Spidey Mom Knows Best
Writer: Gerry Conway
Marvel Comics
Release Date:
12/14/16
Cover Price: $3.99
Review by: Branden Murray
Renew Your Vows is Marvel reintroducing us to the concept of
super hero marriage. Think of it as, what if Brand New Day never happened in
the Amazing Spider-Man title … oh Spidey and MJ also have a young school aged
daughter, Annie, who possesses super powers too. It’s definitely an intriguing concept, to see
how your favorite hero would handle fatherhood, especially with a super powered
offspring. So with these crazy ideas of marriage, kids, and super hero-ing all
combined, and seemingly running rampant in our comic books lately, let’s see
how this young crime fighter in training is hanging in there shall we?
We kick off the issue in pretty epic fashion as two thirds
of our hero family, Mary Jane and Annie, swing their way through the city. I try to piece together where last issue left
off, and how this all makes sense, so I trudge on to find out my worries
are thankfully for naught. What we get in the beginning of this title is a nice
little prequel story providing us a little back ground info on this “duet” of
ladies. Normally I wouldn't be but I’m totally O.K. with this, being given "a day in the life of" story to
start things off is a clever way to get to know these newer characters.
Since we as readers didn’t get much information between Secret
Wars and the relaunch of issue one just last month, this was a great way to fill
in answers to questions, while subtly centering on the mother/daughter
relationship. When the book does eventually
catch up with the present day conflict, Mole Man and his crew, find out why you don’t
purposely piss off a super powered mother by endangering their child. Mama Spider goes off, clearing house of any
and all of Mole Man’s little henchmen, leaving them scurrying around for cover,
with a little help from Spidey of course.
With little Annie saved from Mole Man, the Spider family
move on and use a little team work to take out the T-Rex left roaming the
streets and chasing them. The ensuing quick escape to safety leads Mary Jane to use
her version of “No Juice”, she takes a moment here to ground Annie for disobeying her and not
reporting directly to school (seen in our flashback in the beginning). This is another cool moment highlighting the
parent/offspring relationship in the title adding some heart and humor in key
moments.
The issue begins to wrap up when the Spider-Parents send their
daughter home heading off to wrap up this unfortunate meeting with Mole
Man. One the way to the conflict Spider-Man
fills Mary Jane in on a new “minor problem” he’s been experiencing lately, all connected
to loaning his powers out to wifey, via Regent technology he altered. Just as they begin to discuss the developing
issue the ground beneath them begins to crumble and our cliff hanger reveals
the couple to be in dire straits with only a grounded daughter out there in her bedroom (maybe) to
save them.
This book is a nice light hearted change of pace for any
Spider-Man fan, possibly sick of event heavy comics right now, and provides a perfect
mixture of action accompanied with some good fun comedic moments. The stakes aren’t very high, and the
threat doesn’t really feel like something Spider-Man would have an issue overcoming,
but the situation is being used as a clever starting point to relay how these
new family dynamics work in this “world”.
If you’re enjoying the DC equivalent of the Superman title that
highlights little Jon this would also be right up your alley. The art, and costumes especially, continue to be a great counterpart to the story. Everything is colored bright and shines right off the page, each character is rendered carefully and given a moment to shine.
Bits and Pieces:
Overall it feels like this beginning story arc is being used
as a way to establish each characters role inside the family. Peter is of course who he’s always been just
more fatherly, Mary Jane comes across as a character fans have been begging
for, and Annie is getting opportunities to develop into a hero that shows promise. Its cliche to say but there really is something
for everyone to enjoy in this title if you’re not looking to take it to
seriously and just enjoy a continuity free ride.
7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment