Fantastic Four 2099 #8: "Homecoming"

Raab and Kavanagh are forced to cover a spectacular amount of ground here.  We go through the destruction of New York, the flooding of the world, the flight to the Savage Land, the war with Atlantis, the arrival in the Savage Land, the reunification of the Fantastic Four, and a mission to Mars.  I'll give Raab and Kavanagh credit for doing the best that they can, but this issue is such a jumble of characters and plots that it's hardly enjoyable.  The reunion of the Fantastic Four has zero emotional impact, particularly since Ben immediately head to Alchemax's Mars colony with Father Jennifer and X-Nation.  As I mentioned in my review of the last issue of "Spider-Man 2099," it's clear that the rush to cancel the entire line ruined any chance for a graceful exit for any of the titles.  I'm going to take a break before I leap into "2099:  World of Tomorrow," just so that my anger fades a little.

Fantastic Four 2099 #6: "The Wrong Place at the Right Time"

Seriously, this issue is barely readable.  Although, plot-wise, some interesting things happen (we'll get there in a minute), the script is remarkably bad.  Sue telling Reed that she'll give "her baby brother a big, wet kiss" from him when she sees him?  I can think of multiple things wrong with that sentence.  Moreover, the dialogue is essentially one cliché after another.  For example, Susan declares at one point, "Men!  No matter what the century, they're infuriating as ever."  She might as well just have said, "Can't live with 'em, can't send 'em to the Negative Zone!"  Did I mention Reed and Sue making out while an oncoming planetoid is steadily flooding New York and Johnny is left drowning in the Atlantic Ocean?

If you can get past those (and other groan-inducing) moments, the most important parts of this issue are the connections to a number of other plots occurring elsewhere in the 2099 universe:

For "Spider-Man 2099" readers, the most surprising moment is when Raab and Kavanagh kill off Roman the Sub-Mariner as part of Attuma's invasion of Atlantis.  Given that David took the extraordinary step of bonding Roman with the Venom symbiote in "Spider-Man 2099" #44, it's bizarre that a character poised to have such a huge impact on the future of the 2099 universe is killed essentially off-panel.  Moreover, the failure of Raab and Kavanagh to mention his bonding with the symbiote opens up a gap between this series and "Spider-Man 2099" that seems unexplainable.  Since this issue appears the same month as "Spider-Man 2099" #43 and Roman's Venomization happens in issue #44, it's almost as if history forks between issues, with the Fantastic Four living in a world where Attuma cut short Roman's invasion (and prevented his subsequent Venomization) and Spider-Man living in a world where Roman becomes Venom and plots against the surface world from Atlantis.  Talk about bad editing.  It's clearly part of Marvel's decision to cut the 2099 line, requiring the sort of drastic step that the oncoming planetoid flooding New York would have.  To facilitate that story, David's more nuanced story in "Spider-Man 2099" about Atlantis invading New York is clearly sacrificed.  (We'll get to the dueling floods in the last paragraph.)

We also have a Dr. Strange appearing, though I'm a little unclear on the details.  He seems to be coming not from our "present," but via the 22nd century.  Along the way, he encounters his 2099 counterpart.  At least, I think that he does, though I'm not 100 percent sure that the woman occupying his townhouse was, in fact, Strange 2099.

Finally, regarding the false planetoid rocketing toward Earth, I can't say that I really care that much.  It's hard to tell if the editors essentially decide to re-write the events of "Spider-Man 2099" #43-#44 or if we're dealing with two floods.  I believe that it's the latter, but I could buy a world where the sea monster didn't cause the rising tides (see "Spider-Man 2099" #44), but the planetoid did, inspiring Atlantis to press its advantage and attack.  Unfortunately, no one actually makes that argument here.  As such, it feels like this issue is supposed to match the events of those issues -- given the flood and the Atlantis drama -- but doesn't.  I have to wonder if we're even going to see the flood -- a second flood, to whit -- in "Spider-Man 2099," since it seems weird to repeat a plot, even if it's as a result of a different menace.

Basically?  It's going to be a bumpy ride to the end.

Fantastic Four 2099 #4: "Negative Results"

Honestly, this series just isn't very good.  Kesel makes the odd decision of having this Chimera woman fall so in love with Reed that she keeps trying to kill Sue.  Sue is understandably mistrustful of her, but it all reads as unnecessarily catty.  Moreover, the Fantastic Four is enraged by the existence of Spider-Man 2099, as if he's somehow betraying the original Spider-Man.  They haven't seen enough of the 2099 world to be glad that it has a hero like Spider-Man?  Really?  Basically, they're all a bunch of assholes.  The only good part of this issue is that Miguel comments on meeting the original Spider-Man, so I know that "Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man" happened before this issue.

Fantastic Four 2099 #2: "Frightful Four"

If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I'm not exactly the type of guy to let a plot drop.  I'm particularly given to getting fixated on the progression of long-running sub-plots as they advance issue by issue.  As such, I'm still bothered by the fact that Herod has been running the 2099 universe since "Doom 2099" #33 and I have no idea what his motivations are.

In this issue, we learn that he wants to "suck America dry" in five years, though I'm not sure if that means that he supports the corporations or not.  I would guess that he does, since he seems to be working with Stark-Fujikawa in this issue; Stark-Fujikawa also worked with him in "2099 A.D. Apocalypse" #1, when it turned over its in-house superhero, Galahad.  After that issue, I thought Stark-Fujikawa was simply trying to curry favor with Herod, but now I'm wondering if Stark-Fujikawa isn't more directly involved in his plans, since it seems clear that it wants to take control of New York from Alchemax.  I'm hoping that I get some more insight into the state of play between Doom and Herod in "Doom 2099" #39, the next issue in this recapping project.

Of course, we're not talking about "Doom 2099" right now; we're talking about "Fantastic Four 2099," so I understand why Kesel isn't wasting a lot of space on the ongoing machinations of the 2099 universe's power elite.  But, it's not like I also don't have a host of questions that I wanted this issue to answer.

Since I didn't read the first issue of this series, I'm not clear how the Fantastic Four got resurrected.  In "2099 A.D. Genesis" #1, Stark-Fujikawa seemed to be blaming it on Alchemax (asking to review its systems), but it was also clear in that issue that Stark-Fujikawa was running the facility where the Fantastic Four were kept.  In this issue, Miguel and a recovering Tyler Stone are concerned that Stark-Fujikawa is pulling Alchemax into its problem, using Alchemax's network to announce to the public that the Fantastic Four were on the loose in New York.  So, if Stark-Fujikawa was keeping the Fantastic Four in suspended animation, why was it doing so?  Unlike my frustration with the Herod question, I understand why Kesel is drawing out the question of how and why the Fantastic Four find themselves active in the 2099 world.  I'm just hoping that it's not an open-ended mystery.

In terms of the story itself, I can't say it was all that gripping.  Kesel apparently divided up the team in the first issue.  In theory, it should've given us multiple opportunities to see them adjusting to finding themselves suddenly in 2099.  However, they all pretty much just marvel at the posters showing Doom as president.  However, since Doom hasn't been President for a few weeks at least, presumably, it seems oddly un-coordinated, like this series got delayed several times before it actually debuted.

All that said, Kesel did throw in a great 2099 moment here, with Stark-Fujikawa broadcasting images of the Fantastic Four attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents not because they had actually done so, but because it was their "predicted behavior."  Oh, 2099!