After coming to back to our time in Superior Spider-Man last year, Spider-Man 2099 is branching out on his own in a brand new ongoing series in July. The new Spider-Man 2099 series stars Miguel O’Hara of course as a man out of time, thrust into the past (i.e. the present day Marvel Universe) with a goal to prevent the dark future he came from. Joining O’Hara on this crusade is the writer of the original Spider-Man 2099 series from the 1990s, Peter David, and artist Will Sliney from Fearless Defenders.
“Miguel is now trapped in the present day Marvel Universe, so straight away we have to deal with the fact that in the greatest of Marvel traditions, we have a hero out of time,” Sliney says, referring to Captain America who was frozen in the 1940s and awaked in modern times. “I’m looking forward to drawing that iconic costume in the surroundings of some of New York’s gritty and textured looking neighborhoods.”
With Spider-Man 2099 now living and working in the present day he’s sharing space with his namesake and idol – the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker. With that fact front and center, an obvious question to David is what would Miguel call himself in modern times; to wit, David proffered an idea: “How about ‘S-Man?’”
Serious or not on that point, David says the new series will start with someone attempting to “remove Miguel violently” from this timeline. After that O’Hara will be pursuing the dealers behind Spider Slayers being sold to foreign countries, as well as delving into the just announced “Spider-Verse” event this fall. But there is a broader overarching story, according to David, dealing with Liz Allen and Miguel’s grandfather, Tiberius Stone.
In the original Spider-Man 2099 series set in the far-flung future year of 2099 (of course), the world was at the mercy of a tyrannical mega-corporation known as Alchemax, headed up by Tyler Stone – O’Hara’s father, and Tiberius’s son.
“Miguel is going to be endeavoring to reform Tiberius Stone; to make him into someone who cares about other people and might actually do a better job of raising Tyler Stone and thus make Miguel’s life easier,” David reveals, picking up on stories he established back in 1992’s original series. “Not to mention that he will try to exert influence over what sort of company Alchemax develops into.”
Rumors swirled that Marvel would be reviving the Spider-Man 2099 series given his surprise appearance in recent issues of Superior Spider-Man, with many decrying a relaunch unless written by Peter David, who wrote 44 of the 46 issues of the original series; those fans, of course, unknowing that David would indeed be writing the new series. David was very cognizant of those feelings, and feels they’re both positive and negative. “It’s thrilling and also kind of nerve-wracking,” David admits. “That’s quite a vote of confidence and I feel as if I have a lot to live up to.”
Sliney says being the one to relaunch Spider-Man 2099 is a coveted spot amongst the artistic community in comics and something he’s not taking lightly.
“The great thing about Spider-man 2099 is that I was recommended it by fellow artists when I started interacting with the comics community in New York,” Sliney reveals. “I pretty much wore it on my sleeve that I was a Spider-Man fan and all I kept hearing was that Spidey 2099 was the guy that most artists wanted to draw. Naturally enough, I sought out as much of the series as I could get my hands on and of course I loved everything that Peter and Rick Leonardi created. I see its influence in so many things these days so it’s only right that it has come back.”
When the opportunity then came to draw Spider-Man 2099, Sliney dug even deeper into the stories and ideas that David, Rick Leonardi and others developed in the original series.
“Being Irish, one of the first things I identified with Spider-Man 2099 was his half Irish heritage,” Sliney points out. “Obviously now we know that George O’Hara is not his biological father, never the less I always saw the fact that he was raised by a mean Irish old man gave him a much tougher exterior than the present day Spidey.” by Chris Arrant, Newsarama