Spider-Man 2099 (Vol. 1) #19

Background

Lyla has gone nuts, attacking Miguel and Dana in a jealous rage.

Story 'Meltdown'

Miguel leaps out the window of his apartment, reminiscent of his first adventure, carrying the unconscious Dana with him while Lyla taunts him with threats. At Gabriel's apartment, Conchata discovers her son addicted to the Cybernet machine again. When she reaches out to him, she's electrocuted.

Meanwhile, Miguel, in costume, has discovered that it's not just Lyla that's acting crazy - the central computer grid seems to have crashed! The city is in total chaos as traffic guidance and moving sidewalks fail. On a large viewscreen, the face of the one apparently behind the anarchy appears - with a 2- dimensional face woven as if in ribbons.

An enraged Tyler Stone meets with his people, trying to discover what's going on. They assuming it is a form of virus possibly sent by someone named "Discord".

Outside, the head of Stark-Fujikawa is in a limousine, stuck in the traffic. Demanding action from his driver, he realizes he's stuck with a train heading for them. Spider-Man rips the roof off the car, rescuing both Hikaru-Sama and his driver. As Spider-Man leaves to rescue others, Hikaru ponders his blood- fued with the man that just saved him.

Miguel goes to pick up a confused Dana from the train station where he left her behind a webbed door. They head over to Gabriel's place where Conchata, hair standing on end, opens the door. The check on Gabe, and try to get him unhooked. Instead of simply unplugging him, which may cause to much of a shock to his system, Miguel decides to break out old hardware and network into cyberspace with his brother. In cyberspace, Miguel's "archetype" (his appearance in the virtual world", looks like a rollerblading Cyclops with a red skull on a blue costume. Following the flame trail left by Gabe's car, Miguel skated up to Gabe's crashed car. There, Discord stands holding the head of Gabriel, welcoming Miguel to enjoy the last 22 minutes of his life, and all of civilization!

General Comments

The issue was over quickly, and it felt like not much happened. It appears to be a transition and exposition story for Miguel's battle with Discord. Felt like a meal where you still want more at the end.

Overall Rating