Rating: 5/5 – Back to Doing It Right After “One More Day”.
by ComicSpectrum reviewer Adam Brunell
During the recent Secret Wars event in the Marvel Universe there were several side comics to show different universes that came across kind of like the “What if?” comic titles. One of my favorite Secret War titles was The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew your Vows. I stopped reading the Spider-Man comics right after One More Day undid Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage. Maybe I was bitter at the complete change in the timeline, but the one thing I always wanted to know more about was the possible daughter mentioned by the demon lord Mephisto. The moments of Spider-Man: One More Day was a complete destruction to what Peter and Mary Jane had been fighting so hard for, to be happy and to be a family. I for one had enough of the constant repeat of Marvel making Peter Parkers life a complete mess. I get he’s a hero and sustains being a hero with all the bad life events he faces, but it was just too much and I didn’t pick up another Spider-Man comic for years, not until Secret Wars: Renew Your Vows came out.
This new series takes place immediately after the events depicted in Secret Wars. Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are married and they have a little girl named Annie May. Annie has all the abilities of her father and just wants to help with the hero gig, but Peter and Mary Jane want to keep her safe. Peter and MJ assist Annie with making a costume to wear when she is with her parents fighting crime, the design of Annie’s costume is well thought out. Annie has two over protective parents, so her costume is built up with lots of padding. Annie isn’t the only one with abilities to work with Peter, after the events of Secret Wars, Peter has taken the tech that the villain Regent was using and made a costume for MJ. The suit is designed to allow MJ to replicate Peter’s abilities, creating a family of Spiders. The design for the family costumes are really well thought out, Mary Jane is a fashion designer in this series, so her costume matches her unique fashion sense. Artist Ryan Stegman delivers detailed art for this series with designs that feel realistic. I’m glad to see Stegman penciling this series, his angles are always top notch and his ideas are fantastic.
The story itself is phenomenal, writer Gerry Conway picks up where Dan Slott left off after Secret Wars, and the story completely ignores One More Day. Aunt May is no longer with the Parker family, but in the loss of his aunt, Peter now has a daughter. Peter and MJ are a family with not much money, financial issues, and a daughter wanting to explore her powers more. They have their hands full. MJ now owns her own small clothing shop, and just when she thinks things are going her way, something blocks her path. This second issue provides MJ’s perspective of the events from the first issue released last month, as well as a couple of extra moments to provide a little more information about the recent events. The first issue was all from Peter’s perspective, and Conway has shown in this issue that he’s not leaving any details out. The series so far is just as captivating as it was during Secret Wars; Conway supplies a knockout performance in both story and dialogue. Mary Jane has always been a firecracker, but you just don’t know how intense she can be until you mess with the safety of her child.
I’m honestly glad that this timeline that was shown during Secret Wars has been kept going. I hadn’t enjoyed a Spider-Man comic since 2007, and I’m glad to be back on the band wagon. Conway captures the Parkers as a modern day family struggling to get by, while being Superheroes on the side. Annie May’s personality reminds me of a younger Peter Parker just starting out as a hero with his abilities, but she is definitely MJ’s daughter. The Spider Family is as strong as the webbing they swing from, and I can’t wait for the next issue to be released.
Reviewed by: Adam Brunell
(adamb@comicspectrum.com)
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