For The Comics Fans
Topic: Comic Books
Spider-Man is cool okay, sure. But he isn't half as cool as Spider-Man 2099. Yet, for some reason, Marvel Comics chose to dump the 2099 line, and dropped the future web-slinger with it. Now, if you search through their site, you don't even see a mention of the line at all. They treat it like a bastard child they refuse to acknowledge, because of the embarrassment they'd feel.

The only place you can find Spider-Man 2099 is in the fan sites. Do a Google search and you'll see tons of references. This title was popular! But you can't find it anywhere. Marvel sucked as much life out of it as they could, then ditched it. It's like the way Paramount is trying to kill Star Trek (which really doesn't affect me one way or the other, I mention it only for comparison).

Which is sad, because I'd really like to read more Spider-Man 2099. I'd also like to read more Ghost Rider 2099. I liked that even better than the Spider-Man title. But I digress.

Differences, for those that think it's just another great-responsibility/great power title.

For one thing, the personalities are totally different. The 2099 hero was actually suicidal for a short while, until he realized that he was going to make the other guys dance on a string instead. Spider-Man 2099 fought a future version of The Vulture... a cannibal. At one point, he damaged The Vulture's flight system, and the cannibal dropped like a rock. So Spider-Man snagged him with a web and saved his life.

Ha! No! Just kidding. Actually, he let The Vulture hit! He hesitated, and then stopped! He made the decision that the world was better off without an aggressive, murderous cannibal, and let him die! The future Spider-Man was much less idealistic, and thought the whole great power/responsibility ratio was over-rated. Nobody else believed it, and used their power, whether it be strength, influence, or money, with no discrimination whatsoever, and if he applied such an ethical rule, he reasoned, he'd be hurting himself. He used his power for good, sure, but he did it with very few rules governing his actions.

He didn't talk much, either. Compared to the chatter his predecessor was constantly spewing, he was practically mute.

Oh, but the powers. Well, they were the same, but different.

He didn't have Spider-Sense (TM)(C)(R)(Don'tSuePlease). He had 'accelerated vision,' whatever that means. He could see wavelengths of light other people couldn't, and he could see very minute and distant objects clearly. His eyes were very light-sensitive as well, and low-light didn't mess with his vision.

He climbed walls too, but differently. See, he had these very hard, very sharp talons on the tips of his fingers and toes. They dug into the surface to which he was 'clinging' and supported him. They also made great weapons.

He didn't have web shooters. He made his own webs, like the movie version of Spider-Man, but they fired out of the top of his wrists instead of the bottom.

He was just as strong as the original model, and just as fast and agile too. He was just as smart, if not smarter.

He had something the original didn't, though. He had fangs. They delivered a paralytic toxin. Yep... this spider was poisonous.

All in all, the artwork, writing, and characters in Spider-Man 2099 were great, and I preferred (and still prefer) it to the other 3 godzillion titles for the present-day incarnation of Spider-Man. I really wish they'd bring it back. But that's not likely, seeing as how Jim Lee is apparently poker-buddies with Mike Eisner, and seems determined to wreck the empire his father helped to create, and good titles will be few and far between. Miguel O'Hara, we hardly knew ye.

Marvel Comics
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