Though he was undoubtedly the breakout star of Marvel’s long-dead 2099 line of comics, the Spider-Man of the future, Miguel O’Hara, doesn’t pop up nearly enough. Yet with this year being the 30th anniversary of his first appearance, it’s great to see him make a comeback in an event set to launch versions of Marvel characters for the 2099 universe that we’ve never seen before.

This first, prologue issue of sorts – which kicks off the Exodus event – sees a Nueva York being ruled over by The Cabal, an organisation which doesn’t seem to mind who or what they tread on to assert their dominance. When O’Hara uncovers a conspiracy involving some form of giant mass being dropped onto the irradiated American Wastelands – with The Cabal at the heart of what’s going on – he’s forced into a race against time to stop them from getting their hands on whatever it is that’s landed.

Though I was a bit baffled by the constant future-slang at first, taking a little while to settle into the rhythm of the status quo, this was a pretty good read – though mostly that was thanks to the incredibly strong art by Paul Fry and the brilliant, neon-drenched colouring by Neeraj Menon. Spider-Man 2099’s biggest strength has always been that he isn’t just a lazy carbon copy of Peter Parker’s present day Spidey; instead he’s a visually, mechanically distinct character in a richly detailed cyberpunk setting. That really comes across here too.

Though much is made of the Ghost Rider 2099 cameo, given his appearance on the cover, he feels a little like a convenient plot device in the story, unfortunately.

Still, overall this was a fun read – and it’s great to take another trip to the Marvel Universe of the future. It’s going to be interesting to see what fresh takes are brought to bear with the new characters that are set to appear; though not as strong a start as I’d hoped for, the event certainly has my attention.