Spider-Man 2099 (Vol. 1) #22

Background

Last issue was disconnected from the main storyline. Where we last left off, Miguel rescued his brother Gabriel from the net and the villainous Discord - but Gabe revealed to him that he knows he's Spider-Man!

Story 'Did You Just Say...?'

Finally, Gabe revealed that he's known about Miguel's secret identity from the start. He recognized the outfit from the Day of the Dead Festival, and Lyla only confirmed it (back in Issue #1) when he asked her what Miguel was wearing. Being a typical little brother, Gabe appeared to be enjoying knowing his secret - and laughing at knowing the difficulties Miguel faces as Spider-Man is not happening to him!

In Downtown, Kasey and Raff were up to trouble, stealing a runabout vehicle, when a man in the S.I.E.G.E. armor halts their escape. Raff tries and fails to run him over. Rather than arrest her, S.I.E.G.E. makes Kasey an offer from his employers and takes off with her, leaving Raff behind.

Miguel and Gabe awaken from their venture into Cyberspace. Miguel assured Conchata and Dana that Gabriel's trip into Cyberspace was not a sign of addiction. Gabe teased Miguel with Spider-Man innuendoes, but Miguel chastised him in private. Considering he just saved his brother's life, Mig requested Gabe fix Lyla, the holographic personality of his apartment's computer that had been acting psychotic.

With the Net damaged from the recent attack in Cyberspace, the Public Eye was offline. Two punks on hovercycles were about to play target practice with innocent bystanders when Spider-Man leapt to the rescue, and yanked them off their sleds with weblines.

Later, at Miguels apartment in Babylon Towers, Gabe agreed to fix Lyla, but did not understand why Miguel didn't just throw her out and start over. Miguel insisted that holo-agent is important to him without explanation to his brother. Flashing back in Miguel's memory, he remembers his first day at his apartment. Xina Kwan, apparently losing a bet to Miguel, helped him "break in" the apartment. As she begins to strip off her sweater, a tattoo of Marilyn Monroe is evident on her belly.

In the present, Kasey Nash is presented before Hikaru of Stark- Fujikawa. Though she struggles and postures, it's clear she'd been made an offer she cannot refuse.

Several hours later, Gabe is ready to give up working on Lyla. He suggests Miguel find someone who's an expert in artificial intelligence. One person comes to both of their minds: Xina.

Second Story:

Xina found Miguel nearly drowned floating in the swimming pool . She performed rescue breathing on him, though some peers thought she was kissing him. Angela Daskalakis arrived at the scene with a medic to check on Miguel's condition. When asked what happened, Miguel opted not to speculate that he was assulted - rather, he said he cramped up while swimming. Later, at Xina's dorm room, Miguel stopped by to thank her. He admitted that he thought someone held his head under water. Though suspicious of Krom, Miguel adamantly chose not to take Xina's lead and accuse him. Xina blames Miguel for being scared to which Miguel agrees.

General Comments

A welcome return of Peter David - even if he was only gone for 1 issue. Gabe's revelation ought to shake things up in the series, providing a new dynamic to the secret identity situation, not often shared by other superheroes.

The Young Miguel stories are so brief, they remind me of a daily newspaper cartoon strip - there's barely enough meat there, in the short space provided, to keep you interested for the next installment. Still, I'm interested in knowing how Miguel got to be the arrogant yet basically good-hearted man his is under the Spider- Man mask.

Overall Rating

A decent comic overall.