Spider-Man 2099 (Vol. 1) #11

Background

Spider-Man has gained purpose to his life - meaning beyond being Miguel O'Hara. With fire in his belly, Spider-Man begins to defend the helpless and fight the oppression of his own employer, Alchemax.

Story 'Under Seige'

The Public Eye attempt to "adminster justice" upon an Alchemax graffiti-artist protestor is interrupted by further wall writing by the wall crawler. One of the cops is actually a specially trained agent planted by an Alchemax and Stark-Fujikawa jointed project armed with SItuation Emergency GEar: SIEGE. Spewing apologetic sound bytes and assorted weaponry, two of SIEGE's homing missiles head for the retreating Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, Gabe and Dana get together for lunch, just to talk. Gabe is late since he was spending time with his girlfriend Kasey. Whether Gabe and Dana's old feelings for each other are evolving is yet to be seen.

Back at the fight, Spider-man webs the missiles and arcs them back to SIEGE. SIEGE manages to survive the explosion, and ropes a cord of castrodinium alloy around his neck. Before Spider-Man has a chance to asphyxiate, SIEGE is blasted by an intense energy blast, drilling a hole through him. A mysterious man dressed like an ancient Greek soldier in a golden helmet fires the shot. SIEGE drops from the sky nearly landing on Gabe and Dana. The graffiti artist sprays on SIEGE "Alchemax Bites".

Spider-Man sees his mysterious savior fly away. With his enhanced vision, he sees a flying craft with the letter omega written underneath.

Miguel talks to Lyla in his apartment about the man who saved him. Pressing Lyla to form an opinion, Lyla says that if she were human, she would be in love with him. Disturbed by his hologram's reply, Miguel heads over to Alchmax. At his lab, Miguel finds someone else occupying his place. The smarmy scientist, Jordan Boone, has been transferred over from Euromax and assigned by Tyler Stone to look over Miguel's work. Seething, Miguel heads over to thank Tyler personally.

In Tyler's office is Dana, much to Miguel's surprise. She explains her contract between her firm, Synthia, and Alchemax. Miguel demands than Jordan is removed from his lab. Tyler agrees, and offers a business/pleasure trip the following week for Dana and Miguel. Miguel and Dana leave, and Mig explains his concern for Dana in dealing with a snake like Tyler. As Miguel talks to Dana, Dana laughs seeing Mig fall for the old ink-around-the-microscope trick.

Off in the distance, the helmeted warrior prepares for nightfall to war against Alchemax.

General Comments

Poor Spidey. Seems Miguel has had to suffer the same verbal abuse during combat that his predecessor used to deliver. From the Specialist, to Venture, to Vulture, and now SEIGE - Spidey has met in match when it comes to the mouth. By now at issue #11, though the flavor of taunting is different (SEIGE prefers to use cop-rhetoric to annoy his adversary), the fighting has begun to seem a bit formulaic. With so many avenues to explore in the year 2099, another fight in the skies with an arrogant foe is indicative of the first signs of the writing wearing thin.

Still, there's intrigue with the first appearance of Thanatos, and some fair chuckles. And what's up with Lyla?

Overall Rating

Overall, I give this issue 3.5 webs. Not bad, but not one of the best.