Spider-Man 2099 (Vol. 1) #32 (Story 1)

Background

Last time we saw Miguel, he was having one heck of a nightmare as he lay knocked out in the desert trying to walk home in the desert from the catastrophic visit to Nightshade. Ex-girlfriend Xina comes to his rescue.

Story 'Day of the Dead'

Mexico City - Some nut is caught graverobbing in a cemetery. He whacks the caretaker with his shovel.

Meanwhile, a woman named Strange (no doctorate!), a young lady with a less serious demeanor than her 20th century counterpart, thinks it's "Kewl" that she foresees being allies with Spidey in the near future.

Miguel reminisces about the Day of the Dead Festival, and how this is where he first wore his costume. His costume was originally a creepy skull-faced outfit intended for partying purposes only - not for superheroics!. Xina awakens to find that Miguel was a gentleman and slept on the couch. Miguel dismisses her as resistible, and that he's not looking for romance. Xina walks out from under the covers completely undressed to shove his "resistible" remark right in his face.

Miguel leans out his hotel room's window, pondering his restraint. He looks over and sees his brother, Gabriel, in the next room. Shocked to see each other in the same hotel in Mexico, Gabri falls out the window, but is caught by a webline from Miguel. Inside, Xina emerges from a shower while Mig tries to hide his brother's webbed arm.

In a seedy part of town, a man name Morgez last seen robbing a grave, performs a ritual upon a woman's corpse. The superintendent complains about the smell from the room, but Morgez's threats scare about the inquisition.

The two brothers, Kasey, and Xina walk through the streets of the festival. As Miguel and Gabri talk about Kasey's misunderstanding of who's really Spider- Man, Xina happily discovers that Kasey has lost her taste for Miguel.

Fernando Morgez's ritual reaches an apex with light blazing from a talisman as he recites an incantation. Strange arrives by a flying vehicle. The light blasts from the roof of Morgez's room, blinding Miguel's sensitive eyes. Morgez has failed. He tried to revive his sister, Anita, from the dead. He promised her as a boy that he's always be there for his sister. Instead, it looks like he woke the dead in the local graveyard instead.

Miguel is admitted to the hospital, where he's diagnosed as being flash- blinded. The doctor leaves Miguel to heal in his room, while the 3 others leave to enjoy themselves at Mig's request.

With his vision still obscured, Mig leaves the hospital as Spider-Man. Strange levitates to the rooftop to greet him, while Spidey mistakes her for Risque. Below, real zombies begin to fill the streets.

General Comments

Before I was complaining that Spidey 2099 was stuck with Spidey facing similar villains in the city, without exploring the world of 2099. Now that he is...I'm still not overly excited. The only sign this story is taking place in the future is the flying car that carries Strange to Mexico City. Still, I'm glad for the change of pace. Artists du jour Robinson and Palmiotti did a fair enough job with nice layouts, shadows, and details. Nothing breathtaking, but on the money. I like the cover art. I also like that Peter David remembered that Miguel has sensitive eyes after his transformation.

Overall Rating

An average story. An "average" 3 webs.