Chronix Comics - Marvel 2099 part 1 Introduction

I consider myself to be a specialist when it comes to collecting comics. I'm not the sort to go for mainstream titles anc collect them by the hundreds. No I tend to go for the Alternate Universes/Timelines, the What Ifs and the Elseworlds (heck i even brought the New Universe!). Over the next few blogs im going to review some of my favorite worlds from within the mutliverse. Starting with my own personnal favorite..

The year is 1992 and Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee begins work on a project with writer/artist John Byrne called "Marvel, World of Tomorrow" in which we see how the Marvel universe has done 100 years into the future. Retitled "Marvel 2099" The series would see various heroes/villians with almost no connection to the present day heroes apart from their names, so dont expect to see Peter Parker's great great grandson spinning any webs around. In this future all the heroes are gone, the Heroic Age as long gone and vast Mega Corperations rule. Welcome to the year 2099! 4 titles kicked off this new world; Spiderman 2099, Punisher 2099 and Doom 2099 were the first released about future versions of well known characters (well execpt maybe Doom but we'll get to him sooner or later [;)] ) the fourth title to be released was Ravage 2099 and original character created by Stan "The Man" himself.

As sales grew more titles were added to the roster such as Xmen 2099, Ghost Rider 2099, Hulk 2099, Fantastic Four 2099, XNation 2099 and a monthly anthology title called 2099 Unlimited. The World of Tomorrow: 2099 was your typical corperate run dystopian future. The "Haves" have and the "Have-Nots" dont. What makes 2099 special for me is the way Marvel showed us both sides of the coin. For example: Spiderman 2099 is set in Nueva York where a futuristic city was built over the big apple (imagin Futurama but gritty) and writer Peter David was really able to depict how life was like with the crime ridden "Downtown" infested with gangs and the sick and dying and the sparkily "Uptown" where the corupt kick back and relax. While at the other end of the map is Hollywood California now its own island after some great disaster is now called "Lotusland" a place where people will pay to dollor (or credit) for entertainment, Holo vids replace movies and again coruption (a lot of that about in the future) and outside this city of entertainment a sort of mad max life style.

Sunday Service: Religion plays a big part in 2099. With an actual God of Thunder protecing us in the present it was only natural that in the future Thorism is the worlds number 1 faith with mainstream religions like Christianty, Judaism etc resorting to playing second fiddle. Cults sprung up over the land with people worshiping the heroes of old. The Knights of Banner are a group of people that believe that the the better and are experimenting with Gamma Rays. Downtown has a Canibal problem thanks to people following The Vulture 2099 and the Spider-ites a new cult who believe Spiderman 2099 is a prohet sent by Thor before his return. To serve and protect: In the future Everything has been privatised the police has been replaced by "The Public Eye" whos main objective is to look after Alchemax (Nueva Yorks "owner"). The Public Eye fly around the city on hover bikes protecting only those who can afford it. Medical cover is a thing of the past. Again, if you have the money your fine you simply pop down to your nearest "Doc-in-the-Box" and your fine, if not then your going in for a world of pain trying to find a black market surgeon in Downtown. So thats pretty much the basics of 2099, I'll go further into the specifics when required. Hope you enjoyed my little introduction. Next time I'm going to take a look at the S-man himself as i revew the first few issues of Spiderman 2099.

Laters-