Arana and Spider-Man 2099 by Alex Segura review

    ARANA AND SPIDER-MAN 2099: DARK TOMORROW is something that has been on my TBR list for some time because I am a huge fan of Spider-Girl (which is not her codename but everyone calls her even in-universe). I am also a big fan of Miguel O’Hara even before he was made famous with SPIDER-MAN: BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE. So having two of my favorite slightly-obscure Spider-People do a collaboration together was something that I was all in on. I also decided to get the audiobook because I feel like comic book books are best consumed in audible form. Why? Because that’s how I feel about my own superhero books.

    The premise is that teenage Puerto Rican New Yorker, Anya Corazon, is living her normal life when she is invested with the power of the Spider Society by Miguel Legar. Trying to be a spider-heroine, Anya ends up finding herself way over her head very quickly. Anya manages to fight villains like Stegron (AKA a stegasaurous man who is like the Lizard but without the pathos) but is totally overwhelmed when she meets Nineties Clone Saga villain Judas Traveller. Judas is portrayed as something other than a joke and sends her flying through time into the far future of 2099. From there, Anya has to try to find her way back to the past as well as deal with Miguel O’Hara’s depression.

    This book seems like it was made for me because I was actually a Spider-Man fan from the time I was four years old until the Clone Saga briefly broke up my relationship with Peter Parker like a deal with Mephisto. There’s a huge amount of in-jokes, references, Easter Eggs, and usage of characters that have largely been forgotten by the comics. I already mentioned Stegron and Judas Traveller but there’s also the Sisterhood of the Wasp, Demogoblin, and even the Cult of the Scrier. These things are mostly throwaway characters and explained well-enough in the book but it’s still a treat if you recognize any of them.

    There’s also a bit of humor from the fact that the book “redeems” Judas Traveller. Judas was a character that was wildly overpowered and poorly written during most of the Clone Saga to the point he was considered an embarrassment by Marvel. He was retconned from being an all-powerful Doctor Strange-esque sorcerer to being a mutant illusionist. The book uses the latter origin but portrays him as the genius and archvillain he was initially done as. He can also time travel, try to resurrect vampire gods, and ham it up with the best of them. Spider-Man has plenty of villains to spare and his D-listers can shine against poor Arana.

    If I had any problems with the book, it is the fact that it goes a bit overboard with the references (and that’s me saying this). Judas Traveler is welcome and so is Demogoblin. Maybe even the surprise inclusion of a certain multiversal vampire. However, by the time Ghost-Spider (AKA Spider-Gwen) shows up, it’s gotten a bit too much. There’s some of these guest characters that could have been cut for brevity. The book also ends in a deus ex machina that I could have done without.

    In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book and I think the audiobook version is even better. Anya Corozon is a great character and Arana deserves more attention from the media. People already know Miguel O’Hara from the Spider-Verse movies but they know him as a semi-antagonistic character versus the kind of hero he was in the 2099 comics. Victoria Vilarreal does a fantastic job, especially with Anya.

Available here