Miguel O’Hara is finally back in his own time, but all he finds is ruins and a special tour of the Maestro’s prison. At least he’s not suffering alone; the Dr. Strange of his time is there, too. Working together, they manage to escape to one of the darkest and most grim places I’ve ever seen in comics– Maestro’s trophy room. Among the relics are Wolverine’s skeleton, Cap’s shield, Thor’s hammer, and lots of Iron Man armor bits. It’s a really scary place, as first seen in David’s special about the Maestro many years ago.

Miguel cobbles together a way to escape, and hopefully prevent this whole timeline from happening. Things don’t go well along the way, and very little is at it seems. The escape works, mostly. Miguel gets an ugly surprise, and there’s another he doesn’t even know about yet. Let’s just say next issue has the potential to get really, really ugly. I won’t quite say I’m looking forward to it, but I am curious as to how this is going to play out.

Plot: This is some tense, dark writing which is done nicely. There are some twists and turns and the Maestro’s plan is unfolding, despite Miguel’s best efforts. I’ll give this a 4 out of 5. The Maestro is a dangerous character who should way outclass Miguel.

Art: The art is nicely done. The Maestro is menacing and powerful. The dungeon looks grim, and the trophy room is terrifying. I’ll give the art a 3.5 out of 5.

Positives: The Maestro is a dangerous being, and he’s handled nicely here. Miguel is getting by on wits and agility, and Maestro is quite nearly his match on both counts. Miguel’s escape was inspired, as was his MacGyver-ing. The surprises were well executed.

Negatives: I feel that Miguel got fooled a bit too easily. He’s supposed to be amazingly smart, and I’m not sure that what happened with Strange quite makes sense. But these are minor points in what’s been a good arc so far.

I’ve always liked David’s writing, and Spider-Man was my favorite of the 2099 titles. I’m glad he’s back, and the Maestro is a hell of a foe to tackle.

Spider-Man 2099 #10

Writer: Peter David
Artist: Will Sliney
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover: Francesco Mattina