2099 World of Tomorrow #1

Background

It's August 1996, and all of the original Marvel 2099 titles have officially been canceled. Was this the end of the line as a whole? Nope, it had one last gasp in this series, which threw all the heroes of 2099 (that is, those that managed to survive “The Night of the Long Knives” as detailed in {{2099 A.D.: Apocalypse #1}}) into one big book. All your favorites are here – Spider-Man 2099, Doom 2099, and... X-Nation 2099?!? But even all that (questionable) star power wasn't enough to extend its lifespan past eight issues.

Story 'The World Of Tomorrow'

We start in space. While it may be true that no one can hear you scream, we can hear the Thing (from Fantastic Four 2099, duh) sending out a distress signal as he prepares to crash land the spaceship he is piloting onto the Martian plains. (This scene also has the honor of having one of the lamest callbacks to the Fantastic Four's origin story I've seen). On board with him are December, Metalsmith, Twilight (from X-Nation 2099), and a nun called Father Jennifer (yes, really) - all of whom are floating in some sort of suspended animation / cryogenic stasis chambers. After the impact, a tall, green figure covered in shadows sifts through the wreckage and drags off Thing.

We switch scenes to a futuristic ocean liner where Shiv and Trash from the Wild Boys (a gang of mutant kids who previously fought X-Nation 2099) spy a strange pod shooting out from the alien satellite that hovers above the Earth. They argue among themselves, allowing some rando (that we weren't even introduced to) to flee on a hovercycle. They give chase.

Our third scene (and the one I really think the issue should have started with) shows a group of new arrivals... um, arriving to the Savage Land and being greeted by Metalhead and Xian (both from X-Men 2099). A girl named Madeline, who will take more prominence in later issues, cozies up to Metalhead and her father yells at her to get away from the mutant. This little interchange reminds us that, yes, even though everyone is in the middle of a world-threatening crisis the tired old “feared by a world they're trying to save” trope is still in effect.

Before we get too deep into the meta narrative, however, the Human Torch (also from Fantastic Four 2099) arrives to upstage the two mutants. Xian asks him why he's out showboating when he should be at the “town meeting” that is being held in a nondescript tower that is handily shown behind ol' flame brain's right shoulder.

At least that conversation segues nicely into the fourth scene, where we find Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099 to you and me) arguing with Morphine Summers (from X-Men 2099 and X-Nation 2099 - a twofer!). It seems Morphine wants mutants to be declared the true rulers of the Last Refuge. Sue Storm (from Fantastic Four 2099) tries to smooth things out by suggesting that Miguel take charge as interim leader. Miguel says he's tired of being an authority figure and would much rather just pitch in as a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

This exchange, in turn, segues into another nondescript room where Reed Richards (the final member of the Fantastic Four 2099) is messing with some framistats and Sue is reporting on what went on at the meeting. They start arguing (gee, that's new) because Reed is overwhelmed with trying to keep the survivors of the human race alive, while Sue is anxious to return to their own time to see their son, Franklin.

Scene five takes us into the interior of the Savage Land, where Bloodhawk is returning to a camp where two others - Hodge (who hates mutants in general and isn't very fond of Bloodhawk in particular) and Winn (who is much more sympathetic) are waiting for him. And no, I have no idea who these guys are or where they came from, because as far as I can tell this is their first appearance. Then, Willow (a mutant metamorph from X-Nation 2099) breaks through the underbrush and joins them. Based off their conversation they are only half of a team sent out (by who they never exactly say) to further explore the Savage land for a reason that is never really clear.

This scene segues to yet another group of yahoos traipsing around the jungle. This group is comprised of Nostromo (a mutant technomacer from, you guessed it, X-Nation 2099), La Lunatica (a mutant albino enforcer from X-Men 2099), and a human named Jade Ryuteki. La Lunatica kills a sabertooth tiger that attacks them.

Scene six opens with Dr. Strange 2099 (who debuted in Spider-Man 2099 Vol. 1 #32 and played a major part in assembling the heroes for their last stand in the Savage Land) who is digging a well with the help of Metalhead. She gets tired of waiting on him and blasts a giant crater into the ground with a bolt of arcane energy. Our Dr. Strange (that is, the one we know from the 616 universe) is standing in for the Ancient One and chides her for misusing her mystic powers.

Meanwhile, back on Mars, December and Twilight wake up but can't open Metalsmith's life pod. Twilight uses her reality-bending “Sphere of Influence” power (yes, they had apparently run out of unique mutant talents) to save him. Along with Father Jennifer they discover the Thing is missing and vow to go out and find him. The green figure from before watches them from afar as they set off across the desert.

Scene seven (or is it eight?) begins with Uproar and Wulff (from X-Nation 2099, of course) doing their best Dumb and Dumber impression while scooping up a “spy” they find on the beach. (It's not clear from the story, but this is the same guy that escaped from the Wild Boys earlier). During the scuffle they find out he has been infected with a strange techno-organic virus that is eating away at his body. They bring him to Miguel (dressed in his Spider-Duds for some reason) and Shakti Haddad aka Cerebra (a mutant telepath who serves as the Professor X mentor figure for X-Nation 2099). The stranger babbles something about “the city in the mists” and Miguel pulls his mask on and decides to go on a little trip to find out what it's all about.

Back in the wilderness, Bloodhawk's crew decides it's time for some character development. Winn and Willow flirt. Bloodhawk thinks happy thoughts about his girlfriend (?) Jade Ryuteki. Nostromo and Willow are reunited for the first time since their last disastrous mission together (in X-Nation 2099 #5, I believe).

Meanwhile, the pool of water at the bottom of the crater Strange 2099 created is filling with blood. (Uh oh, Scooby!) As she flies down to investigate this ominous turn of events there's a rumble and two giant stone hands erupt out of the ground and grab her!

Meanwhile, the two halves of Bloodhawk's crew have finally joined up and discovered a cave with a gnarly looking alien spaceship in it. Nostromo, being half-man and half-machine, interfaces with its onboard computer to unlock the doors so they can walk in and have a look around.

On Mars, the X-Kids and Their Holy Chaperone finally come upon the abandoned Ares colony they've been looking for. Except it is far from abandoned as they are immediately surrounded by a group of armored guys pointing laser blasters at them.

And for our final (thank god) scene, we switch to Spider-Man on a boat. He somehow figured out the coordinates of “the city of the mists,” and is happily flying solo towards his destination. Or he would be, if not for a couple of stowaways - Wulff and Uproar, natch. Just as he starts yelling at them a big ship appears on the horizon. Before the trio can figure out their next move they are promptly blown out of the water.

General Comments

Whew. I feel like I just ran a marathon! If I counted correctly, five subplots are introduced in the span of 52 pages.

1) The Martian expedition 2) Reed Richards saves the world 3) Bloodhawk's exploration 4) Strange 2099 builds a well 5) Spider-Man's quest

The fact that no scene is given more than four pages to develop makes this narrative very hard to follow, to say the least.

Overall Rating

One of the major strikes against this entire thing is that none of the over two dozen characters that are in it are given proper introductions. Nary an affiliation or background is mentioned, the reader is just supposed to know who everyone is from the get-go. This is just very bad storytelling. Whatever happened to the idea that every comic is someone's first? At the very least give us some name labels to work with!

Footnote

It's interesting to note that we never see any of the heroes arrive at the Savage Land, and how or why they wound up in their respective positions. We basically begin all these new plots in media res.

The last time we saw Spider-Man he was on a rocket ship, fleeing Nueva York after blowing up Alchemax (see Spider-Man 2099 Vol. 1 #46).

The last time we saw the X-Men they had commandeered an Atlantean warship and were headed to the Savage Land (see X-Men 2099 #35). Somewhere along the way they lost two members as Meanstreak and Skullfire are nowhere to be seen.

The last time we saw the X-Nation kids they were in hanging with the FF who (along with some help from Doom 2099) successfully fended off the Atlantean invasion of Nueva York and they too were headed for the Savage Land (see Fantastic Four 2099 #8).