Spider-Man 2099, Vol. 2: Spider-Verse

Spider-Man 2099 (2014) (Collected Editions)

by Peter David (Writer), Will Sliney (Artist), Antonio Fabela (Colourist)

Miguel O'Hara is finally back in his home era, the year 2099! But there's no time for nostalgia as Spider-Man 2099, Lady Spider, and the six-armed Spider-Man are on the run for their lives from the dangerously ravenous Inheritors! Spider-Man 2099 and Lady Spider, of the steampunk 1800s, bring past and future science to bear as they study Daemos, desperate for a clue to help battle Morlun and his family. But can they make it back to the rest of the spiders in time to turn the tide of the final battle? Who will survive the Spider-verse? Will Miguel finally be able to return home for good? And what happens when he finds that his future is now...imperfect? Guest-starring that classic green-skinned future menace, the Maestro!

Collecting: Spider-Man 2099 #6-12

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2015

About the author

aka David Peters

Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spider-Verse, multiverse, future changed, and insanity reigns....oh and Tempest gets turned into a bug.


This volume is a mess. First off Spider-Verse hijacks it for tie-ins

and yada yada yada Miguel is back in the future. Unfortunately his future has been destroyed and Maestro rules.

Miguel makes it back to the past and accidentally turns Tempest into a bug, but it's cool.

Multiverse and time travel together in one volume is like using salt in place of sugar when you're baking...not good at all. I can say I've read the first few issues after this volume and things get better. That's all the positive I can say about this fiery train wreck. This is absolutely why people are wary about crossover events, it kidnaps their favorite titles and often leaves them dumped in a ditch with no phone, wallet, belt, or shoelaces wondering what on Earth just happened.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun, getting more clever now when it comes to dealing with the baddies. This is what I’ve been waiting for.

Future teaming up with steampunk is also quite a nice mix. :)

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of the same: sharp writing, fun story, nice artwork. A touch of time travel. I only read the issues that aren’t tied into Spider-Verse, because I already read those in another collection. The rest of the issues are focused on Miguel traveling back to 2099 and finding out that something went wrong in our time, so he has to go back and fix it. S’good!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't mind me, I'm only here for the steampunky Lady Spider. Really. This is the first time I've picked up a Spider-Man 2099 volume, and I only did it because I wanted to see more Lady Spider. This was a wise choice, because I absolutely love her. And I'll probably never see her again, which makes me sad. The rest of the book was fine, but I doubt I'll be back.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of Spidey 2099 is just as good as the first, with twists and turns aplenty. Peter David is going great guns on this book and I'm annoyed to see it end to make way for Secret Wars 2099 or whatever it's called. At least Peter's writing that, too.

I'm hoping Spidey 2099 will be back after Secret Wars. If it's not, I'm going to sulk.

[Hannah Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5/5

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic has time traveling Spider-Man specific vampires. Why are you still reading this review and not immediately purchasing this book?!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love me some Lady Spider. (But not spiders in real life. Have you ever watched one crawl slowly above your head, malice and forethought just dropping from its fangs, waiting until the right moment to pounce into your ear/hair/mouth/other orifices? They're assholes.)

Steampunk spider-man mythology is more fun somehow than 30's noir spider-man mythology. Which gets one to thinking: with all the S-M mythologies running rampant in this Spider-Verse story, have we now seen every possible combination?

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Spider-Man 2099, Vol. 2: Spider-Verse, Peter David’s writing for Miguel O’Hara remains a strong point, but the overall volume struggles to find its footing. The book shines in its quieter moments, particularly the subplot where Miguel helps his neighbor, which gives the character some much-needed grounding. These flashes of great character work, however, are quickly overshadowed by the demands of the larger "Spider-Verse" event. The story feels incredibly rushed and mix-matched in quality, with the personal journey of Spider-Man 2099 constantly put on hold to service the multiverse crossover. This makes the entire volume feel like a jumbled mess that's too involved in a story that isn't its own.

Ultimately, this volume is a weak and frustrating read. The inclusion of other timelines and Spider-People felt lame, adding little more than noise to a narrative that was already struggling. Instead of exploring Miguel's unique struggle as a man out of time, the book forces him into a chaotic, event-driven plot that robs his character of any real focus. For fans of Peter David's work on the character, it's a disappointing entry that serves more as a tie-in than a standalone story. Overall, it's a volume that fails to live up to its potential, earning a 2.5 out of 5.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half is part of the spider-verse event the other half was some time travel weirdness that seemed to tie into some other story idk.

He really gets thrown right into the middle of this shit and then nothing is ever explained and then it just ends with no resolution?? I hate the Hulk fr.

Then the woman who gets turned into a literal bug and he's just like eh it's a one time thing that happened and moves on?? How do you KNOW it was a one time thinf why are we not more concerned about this. 😭

The art was good though.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Spider-Verse Meh.

What's here is okay, but it isn't quite Peter David's work. Not really. Not when it's part of huge event the true scale and contours of which I never cared enough about to really read. The stuff that follows the Spider-Verse stuff was all right, but it too was slightly meaningless because the volume ends in Secret Wars. So this one was thoroughly meh-ed by the general disaster that are the modern main-stream comic company's company wide events.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spider-Man is one of the most difficult titles for me to read. I feel like I need to do hours of research before I open a volume to understand context, get the reading order, and then acquire the other titles that this book jumps between. It's not Peter David's fault, but I'm not reading Amazing Spider-Man so I missed out on connecting issues. Ah, well.
I DO super appreciate that Lyla is there before each issue with a recap for me, filling me in on important info. Well done Lyla/Peter David/the Spider-Man Marvel editors.

I liked the Daemos storyline and the involvement of other Spidys from across the Spider-Verse, though it broke my heart every time a Spidy was killed (eaten?!).
I very much liked Lady Spider (May <3) and even Lord Harold Osborn, though his ending was messed up.
I don't know what happens to Lady Spider & the end of the story because this volume jumps to issue #9 with Miguel in a dystopian 2099 with Maestro (a future smart Hulk who I didn't know).

Did anyone else notice the <- Storm??
(Directly to the left of the fourth speech bubble starting "Nor, frankly...".)


I didn't love these issues (#9 & #10), but they were pretty short, so... moving on!


I all kinds of loved the last two issues #11 & #12 back in "the present" (2014) with Tempest. Super unexpected short mutation plot device, but it was all action and enjoyable. Funny how the news chopper traffic reporter was just like aw man, "Not again!" when Spider-Man slammed into her helicopter lol. And also, that lady cop in the park was adorable! <3
Great ending -I love that Tempest knows. ;)


The volume as a whole was a bit choppy. 3.5 stars total, with me now having to google the reading order after Secret Wars. Sigh.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Spider-Verse stuff is good as a tie-in but the Maestro and Tempest stuff afterward is truncated and inconclusive. And this is the end of the run for this title? What a mess.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty good volume, but I'm negating one star because of the Spider-Verse 1/2 (the first half is Spider-Verse, the second just continues Miguel's story).

I have read ALL of the Spider-Verse in the big, fat volume that came out a year or so ago. Now, anyone else who has NOT read it will be really confused and feel like they missed a lot at the beginning of this volume - hence the three and not four stars. There was absolutely no transition, it was lazy. Put in one more comic that ties volume one and volume two together.

I also take issue with evil Bruce Banner-Hulk from the future. I don't know why, can't put my finger on it, but the character just doesn't ring true to me in a lot of ways.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dependably likable, Peter David's scripts are always fun, and in artist Will Sliney he has a collaborator who is growing talent. Spider-Man 2099, the most fun of the 2099 bunch, deserves this revival. Too, he gets a deserved new cast of characters: confusingly, he jumps in time between 2014-5 and 2099.
That makes this part of the Spider-Verse crossover... which you only get a few chapters of here. Other stories are better.
Still, recommended.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories, too bad the organization of the volumes was so Mish-mashy. Half of it was spider-verse, which was awesome. The other half was an unfinished maestro story and spider-man curing his apartment mate of cancer. And then the letters page says it's the last issue. The series overall had a lot of potential but jumped around too much.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to like this more than I do. It's actually not bad for an alternate worlds time-travelling multiple spider marvel book. But all of those things count against it. And there are too many bad guys - like everyone in Miguel's company - that I don't care about. The book just feels cold.

[Daniel Etherington · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those frustrating trades that doesn't have complete story-lines or conclusions.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 2 picks up where volume 1 left off... sort of.

Just as the previous installment ended leading into the Spider-Verse crossover event, this one picks up mid-way through. Miguel returns to his native 2099, with an alternate version of Peter Parker and an 18th Century steam-punk hero named Lady Spider (aka May Reilly). They are on the run from the cloned Inheritor named Daemos, who recalls everything up to his predecessor's death and is hungry for vengeance AND more spider totems. While it is slightly annoying to come in mid-story, obviously many readers would have most likely been following the Spider-Verse story line, and so it could be worse. We get no resolution however, as the plan that 2099 and Lady Spider concoct comes to fruition in another book...somewhere. I stand by my comment from volume 1 that these tie-in issues would be better served in a collection of Spider-Verse issues, but from a marketing standpoint it makes sense to try and get readers to purchase more. I will say that the action and story in this collection were fast-past and enjoyable and the art was very solid.

The second story arc happens after Spider-Verse is concluded and Miguel is once again transported back to 2099. This time however, he quickly discovers that this is not the world he left behind. It is a desolate, ravaged land that is now under the rule of the despotic future version of the Hulk known as the Maestro. Spidey soon learns that he must try and go back in time to stop the Maestro's rise to power and change his timeline back to normal. While back in his past, he attempts to help Tempest, his building super who he saved from muggers way back in issue one. Things go awry and he soon finds himself trying to contain an even bigger threat. Both parts of this story are pretty decent with intriguing plot, decent art, and pretty good action. The problem is that we get no resolution for either pieces of this arc. At the conclusion of issue 12, Marvel's Secret Wars started and that saw all of the regular titles end. I hope that future Spider-Man 2099 books provide some closure to both the Maestro and Tempest story lines.

My rating for this book teeters between four star and three star. Most of the art is solid throughout, great characterization and development, and decent action are found within. What pushes this back towards the three territory is how annoying the fragmented plot lines are. Spider-Verse tie-ins with no before or after do intrigue me as to what happened and will happened, but not enough that I will be making a quest to track them down. As it is, I only happened to stumbled upon this book and its precursor while browsing at the library. I will look forward to see if future Spidey 2099 books pick up the Maestro & Tempest plots, as I know there are collections from the post-Secret Wars SM 2099 title. I wish Marvel would think about how huge events affected the individual titles a bit more than they do. You either have tie-ins that totally derail what had been happening in the narrative or tie-in the feel disjointed as to when they are finally used or even plots that get developed but have no pay off. All can be super frustrating.

So all in all, a pretty good read. If you are a fan of the SM 2099 character, the Spider-Man mythos, the Spider-Verse event, or even time travel stories this may be right up your alley. As I typically do, I recommend picking this up at your local library, if you can.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drugi tom przygód O'Hary to niezły bałagan, na który składa się kilka opowiadań.

Pierwsze to uzupełnienie do wydarzeń ze Spiderwersum, kiedy to w pewnym momencie Miguel udaje się z dwójką innych Spiderów do swojej wersji przyszłości, gdzie szukają sposobu na pokonanie Morluna i spółki. Zabierają ze sobą ciało jednego z Dziedziczących, jednocześnie narażając się na bycie śledzonym przez Dziedziczącego do, którego to ciało należało. Mamy tu festiwal walk. Fajny udział Punishera z przeszłości i tyle (no może jeszcze taka stara steampunkowa wersja Złowieszczej Szóstki był spoko).

Potem mamy powrót Miguela do siebie, ale z jakiejś przyczyny jego linia czasowa uległa zmianie i teraz tą Ziemią włada Maestro, pewna forma Hulka, która wybiła wszystkich herosów z tego świata. To chyba najfajniejszy moment całego tomu. Mamy tu niezły twist i oczekiwanie co dalej, bo konsekwencje mogą być mocne.

Ostatnia historia dotyczy Tempest, z którą O'Hara kręci. Z poprzedniego tomu wiemy, że kobieta miała raka. Tutaj Spider używa leku, jaki uzyskał z przeszłości. Co prawda leczy to chorobę, ale powoduję małą przemianę... To była chyba najgłupszy fragment tego zbioru.

Chaos na stronicach trochę boli, bo oczekiwałem spójnej historii jak wcześniej, ale nie przeszkadzałoby mi to tak, jakby te historie były jakieś. 2/3 tego temu nie dało mi żadnej rozrywki. Tym bardziej, że w warstwie wizualnej też jest średnio. Dlatego też czuję tu rozczarowanie.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

July 2023. Collected comics of Spider-Man 2099 (2014 series) Vol 2-4. Miguel O’Hara is stuck in 2014 and when he finds a way home sees the future has been changed, so he stays in 2014 to try to guide the past.

This was a real mixed bag for me. The second volume in particular, in which they mixed time travel and the multiverse, was a confusing mess and lacked direction. Volumes 3-4 were better but got 3 stars on goodreads for me. There are so many characters with lost memories and things like that it’s frustrating.

At times I’m invested and things are moving forward, while at other times it’s just a bag of cameos from the rest of the Marvel universe.
I like Miguel O’Hara’s dry internal monologue and him as a character.
I might get the other volumes form the library eventually, but I’m not in a rush to see what happens next.

Borrowed from the library in physical form, they also had them digitally with Hoopla.
Collected comics of Spider-Man 2099 (2014 series) Vol 2-4.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was right, the Spider-Verse story in the last volume wasn't even mentioned in this, I knew it was pointless.

This suffers from the same problem as the first volume, where the story is very jumbled up. A lot of things happen but because you don't stay with any of the characters, nothing really matters. I liked the last issue which focused on Miguel doing the right thing, but getting bit in the ass for it. The Maestro stuff was kind of cool but felt unneeded and Lady Spider's story was just left hanging.

[Christopher Mclean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Lady Spider and the steampunk world she brought with her, unfortunately the rest of this book is an absolute mass.

Read as part of the full event I quite enjoyed the spider-verse story, primary because of the excellent lady spider. The remaining three issues were all over the place, we get a snapshot of a destroyed 2099, then tempest is evil then she isn't, then it all ends. We get no resolution at all to the 2099 storyline and and even the tempest story is left hanging.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

It' Peter David, so it's very readable, but the story is only okay. The three issues of Spider-verse crossover aren't bad, but I feel like there was more potential to develop Lady Spider. Then Miguel returns to 2099, only it isn't the 2099 he knew, it's the world of Hulk: Future Imperfect. With only hanging plot threads, Miguel retuns to the present where he tries to cure his landlady's cancer, with comic book style disasterous results.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter David always has fun with Spidey 2099 but as a whole, this collection is not very good. There are parts of the Spider-Verse crossover and then some disjointed remains of what's left of the main title before it abruptly ends. I do enjoy Miguel and how he's different than Peter. Will Sliney's art, again, was superb. I really enjoy his kinetic Spider-Man, or in this case Spider-Men. Overall, a below average book that is raised by the art.

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked it, greatly respect and love Peter Davids' work. Aside from Shattered Dimension, this is my official dip into Spider-Man 2099s' character and I really enjoyed what I read, now just need to go back 20 years and read up on Miguel O'Haras' humble beginnings.

[Tim Lapetino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun continuing adventures of Spider-Man 2099. I really enjoyed the appearance of the future version of the Incredible Hulk in this ongoing series.

[Saravanan Mani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real five-star superhero who plays one of the leading roles in the spider-verse story-arc. Will definitely read more of him.

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Stars

[Yosef · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it so much.