Spider-Man 2099 (Vol. 1) #6

Background

After a battle with the Specialist and the Public Eye, Spider-Man plummets into the seedy and dangerous forgotten world of Downtown.

Story 'Downtown is Deadly'

In Downtown, two Watchdogs harass a mother (Miss Quan) and her child (Tomi) for being two months behind on "security payments". Before one of them could rape Miss Quan, Spider-Man crawls from out of the rubbish, badly injured. The Watchdogs fire on him, but Spidey webs one to the wall, while Miss Quan kicks her assailant "where it hurts". Spider-Man, barely able to walk, hops into the Watchdog's vehicle and programs it to drive him home.

Back at Alchemax, Sergeant Estevez is grilled by Tyler Stone for disobeying orders (using letal force against Spider-Man in Issue #5). Despite his 15 years of service, Estevez is fired with prejudice. A shadowed figure on Stone's video screen, very familiar with the first Spider-Man, berates Tyler, demanding him to make ammends for his failure to "unleash" Spider-Man on Stark Fujikawa. Tyler orders the best Public Eye team into Downtown to find and retrieve Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, Kasey searches for Spider-Man in the skies. She takes off to "call in the reserves." Uptown, Gabe suddenly parts with Dana after hearing about Spider-Man's fight with the Public Eye. Though Gabe denies that he's pursuing him, he drives off heading for Downtown.

Spider-Man ends up in front of the clinic of Dr. Morrow, a Thorite willing to help the "harbinger of Thor". The Public Eye find the Watchdogs, and allow them to tag along (if only as "cannon fodder").

Spider-Man is patched up. But despite the protests of Dr. Morrow (who respected Spider-Man's secret identity), he stumbled back to the car to get home as soon as possible. The Public Eye destroy his vehicle, and fire upon him (though following orders to take him back alive). Spider-Man makes a web "clothesline", knocking the Public Eye officers off their hovercrafts. Backed into a corner, Spider-Man traps himself until suddenly his opponents are viciously slain from above. An armored winged warrior calling himself the Vulture swoops down and lifts Spidey into the skies.

General Comments

An interesting story, expanding the background of the 2099 universe with the introduction of Downtown. Spidey's bad luck seems to be at an all time low, as he survives this story by the skin of his teeth.

At this point in the story, at issue #6, it feels like the story thus far has all been one long horrible day for Miguel. I was really ready for him to have a little bit of a break from all the tragedy - but David was having fun putting his new character to the test.

Overall Rating

Solid story writing, though not the most memorable of issues. It seemed to be more of an story to advance the plot with not too much happening - which is just fine! Every story doesn't need a major revelation.