a dictator and the CEO notes that the Dr. Doom of "legend" would taken down the CEO for such insolence.  He observes that the 2009 Doom has developed a conscience and must instead decide whether to stop Valhalla from crashing into New York or pummel the CEO.  Elsewhere, the X-Men begin evacuating people from the ship as the Punisher and Spider-Man arrive.  The Punisher opines that the people are fleeing because they saw their god plummet to the ground and not return, destroying their belief.  Spidey tries to help corral people, but the Punisher, firing a shot in the air, is a little more direct.  Loki appears, telling Spidey that it's appropriate for him to be there, since his appearance is what first concerned Alchemax's bosses.  Spidey recognizes Boone from his "smug delivery," though Boone is surprised that he recognizes him.  The Punisher attempts to take out Loki, but he disappears.  Reappearing elsewhere, Loki notes that the heroes have challenged the Alchemax gods and, when they take away the others' godhood, he'll retain his power to "spread glorious chaos around the world."  Meanstreak tries to convince Loki to help people evacuate and, when he doesn't, strikes him, resulting in Loki disappearing, telling Meanstreak that he's simply jealous.  The X-Men evacuate with the last ship and Doom approaches Valhalla, expositing that he will save it not from compassion, as the CEO implied, but because he has his own plans for it.  He encounters the Punisher and Spidey, telling them that the Aesir were created to stop them.  Ravage then appears from below, telling Doom that he hasn't been able to fix the engines and he doesn't know how much time they have until Valhalla falls into New York.

The Review
OK, so, this issue moves us along pretty well.  We got confirmation in "X-Men 2099" #5 that Alchemax did in fact turn humans into Aesir, but here we learn that they were willing participants in the process and were made to believe that they were actually Norse gods.  However, we still have no idea what Alchemax's ultimate goals are.  We were led to believe that Alchemax wanted heroes it could control, but, given the fact that the CEO tells Doom here that he wanted Valhalla to fail, it calls into question his ultimate goal.  Why have Valhalla fail if it'll make your Aesir fail?  More on this point below.

The Good
I've been somewhat confused by Jordan's motivations throughout this event, but I guess that he's simply embracing his role as Trickster.  He brought the X-Men to Valhalla to fight the Aesir and encourages Thor to battle the X-Men because he wanted the Aesir and, by extension, Alchemax to fail.  To be honest, it is in Jordan's personality -- arrogant, impish -- to play this role, particularly by doing what he could to make sure that he was the only Aesir (and, therefore, the only special one) left standing.  I'm glad that Moore confirmed the fact that Jordan was playing both sides, because it makes it clear that Jordan was actually motivated by something other than helping further the plot.  Moreover, Moore leaves open the possibility that Jordan might not have been as unaffected by his transformation as he thought, implying that he might've actually been driven at least a little insane in the process.  (He had blown off Meanstreak's questions about the consequences of becoming a "god" in "X-Men 2099" #5.)

The Unknown
1) "They designed Valhalla to fail."  Really?  Why?  The CEO sticks to the line that he created the Aesir because he wanted heroes that he could control.  I get that part.  But, did he want them to fail, too?  I could see a scenario where he'd want to create a catastrophe involving all the heroes timed to the arrival of the Aesir, so that the people turn against heroes entirely, even his Aesir.  But, that doesn't seem to have been the CEO's plan, since he seems surprised by the heroes' presence on Valhalla.  If the point, then, of Valhalla failing wasn't taking down the heroes and the Aesir with it (either figuratively or literally), then why have it fail in the first place?  How could introducing the Aesir and then having Valhalla crash into New York shortly after their appearance in any way help Alchemax?  It's this part that doesn't make a lot of sense to me and I hope we get some clarity on it next issue.

2) We still haven't been told why Hela, aka Tiana, was able to resist her programming.  Jordan made it clear in "X-Men 2099" #5 that he sabotaged the system to allow him to keep his personality, but we don't hear anything from the CEO about why Tiana would've be able to do so.  After all, they were able to predict that Sif would resist her programming, so they "killed" her, but why couldn't they predict the same with "Hela?"  The fact that three of the six resisted their programming was part of the reason why I think Moore had to confirm that the Aesir, in theory, were supposed to believe that they actually were the Aesir.  That point has been muddled throughout the event, since only Thor and Heimdall seemed to really believe it.  But, it still seems hard to believe that half the subjects were "failures," since Alchemax doesn't seem the type to tolerate these sorts of problems.

3) Along these lines, where's Baldur?  Is he playing a role in the finale?

X-Men 2099 #5: "Fall of the Hammer" Part 3 ("Lightningstrike")

*** (three of five stars)

Favorite Quote:  "Maybe I'll land on a street mime and make my death count --"  -- Fitz, entering free-fall as his "gypsy cab" dies under him

Summary
A police vehicle makes its way through a storm, with one officer asking the other if he thinks the storm is a sign that Thor has actually returned.  The other officer observes that everything has been weird since Spider-Man appeared and asks how he could explain the "freaks in that high-rise crib."  He mentions how four of them were there, but they captured only the "normal one."  However, at that moment, a blast of energy bursts from the vehicle and a mutant (obviously the source of the burst) exits the car, telling the (presumably unconscious or dead) officers that he has to find his friends.  Meanwhile, on Valhalla, the X-Men face Heimdall.  Blookdhawk attacks, though he's easily deflected by Heimdall, whose ability to see everything allows him to prepare for the attack before it happens.  Before he uses his sword to cut Bloodhawk, Heimdall is stopped by Krystalin, who rains diamonds on him.  Meanstreak acknowledges to himself that Heimdall's fast, but hopes that he's sufficiently distracted by Krystalin's attack not to notice him speeding towards him with the intent of knocking him unconscious with a pipe.  However, Heimdall does notice and instead knocks out Meanstreak with a well-placed punch.  In the shadows, Loki observes the scene, noting to himself that Heimdall is the most steadfast and dedicated of the Aesir.  He quietly beseeches his "old friend," Meanstreak, to regain consciousness, noting that he didn't bring him to Valhalla to miss what he has planned.  Before Heimdall can attack again, Krystalin is rescued by Ravage.  He tells Krystalin how "Hela" was actually his friend Tiana, viewing it as proof that the Aesir are not gods.  Krystalin wonders what the Aesir's purpose is and Ravage hypothesizes that they're a distraction from the faulty anti-gravity devices.  They then head below to shut down the machinery.  Thor meanwhile appears in the sky and a crowd of believers assemble in the park to try to get rides to Valhalla from "gypsy pilots," drivers of dilapidated taxis passing off themselves as "Valkyrie" and charging $1,000 a ride.  The guy with the energy blasts tries to make his way to the front of the line and, when some of the faithful try to stop him, he ignites them with his powers.  He notes to himself that it's the second time he's been able to generate his power willingly and then makes his way to the front of the line, convincing the scared driver to take him to Valhalla.  The driver assures him that his car is reliable and asks if it's his first time in New York.  The question results in a flashback...

The X-Men enter New York in a car, after having apparently landed their plane in a warehouse that Meanstreak maintains in New Jersey.  They're in New York to investigate the disappearance of Meanstreak's friend who was looking into the Valhalla project.  As they make their way through traffic, they notice the newsscreens reporting on the appearance of Thor and the Aesir.  They arrive at an apartment that Meanstreak and his friend, Jordan, kept to keep Alchemax in the dark about their "extra-curricular activities."  They're stopped by a dominatrix version of Lyla and Meanstreak asks her about Jordan.  She tells him that she hasn't seen him for 22 days.  The X-Man with the energy blasts ("Fitz") sits in a gel chair while Meanstreak explores the apartment for clues.  He finds Jordan's personal journal and plays it.  Jordan reveals that Alchemax launched the "Floating City" two years earlier than scheduled, even though internal memos that he found showed that the anti-gravity core was dangerously unstable.  The tests were buried by the "ECO" office so that the project could be approved, as it was, by Paul-Philip Ravage.  The X-Men decide to pay Ravage a visit (as we saw in "Ravage 2099" #15) when armed officers burst into the apartment.  Fitz mistakes them for the Public Eye, but Meanstreak corrects him, saying that they're the Shadow Squad, Alchemax's internal security that must've been monitoring the apartment.  Fitz is stuck in his chair, but the rest escape to go talk to Ravage.

In the present, Fitz reveals that it was the Shadow Squad from whom he escaped at the start of the issue.  Relishing his new found control over his power, he begins to wonder if Jordan has been found just as the flying car dies.  The driver bails with the only parachute and Fitz begins to free-fall with the car, before a hand rescues him.  Elsewhere, the Punisher and Spidey make their way to Valhalla on the stolen flybike, watching the flying car crash.  At Alchemax HQ, the CEO reveals his plans, opining that the masses are so gullible that they pray to fictional deities to rescue them from their mundane lives.  He's now created a new pantheon to worship -- Hela, Heimdall, Thor, Baldur, and Loki -- and hopes that they will cause the other heroes to fall from grace after being branded as heretics and killed by the Alchemax "gods."

Back on Valhalla, the X-Men still face Heimdall and Krystalin attempts to buy time while Bloodhawk recovers.  Heimdall is impressed and offers her a place on Valhalla, noticing the Mjolnir necklace she wears; she had earlier noted that she wore it to honor her mother, who died believing in Thor.  Angered, she tells Heimdall that she doesn't believe in his Thor.  Meanwhile, Meanstreak regains consciousness coming nose-to-nose with a wolf, who transforms himself into Loki.  He offers his assistance, something that Meanstreak is loathe to accept, given that Loki is the God of Mischief.  Loki notes that a gift from the gods is a rare thing and gives him a device that can turn off the neurotechnology that gives Heimdall his accelerated responses and heightened perception.  Meanstreak takes it and speeds towards Heimdall, just as he breaks Krystalin's shield and tells her that those who oppose the Aesir must fall.  Meanstreak activates the device and Bloodhawk sees his opening, taking down Heimdall.  Loki joins them and reveals that he is, in fact, Jordan Boone.  He notes that Meanstreak's mutant powers had always given him the edge in their competition, but his new powers as a god give him something to match them.  Meanstreak asks about the side effects, but Loki tells him that he needed the power.  Alchemax was rushing the transformation to coincide with the Valhalla launch, so he broke into the research banks to alter his psych and gene profiles to match the criteria.  He also knew the tech, so he sabotaged the process to retain his identity.  At that moment, Doom arrives with Fitz (he was the hand that saved him).  Loki implies that he manipulated the situation to ensure that all the heroes were on Valhalla.  Annoyed at the deception, Bloodhawk strikes Loki and departs to take down Valhalla, but he's felled by a lightning bolt.  Thor then appears, declaring no quarter and no mercy will be given to them for opposing the Aesir.

The Review
After reading this issue, I have to wonder why it didn't come before "Ravage 2099" #15?  We learn why the X-Men are in New York (though not exactly how they knew about the ecological impact of Valhalla, given that Bloodhawk mentions it before they get to Henri and Jordan's apartment) and why they approached Ravage in the first place (though not why Ravage had Boone's disc).  Otherwise, this issue is remarkable for confirming that Alchemax was, indeed, behind the creation of the Aesir.

The Good
1) Moore did a great job slowly building off the hints laid by Mills and Skinner in "Ravage 2099" #15 that Alchemax created the Aesir.  First, during the flashback, we get Alchemax's infonet broadcasting information about the appearance of the Aesir, something I'd assume Alchemax wouldn't be doing if it had wanted to keep their arrival quiet.  Second, we learn the real nature of the Aesir's "powers."  Heimdall and Thor begin the issue appearing to possess their powers naturally, as they did in the previous two issues of the event.  Heimdall manages to knock down Meanstreak, despite his speed, and Thor appears mid-air in a storm that seems to be of his making.  Neither seems to possess any obvious technological support that gives him his powers.  However, once the curtain is pulled back a little, it's pulled back completely.  Loki helps Meanstreak disable Heimdall's genetic enhancements and confesses to his own enhancements, making it clear that the Aesir are not gods.  Moreover, in case anyone still had doubts, the CEO reveals his plans, confirming Alchemax's role in their creation.

2) Also, in terms of confirmation, I'm glad we learned that Meanstreak is the "Henri" to whom we originally saw Boone address his message in "Spider-Man 2099" #15.

The Unknown
1) We still haven't seen Baldur, if I'm not mistaken?

2) We also still haven't learned why Alchemax decided to rush the launch of Valhalla and the Aesir.  Was it just to combat the heroes?  I mean, were they really causing that many problems?  It seems a little short-sighted for such a huge company, particularly if it means that a huge investment like Valhalla is going to wind up failing.

3) I'm still not sure what mischief Loki brought the X-Men to Valhalla to sow?  Was it to challenge Alchemax?  Moreover, if he wanted the X-Men on Valhalla, why did he tell Heimdall that they were coming?  Didn't that risk Heimdall successfully repelling them?  Was it just part of the mischief?

4) As mentioned above, we do learn here why the X-Men decided to approach Ravage about Boone in "Ravage 2099" #15, something that didn't seem to make sense at the time.  But, we still don't learn how Ravage came into possession of Boone's disc or why the X-Men knew that Valhalla is an impending ecological catastrophe.  I'm assuming previous issues of "Ravage 2099" and "X-Men 2099" addressed those issues, but it would've been nice for the authors to have brought those of us not reading those titles up-to-speed.

Ravage 2099 #15: "Fall of the Hammer" Part 2 ("Horns of a Dilemma")

** (two of five stars)

Summary
The X-Men end a "holocall" with Ravage, who did not like the "threatening attitude of those arrogant young punks."  He reveals that the X-Men want a disc that he liberated from Alchemax that may have something to do with their "missing friend."  Suddenly, one of the X-Men bursts into Ravage's office.  He tells Ravage that "Meanstreak's" friend, Jordan Boone, has disappeared after compiling incriminating evidence on Alchemax's problems with Valhalla and demands that Ravage tell him where Jordan is.  However, Ravage transforms, telling the X-Man that he knows nothing about Jordan, but is willing to give him a fight.  The X-Man is tempted, but notes that fighting Ravage won't help him find Jordan or "bring down that ecological nightmare, Valhalla!"  Realizing that the X-Man isn't a friend of Alchemax, Ravage suggests that they cease hostilities and talk, just as the other two X-Men, Meanstreak and Krystalin, arrive.  Ravage tells them the little he knows about the disc and they tell him what they know.  They all agree that they have to go to Valhalla to get answers, and Ravage commandeers a ship to get them there.  Meanstreak wonders if their goal is to take down Valhalla, but Ravage notes that, although he also originally planned to do so, the ecological consequences would be too severe.  He notes that it's the "long wave generators" causing the problem, and, if they can replace them, they can solve the problem.  He mentions that his uneasy ally, Doom, might be able to help him neutralize the threat.  Meanstreak balks at Ravage's leadership, but the X-Man who was first fighting Ravage, Bloodhawk, and Krystalin encourage them to put aside their "absurd male posturing" and get the job done.  They arrive above Valhalla, only to encounter the Public Eye.  One officer asks his supervisor if they're "the official Valhalla heroes," and the supervisor informs him that they're the "mavericks" they've been "warned about."  The Public Eye attacks and the X-Men take down the officers while Ravage steals a flybike and heads to Valhalla.  He looks to meet Doom to break through the "stasis skin" of the generators and destroy them, assuming Doom will find a way to keep the city aloft.  Heimdall sees Ravage arrive and prepares to attack.

Meanwhile, the Punisher is holding a gun on Spidey so he can keep his attention focused on the Punisher while he talks.  The Punisher informs Spidey that he was fighting "a crazed beast" on Valhalla when he saw Spidey take on Thor and observes that, based on his checking, "things aren't the way they seem" on Valhalla.  He mentions that he's not sure who to trust, but Spidey says that, based on what he knows about the Punisher, they're both the good guys, standing against "Alchemax, Valhalla, and the so-called Aesir."  The two decide to take the Public Eye flybike that the Punisher has stolen to Valhalla.  On Valhalla, Heimdall attacks Ravage.  When Ravage mentions the impact of Valhalla on the environment, Heimdall seems aware of it, noting that the destruction of a few fish is an acceptable price for the "greater glory of the gods."  Ravage realizes that anyone willing to destroy nature to boost his ego isn't a god and redoubles his attack.  Heimdall knocks him to the ground and, before Bloodhawk can launch a sneak attack, Heimdall attacks, proving his point that he's all-seeing.  Krystalin and Meanstreak also arrive and Heimdall mentions that Loki warned him that they'd come.  Krystalin hypothesizes that Jordan might have become one of the Valhalla gods; Loki, watching the battle elsewhere on a monitor, comments, "If only you knew, my dear..."  While the X-Men fight Heimdall to get more information on Jordan, Ravage leaves the scene to meet Doom, running into Hela on the way.  The two battle, and Ravage manages to land a punch.  Hela asks how he, "Paul-Philip," could hurt her and Ravage realizes that it's his secretary, Tiana.  He tells her that he didn't intend to hurt her and she grabs her "Death Rake" and attacks him again.  Ravage is reluctant to hurt her, but tries to defend himself.  He attempts talking to her, but she refuses to engage, saying that she's no longer the weakling who fawned over his every word.  He tells her that he never thought of her that way, telling her that he saw her as "sensitive...intelligent...kind..." but she keeps on attacking.  He tells her that she's being used and that Valhalla is going to kill millions of people if it's not stopped.  Hela knocks him from her, telling him that he used her because he knew that she loved him.  He tells her that she's trying to establish her own identity at his expense and that she's wrong to do it.  He promises not to defend himself, being willing to lay down his life to prove it.  She tries to kill him, but can't.  She sobs and he tells her that it was worth risking his life because he believes in her.  She admits that she hasn't thought through her involvement with the Aesir and he offers to help.  She rejects his offer, saying that she can't trust him if she can't trust herself.  She leaves and Ravage departs to bring down Valhalla.

The Review
The main drawback of this issue is not just that it begins in media res, but that it also doesn't do a great job of filling in the details as we go.  As a result, I spent most of the issue feeling like I was reading the series in the wrong order.  However, Mills and Skinner manage to tell a compelling story, giving us our first real hints that Alchemax is, in fact, behind the appearance of the Aesir.  We learn that Hela and (presumably) Loki are Tiana and Jordan, both employees of Alchemax.  We also hear the one Public Eye officer mention the "official Valhalla heroes" to the other one.  It doesn't explain how Alchemax gave the Aesir powers, but, given the genetic research that created Spider-Man, Venture, and the corporate raiders from the Spider-Man story in "2099 Unlimited" #2, it's pretty easy to believe Alchemax found a way to create a bunch of "gods."

The Good
To be honest, I felt the need to throw in a "Good" here, because I didn't hate this issue, despite the coordination problems.  It moved at a good pace and did at least forward the central plot, even if it left you scratching your head at points.

The Unknown
1) I wonder to what extent Alchemax knows of the ecological troubles of Valhalla.  We don't get told here how the X-Men learned of the problem, so it's unclear to me if Alchemax knows that Valhalla is the imminent ecological nightmare that Ravage and the X-Men seem to think it is.

2) If Boone is indeed Loki, why would he warn Heimdall that the X-Men were coming, if the X-Men were his friends?

The Bad
1) The first two pages of this issue are the most problematic in terms of getting dropped in the middle of the story with little to help us understand.  We learn that the X-Men have just ended a call with Ravage, though we can only guess that the call had something to do with the "missing friend" that he mentions.  He refers to the disc he "liberated" from Alchemax, but we don't learn why or how he "liberated" it.  We see Bloodhawk burst into Ravage's office, raising the question why the X-Men called Ravage if they were close enough to "visit" him in the first place.  Then, we learn that the disc that Ravage has does have something to do with the "missing friend," but we still don't learn why Ravage has it.  In fact, Ravage tells Bloodhawk that he doesn't know anything about Jordan, making it all the odder that he would have his disc.

2) I thought it was weird that Krystalin, upon hearing Loki's name, goes from not recognizing the name to hypothesizing (correctly) that he's Jordan.  Given the main problem with most of this issue, that a number of the plots originated in previous issues, it's unclear if something happened before this issue that would lead Krystalin to think of Jordan when she heard Loki's name mentioned.  But, to be honest, it seems more like sloppy writing to me.

Spider-Man 2099 #16: "Fall of the Hammer" Part 1 ("The Hammer Strikes!")

*** (three of five stars)

Summary
Valhalla continues its march, passing over Randall, an "indy" town not affiliated with a corporation.  Thor announces that he will retain some of the people inside the Floating City to serve as sentinels, but everyone else will be lead to the place of departure by Heimdall.  Before he finishes the thought, Thor notices Dana in the crowd.  Calling her a "comely wench," he offers to let her see the "sport of the gods."  Miguel interrupts at this point, telling Thor that they're not leaving Valhalla since Alchemax built it, not him.  Thor takes umbrage when Miguel refers to him as "whoever you're supposed to be" and asserts that he is Thor.  Miguel asks where Sif is and Thor responds that he'll take any port in a storm (meaning Dana), cryptically referring to the upcoming storm "blowing" our way.  When Miguel tells Thor that he couldn't blow his own nose, Thor grabs him, angry at his insolence.  He's initially surprised by Miguel's strength, though, when Miguel again insults him, Thor lifts him above his head and hurls him through a window.  Dana accuses Thor of killing Miguel and Thor tells her that she's confusing him with her "Judeo-Christian gods," declaring that the Aesir are not gods for "soft undisciplined masses."  He insists that those worshiping the Aesir have to be "truly great" and tells her to leave with the rest of the unworthy.  Meanwhile, Miguel flies through the window and grabs onto the side of Valhalla, changing into his costume.  As he does, he notices that they're heading to New York, wondering if it's coincidence or "divine guidance."  Elsewhere, at the Wellvale home, Conchata knocks out a staff member getting into his car, stealing it and driving away.  In one of the many ships departing Valhalla, Dana sobs about the loss of Miguel.  One of the passengers chastises her, telling her that Thor might've let them all stay had she not rejected his advances.  ("He was trying to be nice and you blew him off.")  Dana decries the passenger's suggestion that he really is Thor and continues to lament Miguel's death.

In Valhalla, Spidey appears, demanding to know where "the woman" is.  Thor exults at the chance to attack his false harbinger and tells him that she has departed "with the rest of the sheep that bleated in this city."  Satisfied, Spidey tells Thor that he'll get leaving, but Thor orders Heimdall to attack.  Heimdall hurls his sword, Hofund, at Spidey, who manages to grab it.  Thor demands that Heimdall release his mental control over Hofund so that he and Spidey can fight like gods.  Thor knocks Hofund from Spidey's hands with his hammer, though Spidey grabs it with a Web-Line and hurls it at Thor.  Enraged by the ensuing scratch across his cheek, Thor viciously attacks Miguel, insisting that he is Thor and that Miguel has aggrandized himself by laying claim to Thor's name.  Miguel defends himself, saying that the people decided on its own that he was a harbinger.  Thor suggests that he's willing to forgive Miguel given his attempt to absolve himself of his responsibility, but asserts that his wrath must be assuaged.  Miguel strikes him across the jaw ("Assuage this!!") and Thor decides that he has had enough.  Declaring that he has only slain a handful of mortals in his time, Thor announces that Spidey is not worthy to be among them.  He then hurls his hammer at Miguel's chest, sending him to a "place of public humiliation" so he can end the "harbinger nonsense."  Mjolnir propels Spidey from Valhalla and across the sky until Spidey manages to free himself.  He creates a Web-Chute to slow down his descent and lands on the ground.  But, Mjolnir returns to him, striking him in a huge blow.  Meanwhile, at Miguel's apartment, an agitated Gabe appears, demanding that Lyla tell him where Miguel is so that they can have words.  Lyla repeatedly offers him a cruller, which he refuses.  Exasperated, Gabe yells at Lyla, who suddenly takes on the appearance of a steroid queen, threatening to order security droids to rip our Gabe's intestines and shove them down his throat unless he takes a cruller.  Gabe agrees.  In a pile of rubble, Spidey comes to consciousness just in time to see the Punisher standing over him.

The Review
This issue begins the "Fall of the Hammer" cross-over event running through the 2099 titles.  David spends most of the issue setting the stage, giving over large parts of the comic to Thor's monologues.  Despite the lack of much action (except for a Spidey's brief battle with Heimdall and Thor), David does a great job in creating excitement for the event, mostly by using the monologues to portray Thor in a way that makes you wonder if he might actually be our guy (or, at least, some later reincarnation of him).

The Good
1) I liked how David leaves open the possibility that Thor is, well, Thor.  Like Dana and Miguel, I automatically assumed that he was an impostor, but, here, we definitely see him engage in some godly behavior, from his incredible strength to his obvious control of Mjolnir.  It certainly doesn't guarantee that he is actually Thor, given that it's pretty easy to believe that someone used technology to endow him with strength or give him control of the hammer.  But, it did make me raise an eyebrow.  He's a little coarser than our Thor, given his somewhat more energetic assertion of his godly rights than we're used to seeing.  But, maybe it's because he's been outside the realm of humans for a while...

2) Miguel really needs to start thinking before he acts!  In both this issue and "2099 Unlimited" #2, he defends a woman (Dana here; Anna there) from a super-villain in his civilian identity.  In "2099 Unlimited," it exposed him as Spider-Man, even if Anna doesn't remember it in the end (though I still wonder if Mutagen does).  In this issue, Miguel appears to be killed, meaning that he's going to have to explain to Dana, at some point, how he survived getting hurled from a window of the Floating City.  I'm all for saving damsels in distress, but Miguel is going to have to start learning how to do so without so obviously jeopardizing his secret identity.  (I put this comment under "Good" instead of "Bad" because it actually fits with Miguel's hot-headed identity.  It makes sense that Miguel would get pissy with Thor when he's hitting on Dana, though I did think it weird that Miguel seemed more upset that Thor was claiming Valhalla for his own, almost defending Alchemax when he notes that Alchemax, and not Thor, built Valhalla.  But, I think David made it clear that Miguel was mostly acting on behalf of Dana, so I'm willing to look past the somewhat weird exchange.)

Spider-Man 2099 #15: "Fall of the Hammer" Prelude ("The Rise of the Hammer")

*** (three of five stars)

Favorite Quote:  "My, Mr. O'Hara!  You're very knowledgeable.  Are you a Thorite?"  "No.  Just an object of Thorite worship."  "Ahh.  Mr. Stone warned me you were quite the kidder."  -- Miss Gibbons and Miguel

Summary
Dictating an e-mail, Jordan Boone tells a friend, Henri, that his personal stock has fallen with Tyler Stone as a result of the virtual-unreality incident, as well as his conflict with Miguel (who Jordan describes as Stone's pet).  Jordan notes that Stone got nervous about him asking about "Valhalla" and includes an image of it, a huge tower, in his e-mail.  Jordan tells Henri that he continued digging after Stone told him that he couldn't be involved in the project and found out everything.  He tells Henri that he's about to do something outrageous that will put everything they did as "videogoths" to shame.  He advised Henri that, if he doesn't hear from him, things have gone bad and sends the e-mail.  Just then, someone appears at his door and knocks him unconscious, dragging him from his apartment.

In Downtown, Miguel battles some Fenris thugs, to the cheers of the people living in the buildings surrounding the fight.  "Bloodsword," the leader of the Fenris gang, appears and attacks Miguel with his sword.  Miguel grabs the sword between his open-faced hands and then uses his talons to slice it to pieces.  With Bloodsword weaponless, Spidey knocks him unconscious and reminds the gang of his declaration at the church (last issue), that the people of Downtown are entitled to peace.  The Fenris flee and the Downtowners surround Spidey, praising him as their savior.  A woman asks Spidey to heal her child and he tells her that he'll ask Thor before he departs for Uptown.  He stops by the stash of clothes he hid on the top of the Downtown understructure, and, while changing clothes, notes how he feels dirty every time he goes Uptown.  Back in Downtown, Raff warns Kasey against getting too excited as she and the rest of her gang plan ways to support Spidey in his efforts.  Frustrated, Gabe leaves, telling her that she should just go ahead and marry Spider-Man.  In Stone's office at Alchemax, Dana is asking Lyla over the phone whether Miguel gave any indication of when he was going to return and Lyla tells her that he didn't.  Stone approaches Dana, telling her that he's grown fond of her and that she's a nice girl who he'd hate to see hurt.  He warns her that "Mike" may not be returning after the Thanatos business and Dana asks if he means that Miguel was "scared off" and quit the company.  Stone responds that Miguel "was...," and Dana panics hearing him discussed in the past tense.  However, Miguel walks into Stone's office at that moment.  Miguel embraces Dana, who tells him that she kept calling his apartment.  Miguel asks Lyla, who's still on the vidphone, why she didn't tell him that Dana had called when he asked her (last issue).  Lyla suggests that Dana is lying and, when Miguel tells her that's unlikely, she decides to run a "full diagnostic."  Stone, who was staring at Miguel after he walked into his office, recovers and informs him that a craft is ready to bring Dana and Miguel to the Floating City, just in time for its opening ceremony.

At the Wellvale Home, Conchata gets information from a waiter, who tells her that the Prophet of Thor has come and that the Harbinger, Spider-Man, is all over Downtown fighting for the little people.  Conchata observes that she hadn't thought of Downtown since she sold her soul to leave it.  The waiter asks what she meant and Conchata tells him that she did wicked things.  She's tried to repent, but never succeeded.  But, with Spider-Man leading the way, she, too, might now be able to go to Downtown.  Meanwhile, Dana and Miguel arrive at the Floating City, and their driver, Miss Gibbons, informs them that it's accessible only by skycars and standard maglev cars.  Miguel asks how it's possible to get there via a maglev, given that it's mid-air without tracks, and Gibbons points out a bridge composed of maglev and antigravitation particles.  The bridge creates a rainbow effect when it's in use and, as such, it's called Bifrost, after the bridge to Midgard from Asgard.  Miguel gives Dana a mythology lesson, prompting Gibbons to note how knowledgeable he is.  She informs them that they have a few Thorites on staff who've taken to calling the Floating City Valhalla.  (Aha!)  They enter the city to find everyone staring upwards.  Gibbons informs them that they're turning on the main systems all at the same time, a first, since they previously had just been running individual tests.  Miguel asks if it's because of the possibility of them overpowering the power grid and she confirms that it was.  But, she declares that this moment represents Valhalla becoming self-sufficient and offers to take them to the hydroponics lab to see what the co-venture with Synthia has been doing.  But, the countdown begins and Miguel, looking skyward, notices a man standing on a ledge in the shadows.  Once the systems go online, Valhalla shakes and begins to move.  Dana suggests that they hurry to a skycar, but Miguel notes that "about a million people" in the city have the same idea as people around them begin to flee.  However, everyone is distracted by the sudden appearance of Thor, who hovers mid-air with Heimdall.  He announces that he has returned and instructs Heimdall to guard the gate.  He tells the crowd that the Aesir will follow him and they will bring a golden age to the world.  But, he declares "woe" on the false bringers of the word of Thor, stating that they will be the first to die.

The Review
OK, so, off we go!  David makes it clear that the "Fall of the Hammer" cross-over event is going to bring the long simmering Thor issue to a head and I can't wait to see where they go with it.

The Good
1) Yay, Downtown!  As I mentioned last issue, I really prefer when Spidey is Downtown, because we get more stories involving him as a crime-fighter, which I think do more to really show us who Miguel is than the more high-concept arcs (like Thanatos).  I mean, don't get me wrong:  I love a good high-concept arc.  (I am, after all, excited about "Fall of the Hammer.")  But, this early in the series, I feel like we're still getting to know Miguel.  We're still sorting out his motivations and his limits.  We've seen hints that his role as a superhero has sparked his religious faith and left him questioning his corporate role.  We've also learned that his moral code is different from the original Spidey's, given his decision to let the Vulture fall to his death.  But, it's still not clear where those hints are going to go, in terms of Miguel as a man and Spidey as a hero.  As such, the Thanatos business seemed like a distraction to me, since I'm more interested in fleshing out Miguel as a character right now than I am focusing on conspiracies.  The best mainstream Spidey stories are when we get to see Peter juggling his crime-fighting career with his regular everyday life and I look forward to more stories in this vein after "Fall of the Hammer."  Regarding Downtown, it's interesting that Miguel himself views himself as an avenging angel for Downtown, noting that he feels dirty every time he returns to Uptown.

2) I always mention when David takes a previously seen plot and brings it to the forefront, because I feel like he and Dan Slott are the only two authors who really plan so far in advance that they can do so (and blow your mind in the process).  Here, we see Dana and Miguel go on the trip to the "Floating City" that Stone promised them in issue #11.

3) I've gotten so used to Miguel being called the Harbinger of Thor that I actually started to believe that he was.  It never dawned on me that he wasn't and that Thor might consider him a usurper!  (Of course, see below in the "Unknown" section for my thoughts about Thor.)

The Unknown
1) Stone pretty clearly knows that Miguel is Spidey at this point, right?  I mean, given his conversation with Dana in this issue, I'm pretty sure that it'll be more difficult for David to explain that Stone doesn't know than that he does.

2) Did Stone know that Thor was going to appear at Valhalla?  Maybe Thor is an Alchemax stooge?  It could be an attempt by the company to get into the superhero business, if you will, to undermine it.  I could see them using Thor to eliminate the Prophet and Spider-Man, but still having the goodwill of the people, since it would be seen as the "will of Thor."  It seems like an Alchemax thing to do.  Along those lines, did Stone want Miguel there for Thor's arrival?  He planned for Miguel to be there that week (as mentioned in issue #11).  Has Spider-Man now lived his usefulness (whatever it may have been to Stone) and Stone is now ready to replace him with Thor?

The Bad
David doesn't tell us how Valhalla became self-sufficient.  What changed that allowed them to throw on all the systems at once?