It only took six issues for Miguel O’Hara to escape banishment from 2014 and return to 2099.  But there’s no time for Miggy to celebrate or even enjoy the scenery.  In Spider-Man 2099 #6, Peter David and Will Sliney move at break-neck pace, providing an action-packed story that sets up the pieces of what could be an important development in “Spider-Verse.”

This issue follows the team of Miguel, the six-armed Peter Parker and May Reilly, the steampunk Lady Spider.  They’ve escaped to 2099 with a body of Daemos to use their collective smarts and the technology of the future to unlock the biology of The Inheritors.  But they’re moving with reckless abandon.  They’re instantly spotted by the authorities, and their Plan A (gather all the 2099 era heroes) is quickly shelved.  It forces Miguel to make a deal with the devil that could foreshadow what’s in store for Miggy once we get to the other side of “Spider-Verse.”

You would think at this point in “Spider-Verse,” there wouldn’t be a lot of time to introduce new characters, but David squeezes an entire cast of 2099 characters into this issue.  We meet Miguel’s brother, Gabriel, for the first time in this series, as well as his mother.  Their appearances are brief, but significant, as we get the first glimpses of their humorous, if not dependent relationships.  We also see Tyler Stone again, the 2099 head of Alchemax who trapped Miguel in 2014 in the first place.

We don’t learn much about The Inheritors in this issue, but Daemos’s personality is exposed, and it’s pervy; he makes sexual jokes about six-armed Spidey and May mid-battle.  If anything, it shows an arrogance and cockiness that will probably lead to his and The Inheritors ultimate downfall.  If they weren’t cocky, they’d be chasing spiders in teams instead of individually!

There may be one unintended consequence of this story; David and Sliney may have ended the debate between organic and man-made webbing.  Lady Spider is able to momentarily disarm Daemos with her mechanized web-shooters but six-armed Spidey shoots six simultaneous webs and Daemos catches five with one hand!  It’s not 100% clear that six-armed Spidey shoots organic webs, but that seems to be the obvious choice.  No Peter Parker in the multiverse could afford to keep six web-shooters working at all times.

Will Sliney delivers another impressive issue.  Once again he does great work with his faces, especially the different expressions of Tyler Stone on page one.  The majority of this issue is a big fight and chase between Daemos, but some of the action is hit and miss.  Sliney always excels with his web-slinging poses and smaller scale panels but some of the coolest scenes are a little understated.  On one page of the battle, Daemos’ arms are webbed to a car.  He’s able to stand up, rip the car in half while it’s strapped to his back, and throw the front end at Lady Spider with one hand.  It’s an awesome feat of strength that doesn’t even get a sound effect on the page.

Antonio Fabela really deserves credit for his work as color artist.  His use of yellows, oranges and golds to make the world of 2099 jump off the page.  The use of light and dark on the faces to reflect the natural light is also very successful.

I have one complaint about this story and maybe the entire “Spider-Verse”” so far: our Spider-teams never take a moment to be astounded by their current situation.  Wouldn’t every Peter Parker from the multiverse want a chance to talk to Spider-Gwen?  Wouldn’t the Spideys want to know more about each other’s universes?  In this issue, I’d expect the steam punk Lady Spider to be just a little overwhelmed with the world of 2099.  Instead, she’s literally flirting with the first guy she meets.

I’m not saying we need an entire Bendis-penned issue where Peter takes everyone out for shawarma. However, one quip like, “well, in my universe, the villains run out of gasoline,” would better acknowledge that a lot of these Spideys are in over their heads.  Also, the whole premise of the series is that Miguel was trapped in 2014 and may never see his 2099 home again.  Shouldn’t he be a little happier to be back in his hometime?

Spider-Man 2099 #6 may be the most action-packed issue of the series yet and additionally it seems to be an important part of “Spider-Verse.”  I’m less excited about the new additions to Miguel’s cast only because I’ve become so invested in the relationships he was forming in 2014.  David has only skimmed the surface of Miguel’s life in 2014, so why do we need to meet all these new characters from 2099?  However, I’m still all-in with this series and interested in Miguel’s role in “Spider-Verse” and how it will affect the rest of his worlds.