2099 Omega // Review
The time is nigh, and the age of heroes must begin again. Nick Spencer’s 2099 event comes to a close, and the question remains if Doom will reign supreme.
2099 Omega is written by Nick Spencer, with Gerardo Sandoval and Ze Carlos penciling and inking the book. Victor Nava joins on the inking as well. Morry Hollowell, Brian Reber, and Andrew Crossley all provide colors, while Joe Caramagna letters the book.
Fresh from the ending of Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara has come across… his older self. Specifically, a Miguel O’Hara from the previous iteration of 2099 who has survived from our present time the hard way. He explains to his younger self that Doom suppressed the old age of heroes, but reality is fighting back and trying to bring some variant of that time to life. As it turns out, Doom has captured the Watcher from the moon and caged him to enforce his ideas. With his destiny literally spelled out for him, will Miguel take the mantle of the Spider-Man and assume his place as one of the keystones of the new age of heroes?
The second part of Spider-Man 2099’s origin story is an interesting one. It finally fleshes out what happened to change the world this way, to make it under Doom’s fist. The interaction between the two Miguels is interesting but does feel strangely anticlimactic compared to the scope presented by the other stories. The confrontation between Uatu the Watcher and Doom is excellent by comparison and actually feels like character development for Uatu for once. It’s also strange that the Alpha and Omega chapters do little to interact with one another, and only Spider-Man actually has any plot relevance or page time in the Omega chapter.
The art is excellent again, with Gerardo Sandoval and Ze Carlos’ pencils complimenting one another perfectly. The art once more teeters between the over the top cartoon and realism. With some excellent facial expressions on the page. Special attention should go to the final splash page, with what could be a fabulous pin-up of Spider-Man 2099 splashed across two pages. Real fantastic work here.
2099 was reintroduced as a glimpse into the future. As it turns out, that is all this is, a glimpse. While books like Punisher and Conan were fantastic, it turns out the core of the concept was just another look at a Spider-Man origin story. If this had been the intro for an ongoing, it could have been something more. As such, the ending is somewhat dissatisfying and leaves the reader wanting more.
Which isn’t always a bad thing.
