The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #4 Review

Comic book name: The Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows
Numbering: 4
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Adam Kubert & Scott Hanna
Publisher: Marvel

Probably one of the best titles coming out of Marvel’s Secret Wars, next to Old Man Logan, Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars and Master Of Kung-Fu, The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows has been an amazing limited series so far and issue 4 is no different. Slott has done a beautiful job of creating a fun story and implementing a family element lost in Spider-Man titles since One More Day and something fans have been missing ever since.

In Renew Your Vows #4, Spider-Man has donned his symbiote suit once again and begun battling the Regent’s Sinister Six in order to protect a family discovered having super powers. While Spidey battles the Sinister Six, Mary Jane and Annie May Parker are transported via Jonathan Ohnn (or The Spot) to a secret SHIELD facility.  At this SHIELD facility, a variety of non-powered and super powered heroes are introduced as a rebel group, fighting and operating against the Regent since his complete takeover of New York City. Spider-Man is eventually captured – along with Sandman who has been working with SHIELD – by Regent and taken back to his tower to have their powers transferred over to him. Unfortunately around this same time, SHIELD’s secret base is discovered by Regent, who sends in the Sinister Six to wipe out what’s left of any resistance towards his reign. It is at this point that Annie May fully embraces the Parker “Great power and great responsibility” legacy to save not only her father but hopefully the rest of the city as well.


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Slott is clearly all things Spider-Man at Marvel right now and really seems determined to etch himself forever in the character’s mythos as a writer.  Renew Your Vows #4, really helps to create a concrete family dynamic between the Parkers, as well as staying true to the characters of Peter and Mary Jane, for what drives the choices they make. This particular book takes most of the family interaction and puts it on the back burner, compared to previous issues, with Peter battling Regent and Annie May becoming more comfortable in her own abilities. The family element is still a strong, overarching plot piece in the background throughout the issue and the series as a whole.

There really aren’t any missteps in the story so far and it’s been nothing less than an extremely entertaining read. It’s enjoyable as hell and one really has to hope that Marvel builds from this in the fall, with their relaunch of titles and creating a more “adult” Peter Parker. Hopefully, Annie May gets the Gwen Stacy treatment and gets reintroduced into the Marvel continuity as a regular character in some fashion. It would be really cool to see essentially the Bruce Wayne and Damian Wayne of Marvel, with Peter and Annie. Two flagship characters, teaching and having their offspring carry on their own legacies. Marvel has an extremely underrated potential story for future Spider-Man titles, with this featured father daughter dynamic.

 

Marvel cannot miss out on the opportunity they have with Annie May Parker!

 

As far as the artwork, it’s not clear who did the majority of it, since Adam Kubert and Scott Hanna are both listed as artist, but no indication is made to who did what, as far as pencils or inks. Outside of whom to give credit to what to, the art is very well done in Renew Your Vows #4, without any real noticeable complaints. There’s a nice mix of more detailed panels, with ones more abstract in design, switching back through the entirety of the issue. Sometimes certain scenes or expressions are rendered in great detail to convey the emotion needed, while other time’s it lacks the same focus. So to whoever did this comics’ artwork, it was pretty solid across the board.

If you made it this far in the review, then you can probably guess this is a series highly recommended series to check out. Renew Your Vows is fun, it’s entertaining and it packs heart, as well as being a great Spider-Man title. Annie May Parker has a lot of potential for a reintroduction into the Marvel universe and into the Marvel 616 continuity. This book in particular does well, by helping to display the characters growth throughout the four issues, with the Parkers trying to keep Annie from the hero life, to accepting it, as well as some others throughout the short run. This title is definitely worth a read, as well as the Renew Your Vows limited series as a whole.

 

 

Chris Massari
Chris Massari
Hailing from the slums of Shaolin, but not really, Chris is a New Jersey native and Rowan University alumni in Journalism, Philosophy and Religion. He is an aspiring writer, always looking to expand his resume of stories and become better in the craft. Not only is Chris a writer but he also raps, working with Grammy winning song writer William Hart and his son Khalid, out of Philadelphia. In his free time, he practices punching people and choking them out, training in various martial arts and gyms along the east coast, throughout his lifetime. Also check him out at Ain't It Cool and ComicsVerse, as well as all things social media.