Written by: Peter David
Art by: Will Sliney
Publisher: Marvel
Spider-Man 2099 #2 presents the hero trying to be the best man he can be inside and outside of the costume. He’s not so concerned about trying to understand the year he’s been transported to, but get by in it. His only threat is from his boss discovering his actual identity.
Writer Peter David has seemed to hone his skills better in between the many years of not writing the character. He presents the straight man in an odd world, rather than the classic Spider-Man as the comic relief in an odd world. The comic avoids the trope of the time-displaced character being in goofy hijinks because he doesn’t understand the world. David flips it over to comment on how strange our time is. It’s a rather clever and funny commentary on what we deem normal in our society. He also does a brilliant job of deconstructing Spider-Man and his rather unspectacular life by referencing the strong amount of coincidence in the life of a superhero. David is also fleshing out the character better than he did in his original run.
The only problem with the comic continues to be the art. Will Sliney has difficulty with creating natural looking faces, the character’s expressions look awkward for many panels. The main issue I have is that he puts so much detail into certain things (generally clothing) and presents the same or similar items bare of detail in the same panel. It looks misplaced, as if certain things shouldn’t be on the page but were pasted on. He adds lens flares, which is an interesting choice in comics. But, it looks very out of place and it distracts from the rest of his art.
Sliney does accomplish giving a strong sense of fluidity to Spider-Man’s movements. Generally action scenes in comics feel stiff, but you get a real sense of motion to the fights. It’s clear that Sliney was brought on because he was able to portray the protagonist’s gymnastic nature.
The book is a phenomenal read. David doesn’t waste our time with the protagonist trying to figure out this time period, but quickly (and comically) addresses the oddities of the present as they occur. The art isn’t terrible, it just suffers from being rather awkward. Though there is a lot of history with the character, you are easily caught up and won’t miss anything if you haven’t read anything prior.
