If you’re a reader who only read the debut issue of this series, Spider-Man 2099 #8 is a great jumping-on point, because it finally addresses the biggest cliffhanger since the re-launch: what’s going on with Miguel’s girlfriend Tempest? Unfortunately, the issue’s centerpiece is a battle that seems unnecessarily too long making this an unsatisfying return to continuity.

For the past four issues, I’ve been begging for a return to the themes and plot threads of the first arc; this finally happens in issue #8. Not only does Miguel discover that his girlfriend is still alive, he finds out that her mother had lied when she said Tempest had died. It’s a shocking and monumental moment for the series, but the execution is slow and lanky. It takes 10 pages of ‘telephone’ for everything to transpire: Jasmine discovers Tempest, then she calls Miguel, and finally Miguel reconfirms everything with Jasmine at the hospital. It feels like a waste of vital page space. Besides an interesting interaction between Miguel and Raul that could have future implications, nothing incredibly interesting is happening on these pages. The creators, Peter David and Will Sliney, could have boiled this all down to a page or two.

The rest of the issue is devoted to a hospital battle between Miguel and Marvel’s perennial job-squadder, Man Mountain Marko. It’s hard to get excited over this match-up, considering Marko’s career highlights include battling Luke Cage to a standstill (once) and losing to a less-than-full-power Dazzler in an airplane fight. This fight includes some great kinetic poses from Will Sliney, but pales in comparison to some of the big-scale battles we’ve already seen in this series.

Rachelle Rosenberg deserves praise for bringing to life one of the issue’s most successful scenes. When the battle moves to a hospital nursery, her use of blues, pinks, purples and greens helps bring the pages to life. It’s already the most interesting scene of the issue, because of the heightened stakes. Her colors are really noticeable, in contrast to the rest of the battle, which is full of neutral grays, silvers and blues.

It’s hard to say a lot more about this issue. Despite a ten-page battle and a return to the biggest dangling plot line, not much happens here. It’s another first chapter of an arc that may read well as part of a trade, but is unsatisfying as a standalone issue. It doesn’t have the high concept of issue #7; it doesn’t have the giant battle of issue #5; and it certainly doesn’t have the energy of issue #1.  The series still seems to have tons of interesting concepts and untapped potential, but the creators seem to be playing the long con. Unfortunately the result has been stories that lack excitement, and according to sales figures, readers have also been lacking enthusiasm.