Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Secret Wars 2099 #1
Marvel Comics
David, Sliney, Fabela & Mossa
"Secret Wars 2099" takes an old existing Marvel property and adds it to the Secret Wars Battleworld map. The 2099 premise recently was dusted off after years of lying dormant with Spider-Man 2099, but this comic seems to be looking at an Avengers set of characters from the 2099 universe rather than Spider-Man. This comic doesn't overtly reference the Secret Wars event and seems to simply pick up the strands from the 2099 properties. It seems to be a niche comic book that caters to fans of the creators or of the 2099 characters. I found the comic to be an okay read.
The comic book seems to focus on Captain America and Hercules. David does deeper character work on this pair than on the other members of the team, such as Iron Man, Hawkeye and Black Widow. The comic has some action, but it is more a vehicle to showcase the characters, their interactions and abilities. It is not clear if this comic will have a central plot or if the comic will mostly be a character driven story over the long haul.
Hercules is racked with guilt over murdering his wife and children. Another issue he is dealing with is that he's an alcoholic. The comic book takes great care to display his inexcusable behavior towards others while under the influence and then show the guilt he's saddled with. If the book runs with this subplot then this might be a comic book to watch.
The Captain America focus isn't as interesting. She's a leader of a band of heroes that don't really follow her instructions too well. She is also juggling the hero life with a home life. All of this feels like things we've seen before a hundred times. There doesn't appear to be any real drama beyond her need to control the team and the situation at hand. If there is some controversy here it is not on display in an obvious manner yet.
The artwork is solid, super-hero stuff. The visuals excel during the fight scenes and have some softer moments that are good while others are not so on target. The scene with Hercules when he's down and out is awkward visually, especially the facial expressions. The phone call, on the other hand, between Captain America and her family is illustrated very well with all the right emotions. The book looks like a lot of other super hero books and that's a fine standard to hit.
Secret Wars 2099 is a comic book that appears to simply pick up characters from the 2099 universe from another book. The comic seems to target fans of the 2099 universe but does provide some solid character work if you are curious about this universe. The comic seems to be Hercules and Captain America-centric but with other members of the team getting introduced they may also get some spotlight down the road. The book has some action but no real deep plot gets hatched in this issue. This reads like a nice comic book catering to existing fans. I mildly recommend this.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
