2099 World of Tomorrow #4

Background

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up... There's a big alien space ship in orbit that is doing really bad things to earth's environment, such as melting the polar ice caps and causing the sea level to rise so much there's no inhabitable space except for the Savage Land at the South Pole. An assortment of superheroes and average joes have assembled there and are trying to rebuild civilization.

Story 'De-Evolution'

We start where we left off last issue, with Garokk the Petrified Man monologue-ing (is it okay for me to verb that?) to Strange 2099, who has no choice but to listen to him drone on because her hands are trapped in a set of stone shackles. Her sidekick, Umi, just looks on. Basically, this guy has finally broken free of his stone prison just in time to steal the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme from our heroine. (It's a mighty nice coincidence that she happened along when she did.) Anyway, Umi “feeds” Strange a spell to break her bonds and then the fight is on!

Unfortunately, before things get too interesting, we segue to the interior of the Last Refuge. Maddie runs to get help for Shakti (who was struck down by “Franklin” last issue) and immediately runs into Metalhead. Our favorite (?) metal-clad mutant in turn runs and gets Xian, but the leader of the X-Men 2099 passes on the opportunity to save his former teammate's life. Metalhead asks the question that everyone is thinking: “Why are you actin' like this?” And all Xian replies is, “Because I can, old friend...” Anyway, Xian eventually stops being a jerk and arrives at Shakti's side. He uses his healing hand on her and walks away.

Meanwhile on Mars (that phrase is beginning to sound like a band name to me), our trio of misfits are escorted into the Takers' stronghold. For some reason the X-Kids and Dr. Isaacs are given a free tour of the group's inner sanctum where they see more giant green creatures in life pods as well as the Martians' feeble efforts at terraforming, which is what they needed all of the stolen equipment for. Did I mention that these guys don't talk? Well, they don't and its kind of refreshing.

We switch scenes once again to see Spidey, Doom and Xina confronting the Emissary, who is doing his best T-1000™ impression while fighting off all three of them. Actually, I'm not sure if it is just the Emissary they are fighting or if more Phalanx has joined them. While Spider-Man distracts him, Doom grabs Xina and flees. In the middle of this retreat, Doom dispatches his Dogs of War to the Savage Land. We'll return to them later.

Speaking of, we are back beneath the Savage Land where La Lunatica emerges from the water and says she found Nostromo at the bottom of the pool in another techno-organic cocoon (we saw this trick last in X-Nation 2099 #5, he does this all the time). Jade Ryuteki, the tech expert of the group, suits up in a wet suit (don't ask where she got it from) and dives down to retrieve him.

Meanwhile, above ground, the humans and mutants have another low-grade confrontation. Just in case you forgot that they still don't like each other. Victor Ten Eagles is there once again to defuse the situation.

Back underground once more, Strange blasts Garokk with some green mystical energy that emerges from her eyes and mouth (?), knocking him backwards. She presses her advantage by sending another green mystical beastie to take a chunk out of Garokk but he uses a handy magical portal to teleport it behind her so she gets smacked down instead. Very original stuff. Garokk lays his both his hands on her shoulder and now she is turned to stone and he is returned to flesh. Scratch one hero.

Back on Mars, the fates of the kids that the Takers... uh, took is revealed. They died due to some failed cloning experiments that the Martians were using to replace their own dwindling numbers. December and Metalsmith freak out and attacks the aliens, and the aliens respond in kind. Before things get really nasty, however, Twilight (remember her?) pops up out of nowhere to save the day.

Meanwhile, back in Latveria, Spidey is still trading blows with the Emissary. His costume has been treated with anti-viral nanites so he can't be assimilated, but that trick doesn't really help him in defeating the alien.

Meanwhile meanwhile, Xina and Doom are in some sort of danger room and it is not very clear how far away from the action they are. They squabble back and forth, because Xina (just like Spider-Man) is upset that Doom betrayed the human race to save his own hide. Doom brushes that off once again, and asks her to help him purge his armor interface of the nano-machines he installed earlier because it has potential to be taken over by the Phalanx. (This is something he probably should have done earlier, but he says it was not clear that he could survive the ordeal.)

So, now they're doing this thing. Oh, and Spider-Man is there now too. No idea how he found them so easily. And why, if he could find them the Emissary can't. But whatever. Before Doom plugs himself into the computer terminal, he once again reveals a soft spot for Xina, telling her, “I-I have faith in you.” Talk about out of character!

Anyway, does he survive? Of course. The writers couldn't even save the reveal for next issue because he almost immediately steps back out of the Chamber of Doom™.

Elsewhere, in the continuing adventures of Beavis and Butthead 2099™, Wulff and Uproar and their escort Fiona finally make it to the throne room of the big oil tanker they've been wandering around for the last 2 issues and meet the Big Boss - Vulture 2099 (last scene in Spider-Man 2099 #44!

Meanwhile, Jade Ryuteki opens up Nostromo's cocoon and brings him up to the surface. Now Nostromo's entirely covered with those squiggly lines that denote the Phalanx's techno-organic skin. Hodge and Bloodhawk squabble some more while some masked goons (the story isn't clear on this but these are Doom's Dogs of War) rappel down from the ceiling. Winn rushes forward to grab Nostromo out of the water and now he's covered in techno-organic skin, too! He sneers at the others and says, “Now and forevermore, Nostromo belongs – body and soul – to the Phalanx!”

General Comments

So, obviously the big reveal here is that Nostromo is the “scout” that everyone has been looking for. And frankly, it comes off as just another mystery that took way too long to be revealed.

I really didn't want to go into the backstory, because it gets way more in depth this series deserves, but here's a quick rundown of the Mutant Messiah plotline. In Doom 2099 #38, after Doom is deposed as King of America, he runs into the X-Men 2099 while on a detour in Halo City. It's here that he first reveals a prophecy which says that in the next generation of mutants a messiah will rise up and lead all of Mutantdom to... something. (Actually, the details of what exactly this Mutant Messiah will do is never explained. Go figure.) Cerebra, aka Shakti Haddad, takes Doom at his word and quits the X-Men in order to mentor the X-Nation brats who are all living in an orphanage. (How she knows Doom is talking about this particular set of kids is not explained either.) And that, kiddies, is the not-so-fantastic origin of X-Nation 2099!

But, as one final twist, Doom reveals that he started the whole Mutant Messiah rumor just so he could have others bring the “scout” to him instead of searching the whole world himself. Given how this issue ends it seems that this scheme of his didn't really work out that well, did it?

Overall Rating

As far as mysteries go, this entire Mutant Messiah mess wasn't even half as intriguing as the X-Traitor storyline from the X-Men way back in the Nineties. (Look it up, kiddies.)