After completing an initial read of "Spider-Man 2099" #2, it felt like the issue actually didn't show the protagonist in costume -- except Peter David and Will Sliney actually present four pages of Spider-Man 2099 in costume, fighting bank robbers and evading the law. They just spend a whole lot more time and effort focusing on Miguel O'Hara's attempts to adapt to life in 2014 as both Spider-Man and Michael O'Mara, Alchemax employee.

Sliney's art is serviceable and clean. His figures are crisp and sharp and he does a nice job with everyone's identity and nuances, but his figures tend to be uneven in shading, with Miguel bearing heavier shadowing than either of his female co-stars. Sliney puts a massive amount of focus on his figures, giving them significantly more detail than their surroundings, which includes a bank, the apartment of Miguel's landlord and Miguel's own apartment furnished with a single folding lawn chair. In several panels, the settings are drawn as barely more than line art backdrops. Luckily, Sliney has a solid colorist in Antonio Fabela who provides ample depth and texture through his color work on "Spider-Man 2099" #2. Fabela drops in tones and surfaces to give the settings some depth. Additionally, the colorist is deft enough to put the appropriate shade on Miguel's face to have it pointed out that he has lipstick on his face.

David makes a case for the phrase to be turned towards "Spider-Man luck" instead of "Parker luck," as Miguel's personal and professional lives are at relationship crossroads, giving the writer a plethora of options lurking on the horizon. Tempest (Miguel's landlord) and Liz Allan (Miguel's boss) nearly cross paths in their visits with our protagonist, making for a couple, "Phew!" moments as Miguel feels like he's managed to survive one confrontation when the next kicks in. Both ladies have questions for Miguel, who doesn't have all of the answers they're looking for. Swap out Miguel O'Hara for Peter Parker, and it all seems very familiar. David doesn't leave it there, however, and delivers some entertaining solutions, including a darkly amusing scenario the writer empowers Miguel to envision that would never make it into Peter Parker's mind.

"Spider-Man 2099" #2 is a decent book about the time-displaced Spider-Man, offering readers more than enough information to latch on to and build around. David and Sliney provide an exceptionally nice study of character that the relative lack of action is negligible. It's nice that there is a scene with Spider-Man spinning webs and taking out bad guys, but clearly this creative is looking to establish Miguel O'Hara prior to building up a rogues' gallery.