The Amazing Spider-Man: 2099 Companion

Marvel 2099 (2019) #1-9

by Nick Spencer, Karla Pacheco, Gerry Duggan

Back to the future! From the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN comes an epic that threatens the far-flung world of 2099 - and its greatest heroes! Conan the Barbarian - still trapped in a world he never made! The Punisher - fighting a war on crime in the streets of Nueva York! The Fantastic Four - protecting an Earth ruled by their greatest enemy! Miguel "Spider-Man" O'Hara - facing his destiny! And Ghost Rider - wreaking futuristic vengeance! Plus, Alchemax has the cure for what ails you - its name is Venom! And in an era where everything has changed, there is one constant...Doom!

COLLECTING: 2099 ALPHA 1 (2019), CONAN 2099 (2019) 1, DOOM 2099 (2019) 1, FANTASTIC FOUR 2099 (2019) 1, GHOST RIDER 2099 (2019) 1, SPIDER-MAN 2099 (2019) 1, THE PUNISHER 2099 (2019) 1, VENOM 2099 (2019) 1, 2099 OMEGA 2099 (2019) 1

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

296 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Nick Spencer is a comic book writer known for his creator-owned titles at Image Comics (Existence 2.0/3.0, Forgetless, Shuddertown, Morning Glories), his work at DC Comics (Action Comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and for his current work at Marvel Comics (Iron Man 2.0, Ultimate Comics: X-Men).

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Nick Spencer led re-imagination of the Marvel 2099 Universe is like a lot of Marvel work at the moment uninspiring and lacking real creativity. I don't know if if feels this way because of the great work coming from Image, Dark Horse, Vertigo, Dynamite etc. or just the result of the MCU taking precedence and every writer thinking of movie adaptations?

The one shining light in this mediocre batch is Chip Zdarsky's Doom 2099, which I recommend every Marvel fan reads, it's a dark delight. 5 out of 12 overall.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a tremendous disappointment. I was a big fan of the 2099 universe from the 90's. So when I heard Marvel was bringing it back in these one shots, I was stoked. Instead, Nick Spencer decided to reboot the 2099 universe so these were all origin story one shots for characters we will more than likely never see again. Most of the characters don't even get their powers until the last page or two. The whole thing doesn't make a lick of sense. God, this whole series just makes me mad.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short-lived 2099 relaunch was fairly disappointing, the Punisher and Ghost Rider one-shots were the only ones I truly enjoyed, I'd be up for a series relaunch set in the 2099 universe, but it looks like people are not really buying into it.

[AJ Kallas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Space Conan is cool. But overall this event was an odd revisit to 2099.

[James Hynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what the point of this was. It reads like a broad reboot of the 2099 timeline, but I don’t know why they’d do it and in the Omega issue, it’s given a connection to the old stuff, making it kind of a continuation. But why? The old 2099 stuff was fun and the Spider-Man 2099 series by Peter David ran a long time, with a new series ending pretty recently. Why throw all that away now? The stories in here aren’t terrible, but none of them are as strong as their original counterparts making the whole thing feel sort of pointless.

[Keef Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection. I'm surprised it's rated so low. The stories are really unique and not predictable. I liked most of them, just not all of them. Fantastic four, ghost rider, spiderman, and omega were really great. Conan and punisher dragged on a bit and I could've done without them.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

COLLECTS 2099 ALPHA #1 (2019), CONAN 2099 (2019) #1, DOOM 2099 (2019) #1, FANTASTIC FOUR 2099 (2019) #1, GHOST RIDER 2099 (2019) #1, SPIDER-MAN 2099 (2019) #1, THE PUNISHER 2099 (2019) #1, VENOM 2099 (2019) #1, 2099 OMEGA 2099 (2019) #1

This wasn't as good as I had hoped. The following will outline my journey through this collection:

-First I read all of "Alpha"
-Then, I skimmed through "Ghost Rider," "Punisher," and "Conan."
-I had high hopes for "Fantastic Four," so I slowed down and started reading that, but it quickly bored me, so I skimmed the rest of that issue.
-I also tried to give "Venom" a chance, but ended up skimming most of that issue too.
-I slowed down my skimming the most for "Doom," and overall did enjoy that issue, although I'm slightly confused by the twist.
-I read the majority of "Spider-Man," but didn't love how different it was from the most recent version of "Spider-Man 2099," that I've recently invested my reading time in. But then, they give an in-story explanation for why things are so different in the "Omega," issue, so that helped. I read all of "Omega," and it seems to be setting up future 2099 stories, however these issues came out in 2019, and I haven't seen anything come out related to 2099 since then.

Final rating = 2.5 stars

[Kyle Dinges · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have almost no idea what this is about or why it exists. I've read every issue of Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man (and mostly enjoyed it!) and one day Spider-Man 2099 showed up and then I guess launched this series of over-sized one-shots about the 2099 universe? They were barely connected other than Doctor Doom is here. What loose collection of threads that are here don't even get resolved! Surely this was an attempt to re-launch Spider-Man 2099. If it wasn't I have no idea why it got published other than sheer commercialism. If it was intended to launch a new Spider-Man 2099 series then just do it and don't waste this much time telling bad stories about a universe that almost no one cares about. I read all my Marvel comics on Marvel Universe, which I appreciate a lot of the time because it means I didn't have to pay for these transparent corporate cash-grabs. Don't read this.

[Aaron Harvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, what are we doing here? The 2099 concept is so interesting, as seen with Peter David's Spider-man 2099 run it can be so so so good, but this was just......nothing. Of the ~9 issues in this companion there was maybe a combined 1.5 that were interesting and enjoyable? They had their moments and then never did anything with it. The Omega issue felt like it was both closing and opening an arc that had not and would not be occurring. Just, what is happening? I'm begging Marvel to do better.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really weird, open-ended, random collection... I felt lost all the way through. Omega tied some of it together, but even after reading the Amazing Spider-man tie-in titles, I didn't understand this run.
I've read a lot of the original Spidey 2099 run and the crossovers there, but never read any Conan or Doom before.
In this set, the FF book was creative, but dark. Conan was perhaps the best, a very odd story. Ghost Rider and Punisher were just bad and boring. Spider-man was confusing, but Venom was good. Good art throughout, but man, what a weird run.
Skip this!

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

What if 2099, but meowmeowbeenz?

I think everyone has the same comment, which is that the 2099 universe was either strong enough to stand on its own or stupid. Tweaking it as here simply doesn't make sense. And it doesn't make sense to try to launch all these characters. Is there a story or not?

Also, wasn't this Venom story already in Black Panther?

[Lillian Francis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read all but Conan 2099 because I couldn't find it on MU.
Have to agree with the general consensus. On the whole this was piss poor, boring, and unnecessary.
Skimmed Punisher and Ghost Rider. FF was just depressing. Spider-man was okay. Doom was good until I didn't understand the twist. Whatever it didn't cost me anything.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't read the original 2099 line, so maybe this is all just a pale imitation, but I enjoyed these one-shots quite a bit. The world felt cohesive and interesting and I walked away wanting more (especially more Conan in space, but that, of course, is just my personal proclivities talking).

[Andres Pasten · Rating 1 out of 5]

Solo me llamó la atención la historia de Venom y la de Doom, el resto fue una perdida de tiempo.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see a lot of folks didn’t enjoy this. But it’s really a sci-fi anthology with some real strong single issues and interesting twists like the FF story!

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

It just came out very edgelordy make everything grim and dark just for the sake of it.

[Jaq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable sampler of what 2099 could be.

[Marko Perisic · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is overall a nice reinvention of this universe which doesn't either overperform or underperfom compared to its 1990s counterpart. It would be the best if I give my pocket-sized opinion of each contained issue:

2099 Alpha/ 2099 Omega: The only issues that are grand in scale, and attempt to give this world some thematic cohesion. Omega does end with a whimper, which is portrayed as a bang. I don't find it necessary to portray publisher decisions as actual storylines as these crossover shenanigans are obligated to be.

Ghost Rider 2099: The story that stays most accurate to the original, but with faster pacing. I prefer the 90s cyberpunk craziness as this plays it more safe in plot and artwork department.

Punisher 2099: Uninteresting story plagued by a bland protagonist. Into one ear and out of the next.

Conan 2099: Surprisingly fun. Conan works best when it is barbarically simple, which this piece of sci-fi fantasy largely is.

Fantastic Four 2099: Holy smokes, that ending! You won't expect it. It is by far the most interesting thing about this one-shot, as everything preceding it didn't promise an exhilarating conclusion.

Venom 2099: Generic reimagining of Parasyte that has the least semblance to 2099 world without introducing anything worth of note.

Doom 2099: Pretty damn solid. It really is one of the few issues here that leaves an impact even after you have finished reading it. I don't think everyone will love what it does with its characters, but it worked for me.

Spider-Man 2099: A decent work as you'd expect for this character. My only gripe is that it doesn't do anything that new since it is this universe's most popular character and Marvel holds a tighter grip on it. It is Peter David's Miguel O'Hara with Nick Spencer's skin and that's about it.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this companion book first before reading the main Amazing Spider-Man arc and that made this a little harder to appreciate. But the book is an interesting collection of one-shot stories that present this alternate version of 2099 as manipulated by Doom, again.

So think of it as a short story collection with different versions of our favorite 2099 heroes and then some. Some stories are great. Some are a little dry. Some are just okay.