“…that was just me. Peter Parker. A dad in a stupid red-and-blue suit.”
It’s the Secret Wars tie-in series “you’ve all been waiting for,” or perhaps dreading the most. The one in which the advanced orders outnumbered the orders for event it’s spinning out of. The comic with the teaser in which everyone wondered if Marvel finally came to their senses and were undoing “One More Day.” That’s right, it’s the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, featuring the (sort of) return of a married Peter and Mary Jane…and their daughter Annie?!
“Part 1: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILS: Adam Kubert
INKS: John Dell
COLORS: Justin Ponsor
LETTERER: VC’s Joe Caramagna
COVER ARTISTS: Adam Kubert and Justin Ponsor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado, and Skottie Young
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Devin Lewis
EDITOR: Nick Lowe
THE STORY: We open with the happily married Peter and Mary Jane Parker in their apartment, where Peter is adjusting his web-shooters, while MJ is feeding their baby daughter, Annie. For reasons unknown, some street-level superheroes have gone AWOL, forcing Peter to spend more late nights as Spider-Man because, taking on other superheroes’ bad guys along with his own. MJ suggest that Peter should talk with them, as that now Peter’s a dad, he should spend more time at home and less time as Spidey. Later at the Daily Bugle, however, Peter learns the situation is far more serious, as Ben Urich tells Peter the police have found Punisher, Moon Knight and Night Trasher dead, while Daredevil is missing. The mayor has called for a media blackout to avoid a city-wide panic (a move J. Jonah Jameson considers censorship) while Peter heads to Avengers Mansion to get answers. There he finds not only the Avengers, but also the remaining New Warriors, the Hulk, and Namor, and according to Captain America, not only are superheroes being killed and/or missing, but they’ve lost contact with Charles Xavier and all the X-Men. Intelligence indicates the person responsible is one Augustus Roman, C.E.O. of Empire Unlimited, a company which specializes in superhuman research.
During the briefing, Iron Man offers Spidey and his family sanctuary at the Avenger’s Mansion and full Avengers status, but Spidey is reluctant to take him up on the offer as this could compromise his secret identity. Spidey phones MJ to ask her opinion, but before they can decide, the doorbell of their apartment rings. At that same moment, Hawkeye calls the Avengers and tells there’s been a massive breakout at Ryker’s Island and that all the villains have escaped. Cap, however, says Roman is top priority and that they care take care of the breakout later. Realizing his family is danger, Spidey leaves for home just as the Avengers are heading out to face Roman. When Spidey arrives home, he finds MJ and Annie in the clutches of…Eddie Brock, aka Venom. Even before Venom can dictate his terms, Spidey attacks without pulling any punches, and tells MJ to take Annie and run. Outside, MJ sees the Avengers fly by and tries to get their help, but they’re busy heading to the Empire Unlimited corporate building to notice her. Roman, now calling himself The Regent, communicates with the Avengers using Xavier’s telepathy and tells them to surrender their powers, or die.
Meanwhile, MJ, in trying find someway to protect Annie, sees a fire truck responding to a call. Knowing Venom’s weakness to sonics and fire, MJ hops aboard with Annie, and Venom pursues. Seeing Venom escape but also the energy from the Avengers battle with the Regent, Spidey chooses to pursue Venom as his family needs him, figuring the Avengers will be fine. Unfortunately, the Avengers are no match for the Regent, as he now has the powers of Daredevil and all the X-Men. Not even the Hulk can stop him as the Regent uses both Colossus and Nightcrawler’s abilities to rip the Green Goliath’s arm clean off.
When fire truck arrives at a burning building, and the firefighters escort MJ off the truck, Venom arrives. MJ gets into the truck and turns on the siren, stunning Venom, allowing Spidey to land a kick into his face, then forces inside the burning building. Venom threatens that even if Spidey stops him, he’ll still come after his daughter, saying he will suck out her brains. This makes Spidey even madder, and when he learns from MJ that the firefighters have cleared everyone out of the building, he pulls down one of the support beams, collapsing the entire structure on Venom…and kills him. We learn through Peter’s narration this was the day the Avengers died and the last time he was ever Spider-Man. Thus a few years later, Peter is teaching Annie, now a little girl, to look both ways when crossing the street while also ignoring the Vulture snatching a woman’s purse. We also see the Regent now completely rules New York.
THOUGHTS: For those who are long-time readers of Spider-Man, or even those who are new to the wall-crawler’s adventures, you don’t need much of a reminder about One More Day. Of all the controversial moments Spider-Man has had over his fifty plus year history, none has been more acrimonious and universally loathed than the story where Peter and Mary Jane are forced to relinquish their marriage to Mephisto in exchange for saving the life of Aunt May. The debate over whether Marvel was justified in making Spidey single again or not continues even eight years after the fact, with some believing it was a necessary evil while others believe it was one of the worst editorial decisions Marvel has ever made.
So when it was announced last fall that, as part of its Secret Wars event, The Amazing Spider-Man would be temporarily replaced with a series featuring a married Spider-Man and his daughter, the controversy of “One More Day” was rekindled, with both sides apprehensive about what this could mean, especially since Dan Slott, someone who has gone on record many times to support Joe Quesada’s decision in undoing the marriage, would also be writing the series. Yours truly even wrote an op-ed about this not that long ago. So now that the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows is here, and in light of Slott less than stellar track record since The Amazing Spider-Man comic book relaunch post-Superior Spider-Man, what are the actual results?
Much to my surprise, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1 is actually pretty good. In some instances, it’s even better than I expected.
Now before some of you accuse me of saying this just because Spidey is married to MJ in this story, there are few things which need to made abundantly clear. In the first place, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows is not an undoing of “One More Day;” given the nature of Secret Wars and the make-up of Battleworld, it’s clear this story takes place in an alternate continuity other than the regular Marvel Universe. Those who have read Secret Wars and my reviews of those issues will also know this is not the 616 Spider-Man, as he was one of the few survivors from that universe on Reed Richard’s life raft. This also isn’t so much a “What If One More Day Never Happened?” because there’s more differences presented here than just Peter and MJ being married and having a kid. In this world, Peter still works as a photographer for the Daily Bugle and Jonah is still his boss. Heroes like Captain America and Iron Man wear slightly different costumes, and there are hints which suggest events such as Avengers: Disassembled, Civil War, X-Men: Schism, and Avengers vs. X-Men never took place. The best way I can describe it is to imagine a reworked version of Spider-Man from the early 1990s filtered through the early 2000s. So no, contrary to what Nick Lowe claimed, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows isn’t “taking where “Brand New Day” started and taking it down a different road.”
Yet it might as well be because in spite of the cosmetic changes, fans of the marriage will feel as though they, albeit for a moment, got “their” Spider-Man back, while those who favor Spidey’s current status quo may find themselves starting to favor Spidey the husband and father over Spidey the perpetual bachelor. This is not the bumbling, hapless manchild readers have been subjected to over the last year, for Slott gives us a more capable, mature and plausibly adult Peter Parker not seen since J. Michael Stracynski’s run. The same goes for his depiction of Peter and Mary Jane as a couple. The opening scene where the two of them playfully argue over Peter’s diaper-changing duties (and why using his webbing is not the most effective alternative) and keeping Peter’s identity secret from their daughter (as she’s learning how to talk) shows the natural chemistry these two characters have had together, and is a reminder of why the marriage between them was popular among the fans in the first place. This is also far and away the best depiction of Mary Jane Slott has ever done. Unlike the MJ we’ve seen during the course of The Superior Spider-Man, this MJ is courageous, quick-thinking, has plenty of sass, and, although waiting for her husband to save her and their child, refuses to be a victim. By having Peter and MJ married and giving them a child, Slott not only makes them act in ways not seen since Spider-Island, he has their actions drive the narrative instead of the other way around.
The story also shows why a Spider-Man who is both a husband and father is, contrary to what Marvel has claimed for so many years, such a source for great dramatic potential. Everyone knows responsibility is one of the core themes of Spider-Man, so having him be in a situation where he needs to look after a family of his own makes all the sense in the world. Also, unlike with him taking care of his Aunt May as a teenager, Slott shows us Peter has far more to lose with a wife and child, thus raising the stakes even higher. Thus when Peter is forced to take Venom’s life to protect MJ and Annie—and with MJ’s blessing I might add—this doesn’t upset me in the slightest because it feels as if this is something Spidey would do if faced with these circumstances. After all, long time readers know full well how easy it is for Spidey to be pushed over the edge when the lives of his loved ones are at stake, including the time he tried to the kill the Green Goblin during “Revelations” when he found out Norman Osborn caused MJ’s miscarriage. And before you can say, “But Spider-Man doesn’t kill under any circumstances,” that’s exactly the point: Peter may have sworn to never take a life as Spider-Man, but with the exception of Spider-Girl, he has never really been shown as a new father until now. And as any parent can tell you, when you have children of your own, you would do almost anything to keep them safe, and God forbid if anyone ever threatened them in any way, especially to your face. I’m not saying being a parent means you’re justified in killing someone who threatens your kids, or that Spidey was right in killing Venom, but I understand why Peter did what he did within the context of this story. One could even make the case he was committing self-defense, not murder.
This also allowed the original Venom to once again be the terrifying, near-unstoppable monster and anti-thesis of Spider-Man he was always meant to be, not the “lethal protector” Marvel made the mistake of turning him into so many years ago. If this really was the last Eddie Brock as Venom story, I can’t think of a more fitting end than the imagine of the symbiote melting from his outstretched hand in a pile of burning rubble.
Some might also take umbrage with Peter’s decision to quit being Spider-Man after the death of Venom, and in the end opting to place the needs of his family over that of protecting the city. Again, I would argue, based on his history, this is also in-character for Peter. This isn’t the first time Peter has temporarily given-up being a superhero for familial reasons, and it’s a given that if Peter did take the life of one of his villains that it’d also mean the “death” of Spider-Man. Also, keep in mind since this is just the first issue, this certainly won’t be the only time Peter will be Spidey in this story. Sooner or later, his guilt over not using his powers to protect the citizens of New York along with his family will weigh heavily on him as it’s made clear he’s now the only superhero left alive. What we’re seeing here is the setting up of the classic scenario where a once great hero who is no longer on the top of their game is forced out of retirement to face a seemingly unstoppable evil.
Yet as near-perfect as his characterization for Peter, MJ and Venom, Slott’s dialogue remains clunky, expository and heavy-handed. It’s a nuisance, for example, to read three back-to-back scenes about missing or killed superheroes, as it’s an all-too obvious means to try and escalate the impending threat from the Regent which never feels earned. Not to mention for someone who is supposed to be skilled at military tactics, Captain America’s plan to have every single Avenger go after the Regent on the mere suspicion he’s an “Omega-level threat,” while also all-but ignoring the Ryker’s prison break is pure plot contrivance. And as for the Regent himself, not only does he look like a wannabe of DC Comic’s Darkseid with a more perfected power siphoning abilities of X-Men’s Rogue, he’s also ends up being some generic new villain we’ve never heard of before. So of course, because he’s some generic new villain we’ve never heard of before, all the other superheroes have to job to him so we can see how “badass” he supposedly is. If you thought Captain Universe and Leopardon losing to Solus in “Spider-Verse” was a crock of you-know-what, it pales in comparison to the level of sheer gargantuan-sized bullcrap in seeing The Regent take out the Incredible Hulk. He’s also someone who comes off being incredibly out-of-place in an otherwise far more grounded and personal narrative. Still, if the idea of this comic was to evoke 1990s nostalgia, then the Regent feels right at home with the “Xtreme era” as typified by early Image comics.
Admirers of Adam Kubert will not be disappointed, as his pencils, John Dell’s inking and Justin Ponsor’s coloring, are more than decent throughout. Particularly noteworthy are the scenes involving Venom, and the image of him sitting on the sofa with MJ and Annie is the stuff of nightmares. The moments depicting action are also well-suited for Slott’s breakneck narrative pacing, as punches seem to have weight behind them, and panel transitions crisp, clear and easy to follow. Unfortunately, while Kubert appears to have a firm-grasp when it comes to perspective and proportion, the one area he appears to struggle with baby Annie. In the opening scene alone, Peter and MJ’s daughter looks as if she age several months over the course of a two-page spread; and during the pursuit by Venom, Annie as toddler looks more like a boy than a girl. Then again, compared to grown-ups, babies are more difficult to draw.
While I may have preferred more time devoted to Peter and MJ raising an infant daughter than jumping forward a few years later, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows is off to a promising start. Though not perfect, Slott appears to have regained a sense of enthusiasm and vibrancy for Spider-Man that’s been sorely lacking as of late. By not having to conform to Marvel’s edict that Spidey must stay young, single and childless, Slott is now free to take chances and explore avenues with Peter and his supporting cast in ways Marvel otherwise wouldn’t do, and because this is a mini-series, this is a story which will have a genuine beginning, middle and end. It also shows how, in their belief going back to an unmarried Spider-Man would create more storytelling opportunities, a Spider-Man who is still married, and a father to boot, may carry just as much potential, if not more.
B
NERDY NITPICKS:
- So based on the calendar in the background, the comic takes place on May 1st. May 1st, as some of you know, is also known around the world as “Mayday.” And seeing how Peter and MJ’s daughter is named after MJ’s aunt instead of Peter’s in this story, I’m expecting there will be some Spider-Girl fans who will not be too happy.
- And thus the age-old question of whether web-fluid would make ideal disposable diapers is finally answered. But does it make for a good substitute for baby food? Because some of what Annie is eating looks like it’s going to dangerously mix with Peter’s latest batch. Then again, maybe this version of Peter has found Gerber’s makes for some extra-sticky webbing?
- I wonder if all those pigeons flying around at the beginning are Easter Eggs for One More Day and One Moment in Time? Couple that with Peter’s narration of “In a perfect world, this is how it was always meant to be” with not a sign of any red pigeon, is it naïve of me to hope this is Slott and Marvel’s way of saying Peter and MJ should still be married after all?
- Maybe it’s just the coloring, but Ben Urich doesn’t strike me as the “I Wear My Sunglasses At Night,” Agent Smith of The Matrix cosplaying type. Also, you just know Urich already knows Peter is Spidey. Otherwise why would Peter even think about it when recalling how Urich figuring out Daredevil was Matt Murdoch?
- So in this reality, Dwayne Taylor, aka Night Trasher, was still “a boy” instead of an adult? I suppose there was bound to be some confusion, seeing how the leader of the New Warriors rode around on a skateboard and acted like Batman because, you know, the 90s were “kewl” and “xtreme.”
- “…got this intel from Black Widow before we lost contact.” What do you mean lost contact, Cap? Natasha is right there at the meeting?
- Well on the bright side, at least this version of Spidey didn’t have time to actually take up Iron Man’s offer to move into Avengers HQ, join the Avengers and possibly compromise his secret identity. Because we all know how well that worked out, don’t we?
- Awww…’lil Annie Parker wears Daredevil pajamas. And plays with a Hulk doll. Though having a crib mobile with toy spiders dangling from it might be a bit creepy.
- So with the arms torn off of the Hulk doll, as suppose this is foreshadowing what happens to the real Hulk in this comic. Which is still a gargantuan steaming pile bullcrap, by the way!
- Nice going, Avengers. Not only do you ignore MJ pleas for help, but you made ‘lil Annie cry. World’s Mightest Heroes, my foot.
- Um…is that red head Cap is calling “Jen” supposed to be She-Hulk? Because methinks even with the red-lighting, she’s not green enough.
- Even in an alternate reality, we still cannot escape from Pedro “Ollie” Olivera, aka MJ’s firefighter rebound boyfriend from the 616. Next thing we know, they’ll be an alternate version of Carlie Cooper showing up at some point.
- Now hold on. If Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows takes place on Battleworld, a place where everyone worships Doctor Doom as their all-powerful ruler and god, then shouldn’t Spidey have said “Doom help me” instead of “God help me.” Man, Pete was darn lucky Doom didn’t send the Thors to rain lightning bolts on his butt.
- Come to think of it, did Doom sanction and approve the Regent taking over this version of New York? And why is Augustus Roman calling himself the Regent? Whose stead is ruling for? Also, Augustus Roman of Empire Unlimited be any more on-the-nose? Why not have his middle name be “Caesar” and have a security force called “The Praetorian Guard” while we’re at it?
- With all of Spidey’s concern about whether people might discover his secret identity, he seems pretty careless about it at towards the end, considering he’s holding hands with MJ while she also holds their daughter for everybody else to see. Then again, maybe he figured it no longer mattered as we learn he gave up being Spider-Man after that night.
- Okay, sure, the Regent killed all the superheroes, villains like the Vulture are still on the loose, and Peter is not longer Spider-Man, but as least under the Regent, New York City now has flying cars! I’d say that’s a worthwhile trade-off, wouldn’t you?
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@49 Doesn’t Brock’s anti-heroic “don’t harm the innocent” rule get rather more woolly when harming an innocent might help him get at Spider-Man? He’s killed undeserving prison guards and bystanders in the past simply for trying to stop him getting out and killing Spider-Man.
To an extent, it probably depends who’s writing him, but it doesn’t come across to me as completely out of sync with past portrayals.
I do not agree at all with the mis-characterization of Eddie Brock. He is being portrayed as Carnage rather than Venom. Even if this is an alternate reality, all the other character’s personalities are in place why should Brock’s be so off the mark? Brock would never target or threaten harm of a child! NEVER. This is blasphemy.
@#46-The thing is the set up of this story is so specifc and extreme and presents so many easily changed variables (including the fact that this is not our Spider-Man in the first place) that you could easily argue if this were to be the real status quo Peter wouldn’t have to choose between being Spider-Man or being a family man. he wouldn’t even necessarily HAVE to kill Venom. He only has to do that if he is facing a villain who’s stronger than him, who is unlikely to stay locked up, with no hope of implementing better security and when he has no Avengers friends, when the villain is trying to kill his (newborn baby) in that moment and when Peter has been angered and horrified by him invading his home and distressing his child mere moments ago. If Venom was on the prowl for Annie but never found her you could easily argue Peter mentally/emotionally wouldn’t have been driven to the same extremes. Slott basically out did himself in the set up for this because he justified it TOO well.
I disagree that this Venom is the intention of the Michelinie/McFarlane Venom. Even in his second ever story Venom made it clear he wasn’t going to hurt Peter’s family so long as Peter fought him fair and square. And in the third ever Venom story (long before Carnage was conceved) he actually stopped trying to kill Spidey (which was his entire reason to exist) to rescue a baby. Whilst he killed innocent people from his own warped mindset the deaths were justified because they weren’t innocent or they’d gotten in the way of his ultimate goal of killing Spider-Man. He killed a police officer and security guard because they were in his way. Yes he could’ve dispatched them sans murdering them but he isn’t a nice guy. However within his own mind and warped sense of morality Annie was neither in his way of killing Spider-Man, nor someone who was guilty of anything deserving of his punishing them. She was a means to an end and that end was hurting Spider-Man. But Venom doesn’t want to emotionally hurt Spider-Man. From the start he enjoyed toying with him but he’s not like Norman Osborn in that regard. Unless May or MJ actively opposed him in someway or did something ‘bad’ he wouldn’t actually harm them. Annie is even more innocent and so from Brock’s POV he wouldn’t hurt her. He might make Peter THINK he would, but he would never go through with it. This Venom though is actively MORE concerned with infanticide than his reason to exist, i.e. killing Spider-Man.
Yes this is an AU version but considering Slott wants this to cut close to the 616 versions it was bad writing. Had it been the Gargan Venom or Norman Osborn or many other villains it would’ve been fine. I don’t rip the story to shreds for it though because Venom is honestly just a means to an end, it could’ve been any number of villains because the point is Peter is driven to kill. Venom is effective because thematically he has strong ties to the marriage and he is a horrifying figure. He might also play into Peter donning the black suit later on. But in this issue he’s a blunt instrument.
The last page was actually ingenious writing by Slott (never thought I’d write that). Peter’s template for parenthood comes from Uncle Ben who slaved away to be a dependable provider for his family and his over protective and coddling Aunt May. I’m not saying Peter becoming like a combination of them is inevitable (because just look at Spider-Girl) but it’s certainly a realistic direction for him to go in.
More than this that last page was a great big subtle homage to a page from Amazing Fantasy #15 (which Slott routinely has gone back to). On the page in question we see Spider-Man ignore a criminal saying it’s not his problem and later on the same page May and Ben give him his microscope and he thinks to himself he doesn’t care about the rest of the world except for his aunt and Uncle. On the last page of this story he again ignores a thief and lets him get away and thinks to himself that he looks after his family.
@#7 RDMacQ — Oh, I hear you. And if Renew Your Vows is going for that “either/or” setup, Slott himself undercut that within the first couple of pages in the comic, as it seemed Spidey was adjusting quite well to being both a superhero and a family man. But of course, as the title suggests, it can’t last thanks to what the Regent did.
@#8 and #9 Franz29 — Thanks, Franz. And I agree, the “Renew Your Vows” definitely has multiple meanings. Folks were lead to believe it referenced Peter and MJ’s marriage, but it’s also clear it can refer towards, as you said, his commitment being Spider-Man. It can also be a renewal of his vow not to take a life under any circumstances, or, by donning the webs again, a renewal of his responsibilities to protect his family because he realizes that, just like what happened with Uncle Ben, if Peter does nothing then his family is in danger along with everyone else under the Regent’s rule.
@#10 Xander VJ — Yeah, I’ve seen the criticism that Slott wrote Venom out-of-character in order to make the story work, which is a totally valid compliant, especially as Slott has done this with other characters in other stories, especially when it came to Peter’s supporting cast and the Avengers in Superior Spider-Man. However, I argue that in this particular instance, because this is a world which is more or less an alternate version of the Marvel Universe from the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Venom we see in this story is far closer to what David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane intended for Venom. Remember, during Venom’s first couple of appearances, he was an unrepentant psychopath, who had no qualms about killing innocent people. It’s only when Venom started to become extremely popular that Marvel began to tone down Venom’s more villainous qualities and started paving the way to make him into an anti-hero with his own series, culminating into his “lethal protector” phase. That’s how we also ended up with Carnage who, because Venom was being set-up as a psychotic anti-hero, they wanted an even more psychotic version of Venom, who was really just their answer to Batman’s Joker. So perhaps, in the setting of Renew Your Vows, this Venom never developed into a “lethal protector” like we saw in the original stories.
Also re: Ramos’ cover for this issue? *raises hand*
@#16 Ronny — Thanks, Ronny. And yes, along with Peter killing Venom, Peter also giving up being Spider-Man and essentially letting the Regent take over is also controversial, and I would say it’s even bigger than the actual killing of Venom. Because on some level, and I hope Slott brings this up in the next issue, the fact that all the superheroes are dead and Peter felt forced to abandon them would definitely weigh heavily on his conscience. As I point out in the review, we just know Peter stepping down as Spidey under the pretense of taking care of his family is going to come back and bite him the ass. That’s clearly where Slott is taking this story as he’s set the stage for a “hero is forced to come out of retirement to stop a greater menace,” just like we saw in Spider-Man: Reign and the work that comic was based on, The Dark Knight Returns. Difference here is that, hopefully, this will be a much better story than Reign was.
One other aspect about this that was brought up (I forget by who) which was also a really great point is that the last scene showing Peter walking Annie across the street also suggests he, like Aunt May did with him, may have become an over-protective parent. Which, given what almost happened to Annie in this issue, makes a whole lot of sense. To use an analogy with another Disney property, Peter has become like Marlin from Finding Nemo.
@#25 Yvonmukluk — Somehow that wouldn’t surprise me.
@#18 Mike —
@#35 Al —
Absolutely. Regardless of the storytelling quality, Slott may have inadvertently torpedoed Marvel’s own arguments for why One More Day was necessary within the span of few pages. I’ve seen other comic book review sites like IGN, Newsarama and Comic Book Resources–all of whom at one point or another championed the single Spider-Man since Brand New Day–talk about how Renew Your Vows was “refreshing” and “a natural progression of these characters.” And of course I’m thinking, “Welcome to the Crawlspace Delta House, guys!”
Has anyone read Spider-Verse #1 yet? If not, don’t read further.
Maybe it’s just me, but reading that issue left me with more questions than answers. How did the other Spider people not remember what happened in Spider-Verse? I mean, it was only a few weeks ago they were doing battle together. How does Gwen not remember her past? I’m not even sure what timeline this is supposed to take place in. I wanted to say 616 due to the fact Gwen is dead, but there’s no Spidey and Osborn is mayor. I am intrigued about Gwen discovering her grave. I’d like to see that developed further.
@#43-In One More Day and One Moment in Time there was a red pigeon who ruined Spider-Man’s life.
I think that if the story were about Peter’s life as a father AND husband there was technically more MJ could’ve done. But this is a set up issue in a 4 part mini where the page count is still 20 pages so there isn’t that much room. The plot has to get moving and we did see them married. It was however more about Peter and MJ as parents than as a couple. Will that continue? I don’t know. But in this first issue it made sense and makes for a good story unto itself outside of the promotion. That being said I think most of us either wanted a story ABOUT Peter and MJ’s relationship and/or a story about Peter as a husband AND a father not just as a father
http://i.4cdn.org/co/1433440992118.jpg
>”With this first issue, Dan Slott, Adam Kubert, Justin Ponsor and Joe Caramagna have come together to tell the Spider-Man story fans have begging for.”
>”tell the Spider-Man story fans have begging for.”
>”begging for.”
This editor sure knows how to sneak in disrespectful comments in the not-so-amazing spider-mail. What an ego!
@7 ” Given the fact that MJ was plastered all over the books in promotion of this event, yet really didn’t play that big of a role in the narrative outside of the action sequence at the end, I’m fearful that she won’t be featured as a positive presence in Peter’s life. She won’t be supportive, or understanding. We’ll won’t see things from HER perspective. She’ll just be “there” while the narrative focuses on Peter and Annie. ”
The only reason MJ was plastered all over the promotion is because readers want to see a married Peter. But I don’t think she played any more or less of a roll than she did back when they were really married. It’s a Spider-Man comic, not a Mary Jane comic.
Anyone else having difficulty typing replies? I think there’s something wrong with the site. I’m a pretty good typist and I know I don’t randomly miss letters or spaces.
I’m curious why you think pigeons flying outside a NYC window would be considered an Easter egg.
@#40-Yes plenty of times. MOST people he killed he didn’t consider an innocent
Has Eddie Brock as Venom ever actually killed someone who wasn’t considered an ‘innocent’ before?
@#38-I don’t think May was ever conceived in this reality. It seems to be a weird parallel 90s universe. The way Mj talks came off as if his marriage and his becoming a parent happened very soon after one another, whereas Peter was married to mary Jane for 2-3 years Marvel time before Mayday was conceived
In previous posts some questioned the use of the name Annie. It dawned on me last night. She’s probably named after MJ’s Aunt Anna.
I’ve been pleasantly happy with Slott’s most recent work – The Ghost story arc and now Renew Your Vows. I don’t know why it took him so long to give us what I’ve always wanted in a Spidey issue – humor, and a good, clear story that isn’t rushed.
I am a bit surprised Peter has changed his mantra because of his daughter. I’d like to think that’s because of baby May’s “death,” assuming that took place in this reality.
@36
As long as Slott’s writing him, Peter will always have bad luck chasing after him.
Seems like Peter never gets to have a truly happy end.
But you just said it yourself, he SHOULD be convicted for what he did. Legally it was a no go area.
@#34-I’m betting on either both MJ and Peter dying or Peter dying and 616 Peter has to step up and replace him.
I think the story inadvertently provides you with more than enough leeway to say that if Spider-Man had a kid this chain of events is not 100% inevitable. Whether Slott REALISES he’s done that and still honestly wants to point out this is all that could ever happen, who knows. But reading this Spider-Man could’ve defeated Venom and locked him up, and resolved to take more precautions. Irresponsible? No more or less than politicians, cops and other figures who have kids.
Hell it’s actually no more or less irresponsible than what Roy Harper or even the Fantastic Four did for years. I mean they had enemies too and with the FF EVERYONE knew who they were. Franklin Richards literally was sent to Hell.
If Peter let Venom live and this was the regular series with this status quo he could get rid of the symbiote, mindwipe him, ask the Avengers/FF to keep an eye on him, lock him up in the negative zone or in space (or the Big House where he’s shrunken down) or Hell he could just go back to regular jail and then there could be inner conflict within himself over whether it was truly responsible to not take a life (and thus remain Spider-Man and help more people) or if the more responsible thing to do would be to have killed him to safeguard his daughter (bearing in mind in the MU people come back to life ALL the time). there could even be genuine serious conflict between Peter and Mary Jane. Forget conflict over smoking how would MJ feel about Peter allowing someone who wanted to kill their daughter to live, even when she set the situation up so Peter COULD kill him. How would Peter feel about Mary Jane ASKING him to murder? Would their relationship be able to survive that?
We’ve suddenly got all these great creative opportunities on the table for a married/parent Spider-Man and it’s stuff we didn’t have when he’s young hip and single. More than that it’s creatively more interesting and weighty
Hey guys imagine if in the story he actually does go on trial for the murder of Venom? How crazy would that be? Guy breaks into your home holds your family hostage chases you & your family down was trying to kill you the whole fight & since you’ve met threatens to keep coming after you all & eventually succeed & somehow you (Peter) becomes the bad guy when use deadly force back…
On a different note any predictions on how all of this ends? I’ve got MJ dying trying to save their daughter while, Peter is trying to save his daughter so can’t save MJ & Peter dying trying to save his daughter. So Slott saying, “See this is the only way it can logically go if they stay married”.
Although I’ll give him logic on the Venom side if say Venom or a villain would kill a baby & naturally If MJ & Pete got married they’d likely have a child if they could eventually. However I strongly disagree he’d ever make the mistake he’s all about. That by ignoring a huge problem in Reagent it won’t just go away & it will come back & affect his family directly. Get to a lab in secret, figure out a way with some device to depower/beat, Reagent. So he can’t be a future threat much worse than Venom to the family
@#32- I wouldn’t go much on what covers say.
I remember during the ASM relaunch last year, MJ was on a LOT of variant covers, if not the main covers, yet she didn’t appear beyond a couple of cameo appearances in the first six issues, and wasn’t referenced at all after that.
And the many variants have all been about MJ and Peter and them as a couple, and very little about Annie, but the focus in this issue was on Peter, as a father, with MJ present, with the final image in the book not about Peter with MJ, but Peter with Annie.
Now, granted, that could change in the next few issues, but I think it goes to show that just because the covers say one thing, it doesn’t mean that the books content will reflect that.
Someone may have already said this, but I just assumed Venom was still alive, simply because we’ve seen a cover of one upcoming issue in which Venom is pictured towering over Peter — though, I guess, it could just be meant to symbolize Peter’s memories and guilt for his actions.
@24
I HIGHLY doubt he would be convicted, even if technically he should. You have a full jury of people imagining a monster trying to murder their family, not to mention he’s a known hero fighting a known villain. There would be spectacular amounts of bias in his favor. Frankly, I’d be surprised if he was indicted.
@#27-I’d say she did more than the past 8 years unless you aggregate all 8 years together. She was fucking awesome in this.
The truth is MJ in this was honestly not that much different to MJ during the 20 year marriage or even moments under BND/Slott. She was just doing it with a baby and it meant more because it was an A-list villain (who terrorisied her in his debut).
I think you could argue this was dependant upon MJ being Peter’s wife, or at least in a relationship with him, enhanced further by their having a child. She wasn’t just helping him to defeat Venom. She was straight up setting Venom up to be potentially killed and even encouraging it. You got the vibe that Peter and MJ had almost sat down and sort of discussed what they’d do if something like this were to happen. As in this wasn’t the first time the idea of killing a villain to protect Annie had been raised between them.
Just read this issue, and loved it, it’s not perfect by any stretch but the art was amazing and it was great to see Peter and mj act like real people. It took me back to when I started reading spider-man comics!
Have your intoxicant of choice on stand-by, folks. I have a feeling we’ll be needing it at the end of this series.
I will give the series this- MJ did FAR more in this story than she EVER did in the past two to three YEARS.
Not kidding. As much as I dislike MJ not having much time for her character in this piece (Which Al pointed out, is more of an action piece, so maybe we’ll get more character stuff next issue, but I’ve got my fingers crossed on that one) she was at least RELEVANT to the plot. She DID something, and contributed to the narrative. Unlike Superior, where her scenes were shoehorned into the narrative and where she served as little more as an afterthought to the story while the “main” focus was on Carlie and Anna Marie.
The sad thing is that she could have done this for years. There was no reason that MJ couldn’t play this role in the story before. This isn’t MJ being written “Without limits, because what MJ did wasn’t dependent upon her being Peter’s wife. This was MJ being written as a FUNCTIONAL part of the narrative, not written out so focus could be put on Slott’s pet characters and storylines. This is the type of MJ that we could have been getting for years. And it wasn’t because she was “limited” in her previous role, since Slott was the one limiting her.
Poor story, but great art.
That redhead in the quinjet is probably Black Widow-except as noted, she’s meant to be ‘missing’. They just changed the dialogue.
Great job there, editors!
@#18-I don’t have kids but I buy it. I would also have bought if Peter didn’t go through with it. I would also have bought if he went through with it but didn’t do it again when in a similar situation. it’s a very heat of the moment thing.
I agree about how the marriage and kids works. I was getting half a dozen story ideas just reading the issue. There is so much immense potential in the concept of a parent Pater Parker it’s too good an idea to waste. For example what if he hadn’t killed Venom and he’d gone back to prison. What kind of moral questions could the seires explore if that happened? How much conflict could you generate between him and MJ through doing that?
@#19-If Peter was in a court of law being tried for the crime of Venom’s death he would be found guilty. This was murder. He wasn’t defending himself, he was killing Venom when he could’ve (and mostly had already) beaten him and his actions were mostly being done with the intention of preventing Venom hypothetically hurting Annie in the future. That’s like a cop who can apprehend a criminal without lethal force decididng to use it anyway because the criminal might hurt someone else. That is not justified. That isn’t legally a valid excuse. That isn’t killing him whilst he is in the middle of committing a criminal act. That’s taking a precaution. It is not self-defence whatsoever and it is certainly not manslaughter. Peter would go down for murder.
Venom was already on the ropes by that point. Peter was dealing major damage to him whilst taking very little, Venom was at a disadvantage amidst the fire and between that and all the other times Peter has managed to defeat Venom it’s more than likely he could’ve defeated Venom sans lethal force. But Venom was specifically saying even if he loses now ‘eventually’ he would kill Annie. Again, Peter wasn’t doing it to save her in the moment, he was doing it to save her for the future.
#22 Thanks!
@#19 Mike — Fixed it for you, Mike. 🙂
Legally, “right to self defense” includes the defense of others. The danger has to be imminent, the defendant has to believe violence is the only possible means to stopping the danger, and the defendent’s violence must match the violence being threatened. In other words, if someone threatens to pinch your child, you can’t blow their head off with a shotgun. But you can hit their hand away and not be convicted of assault.
Annie was right outside the building, Brock was taunting Peter he would eat her brains, and they were in a punch up for the ages.
No court would convict Peter, especially since Brock already broke into their home and held the baby hostage, indicating this was malice aforethought.
@#16 – Unless you’re using “murder” as a 100% straight synonymous of “killing”, that is, just taking a life, no additional nuance added (neither good nor bad), which is NOT the definition most people who use the word in these cases are referring to… then no, objectively it is not murder.
Murder, as used in those comments, is the act of killing with deliberate malice aforethought.
That’s not what Peter does.
Although, on a second thought, maybe we shouldn’t be using “self-defense” either, since technically he didn’t do to protect himself. But then I guess that’s going into semantics more than necessary.
I think my reply got lost somewhere. Dang. Can it be found?
I thought this issue was great. It felt like a type of Spidey story I haven’t seen in a very long time, which makes me wonder, why isn’t more of Slott’s Spidey writing like this? The writing feels totally invested and the story feels really important. I think whether we label what Spidey did to Venom “murder” or “self-defense” or an act committed in the fog of war doesn’t matter. In the moment, with Venom hellbent on killing Annie AND no semblance of a reliable criminal justice system or vigilante system (remember, Spidey just learned that Rikers was breached and superheroes were being offed), Peter felt justified (especially with MJ encouraging him) to drop the building on Venom–an action that didn’t necessarily guarantee that a super villain like Venom would be killed. Maybe it comes down to whether the reader has children or not…? I can only answer for myself, I guess, but it felt believable and justified.
I really enjoyed the relationship between Peter and MJ here. No matter what happens with this series, Slott has, whether intended or not, demonstrated in the span of a few pages, that the marriage with child works and can generate stories. It’s funny, because Marvel goes through these bizarre contortions to tell “fresh” Spidey stories (Superior being the most bizarre, in my opinion) when 4 pages of RYV reveal how fresh and amazing (no pun intended) the story of a street level superhero with wife and child would be. And Marvel has spent 20 years doing everything in its power NOT to tell that story. Weird.
The thing of this story is that we’ve yet to see why being MARRIED is bad and Spider-Man can’t have that. Being a FATHER maybe, but the story is all about the threat to his child and not to his wife. Venom is going to hurt his baby, Mary Jane does what she does for Annie. The ending is about Annie as well. Nothing thus far has made the case against marriage without kids
@#1-Whether Slott is inserting his philoshy regarding murdering Venom is irrelevant though because the context of the story justifies the act whilst also providing an out for us if someone DID want to have Spider-Man be a Dad and NOT kill.
I feel mixed on the story if it’s mainly about him being a father and not a husband. Because on the one hand that’s false advertising and not what we want but on the other hand the alternative is a viable, new and highly rare story for us to tell. We’ve NEVER seen that and we don’t know if we ever will, so if this is our one shot at a story about Spider-Man as a father then we should go for it.
@#5-Honestly I think the Brock Venom just looks like that because it’s Kubert’s style. He doesn’t look like Gargan’s Venom so much as he looks like Brock’s put through Kubert’s artistic style. I mean Venom even before Gargan’s incarnation looked a lot like this anyway. Personally I’ve always hated that look and preferred Bagely’s lean yet muscular rendition.
@#7-But Mac most of the book was the action scene therefore MJ playing a big role in it by definition means she played a big role in the narrative as a whole. Mostly the story came off as her and Peter double teaming Venom.
@#8-I think the Clone Saga just doesn’t happen in this world. Venom being evil like this never happened and by the Clone Saga he was the Lethal protector so I think this world is one where things are different just because they are
@#10-Well…no not really. Peter objectively speaking murdered Venom. He killed him with the intent of killing him and it wasn’t in self-defence or the defence of anyone else and when he has no legal sanction to take life. that is by definition murder. He murdered Venom so Annie would never have to worry about him again. That is what happened. Peter never had to kill Venom and could’ve tricked or beaten him down like he has countless times in the past. In fact he was winning this fight. Therefore Peter did objectively murder Venom.
@Stillanerd Excellent review. I agree with @RDMacQ His actions with Venom(Although Venom yes is not supposed to harm innocents) would be understandable & felt honest thing he may do if absolutely forced & I wouldn’t call it murder.
The part to me that makes no sense is this Regent guy is much more of a threat than Venom. After he presumably kills all of these people for Spider-man not to study away in a lab in his free time to take this guy out the smart way seems ridiculous. Instead he thinks I’ll just ignore this killer & let him rule my city…couldn’t possibly affect my family, nope. That would never happen…again. He could of came up a way with plenty of prep time while being safe. THAT would be protecting his family not putting his family & everyone in serious future danger which is what he is foolishly doing. He of all people I feel should know that. even a group of soccer moms wouldn’t just let a dangerous threat to their child waltz around their community…come on!
That’s my opinion…am I the only one? I feel the story was great other than that very end decision to be ok with putting down Venom to avoid a possible future threat to your family(which im ok with in the context) but leaving an even bigger future threat that caused it to happen in the first place to rule the city …..& ignoring the nightcrawler “teleporting Hulk’s head off” lol I don’t know is that plausible? & maybe Hulk just grew it back if so? Maybe this guy even had Hulk’s powers since he we don’t know how he gets their powers but if he has rogue’s we know he could of gained & maybe drained at least a little of hulk’s powers making him weaker? Or maybe he was using jeans tk to also deconstruct his molecules…who knows, right?
Whilst the dialogue, the Regent and the characterisation of Venom sucked I was shocked at how great this was.
I wouldn’t say this was self-defence because Spider-Man very clearly had Venom on the ropes. This wasn’t about self-defence, this was a preventative measure. Spidey murdered Venom to protect his daughter. That was the point.
I don’t think we can say 100% from now on Spider-Man will ALWAYS kill if he became a parent but I think under this scenario it could’ve gone either way, same thing with the 616 version.
Mac I gotta strongly disagree about Venom. Venom was scary but 100% out of character. Even in the early pre-lethal protector stories Venom’s warped morality wouldn’t lead him to threaten a baby.
I actually agreed with his killing Venom. The dude was threatening his infant daughter! Any father would do the same, no matter what their personal feelings are. All in all, this is an intriguing premise.
I have not read the book yet, but what I gather from the review is that Pete quit being Spider-man for both the fact that he did something horrible (kill Venom) and that this Reagent guy is out there sucking super heroes’ powers and killing them. If he kept being Spidey, he would disappear too, so he prefers to keep being with his family. Which would be a better reason than “I killed Venom :…( and whine whine whine”
Finally reading the story, I did like it and I completely get the Venom situation. I really do, however everything with Regent and the Avengers. I just rolled my eyes at that. Which is even more off-putting because I did enjoy Slott’s Mighty Avengers run. Not to mention that Regent is a redone version of the Unspoken. Since the Unspoken could get new powers every time he breathed in terrigan mist. Here with Regent he is the better version of Rogue but him taking out the Hulk the way he did was extremely stupid. Of course since we know that Doom made Battle World from pieces of the multiverse. He used the lower powered Hulk from one. That really is what throws it, I get this is an alternate version of Peter and MJ where the deal with Mephisto didn’t’ happen and Peter never sided with anyone during Civil War. Yet, him leaving the Avengers to fall after he killed Brock. That isn’t the Peter I know. He would never allow his daughter to live under the tearny of some corporate mogul who got super power obsessed. Not to mention, Doom would never have allowed it. Oh well, other wise its a good story despite everything. Now with the announcement that the post Secret Wars Spider-Man books will have new creators. This might really be Slott trying to have his swan song.
I think that SLott was portraying the Marvel universein the 90s for most of this comic, and at the end it flashed forward to modern day, which is why Dwayne was referenced as being so young and Iron Man was in his older armor. And I get your compliments for Slott’s characterization of Venom, but this felt contrived to me. Even before his Lethal Protector phase, Brock’s boundary of “not harming innocents” was established. Who’s more innocent than a baby? This misstep-for-the-sake-of-amping-up-the-tension bothered me. It was another plot-before-character move on Slott’s part.
I like this first issue, but I can see where the criticisms of Peter killing Venom are coming from. Just… can we stop calling it “murder”? Some people use that word too lightly when discussing this kind of stories. I agree with Stillanerd here: this is easily self-defense. At worst, this is war kill, which still is a far cry from straight murder.
The thing for me is that… well… this is an alternate universe, so I don’t see it affecting the main continuity in any meaningful way, neither for good nor bad. Even though I’d like to if it turns out to be good. Keeping that in mind, I intent just to try to enjoy the ride while it lasts, and from this first issue the story looks promising to me. Yeah, the threat of Slott trying to shove down our throats the message of Peter getting married as a bad idea is still there, but I hope he’ll get some of his “Superior Spider-Man” mojo back and at lest give us something entertaining to read. About the idea of Annie stealing MJ’s thunder in this story… Yeah, that would be annoying, but I don’t think it necessarily has to break the story.
I do have one big problem, though, and that’s Venom. Not because Spidey kills him, but because he’s out of character here. Let’s not forget that, for all of his hatred towards Peter, he never kills innocent people. We know he wouldn’t threaten to kill a frigging toddler, let alone actually do it!
If Slott wanted Peter to break his non-killing rule, why not to choose another villain we know capable of that kind of murdering, like the Green Goblin at its worst?
PS: Raise your hand if you believe Ramos did his best work ever with that variant cover. It sums up why Peter and MJ are so adorable together so perfectly at so many levels! ¡Excelente trabajo, señor Ramos!
Great review too Stillanerd. Sorry, meant to compliment you in the original post but I deleted the line by mistake.
Why do I get the feeling that the title of the series is a fake-out. It’s not Peter and MJ renewing their marriage vows, it’s going to be Peter renewing his vow of taking great responsibility for the whole, meaning he can’t be married to MJ and have a child. (probably something terrible will happen to the family to force this decision but I hope not).
As RDMacQ said in #7 – under Slott it’s always a binary choice – Peter can be A or B, but never A and B, because Doom Forbid people juggle family and responsibility in the real world.
I do like the use of Annie instead of May if we’re assuming the Clone Saga happened in this reality. The couple would already have lost baby May and (by the time of the story) would have moved on through the grieving process and welcomed a new baby to the world. This feels real to me and leaves me not angered over the choice.
All in all, this is the best Spider-Man and Peter Parker I have seen from Slott since the Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four minis. Back then I thought Slott “got” Spider-Man and was excited to see him on the main title when it was announced. It’s nice to have some of that back again. I genuinely cared about the characters, right off the bat instead of the general apathy I now have for the ongoing.
@#5- Stillanerd- The funny thing is, that I don’t think I would normally have an issue with this setup if it wasn’t for who it was writing it. If it were another writer, I could see them using this situation as a possible way to turn things around. Peter commits what he thinks is an unforgivable act, and gives up to focus on his family. Because, for all I disagree with Peter’s actions in killing Venom, it IS far more understandable than practically half the stuff that Slott had Peter engage in these past few years.
Peter leaving the Avengers to battle the Regent to help his family? THAT feels honest and natural to Peter’s character. Taking a more brutal stance against Venom because he threatened his family? THAT is understandable. And setting up a scenario where Peter has to go up against incredible odds to save the world, with his survival in doubt? That is pretty classic Spider-Man, bringing up memories of Nothing Stops the Juggernaut or the Master Planner Saga, where he struggles against the impossible and manages to overcome it. And doing so because of the faith he has in his loved ones? Again, THAT feels appropriate.
The problem is that this is Slott, and while he’s good on the premise, he’s horrible on the execution, often bungling it with his need to insert his own philosophy into the narrative. As another person pointed out on another site, the dilemma Slott creates is a false one, because he sets it as an “either/ or” situation. Peter can be Spider-Man, OR he can be a father and husband, but he CAN’T be both. And, again, knowing who is writing this and his philosophy on the series and how it “should” be, it makes me concerned for how the story will play out. Sure, we might get a good MJ moment out of this- but I doubt it. Given the fact that MJ was plastered all over the books in promotion of this event, yet really didn’t play that big of a role in the narrative outside of the action sequence at the end, I’m fearful that she won’t be featured as a positive presence in Peter’s life. She won’t be supportive, or understanding. We’ll won’t see things from HER perspective. She’ll just be “there” while the narrative focuses on Peter and Annie.
Yes, this is probably me being paranoid, as she could get her moments in the upcoming three issues. But, once again, given the source, I’m really holding my breathe and expecting the worst. I’m afraid of instead of getting a story that truly emphasizes that MJ IS an important character to the mythos, she’ll just be window dressing. This is the series that had MJ’s face plastered all over the covers and variants for the first few issues of the ASM relaunch, only for MJ to get a cameo appearance in the series at best, and now ignored for over a year.
Considering the way they are trying to push Miles into the mainstream continuity, it would be cool to see this version of Peter becoming permanent with Papa Peter becoming a sort of mentor to Miles. Yeah, I know this is probably just wishful thinking.
@#1 RDMacQ — Those are indeed some very well thought out points. Sure, it’s possible that Slott can still use this story to essentially go, “See. see? This is why Spider-Man should have never, ever gotten married.” Yet I do agree that what appears to the intent of this story is that Peter is making a huge mistake in placing all of his priorities towards his family when he should be trying to find a proper balance between being a husband and father while also being a superhero. Because I mention in the review, we’ve seen Peter quit being Spidey before. We also know that when he puts all his eggs into the Peter Parker basket, it winds up coming back to bite him the ass.
As for Peter relationship with Mary Jane vs his relationship with Annie, it wouldn’t surprise me if Slott does place the greater emphasis on Peter the father instead of Peter the husband. And based on the cover and solicit for Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #4, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Slott will use this story to build-up Annie as “the next great character” as he’s wont to do, and that she’ll be one of the “survivors” from Secret Wars going into the All-New Marvel Universe (or Nu-Mu as Tom Brevoort has called it).
@#4 Stuart Green — I think the reason for why the Eddie Brock Venom looks like the Mac Gargan Venom in this issue is that it’s yet another means to show how this is a different reality than the 616 as opposed being an alternate continuation of the 616.
And like you, I also hope this series doesn’t wind up being yet another huge disappointment. After all, Slott does have a track record of never quite sticking the landings when it comes to his endings.
So, why is the Eddie Brock “classic” Venom looking like the Mac Gargan Venom again? Still, it’s nice to see M.J. act more like her old, confident, sane self. I also hope that we get the Spider-Marriage post-RYV in the “all-new, all-different Marvel Universe” this fall. But I really hope RYV doesn’t disappoint. Marvel finally has me excited to read some of their comics for the first time in over 8 years and I don’t want them to lose me just when they’ve got me intrigued.
Fixed it for you, Mac. 🙂
My original post got snagged in the spam filter. Would someone be able to dig it out?
While I understand the appeal of having Peter and MJ written competently and take actions that legitimately make sense given the situation (Lord knows it’s been a while) I still can’t help shake the feeling that there is a hidden “message” that underlines Slott’s work. Granted, I think the end result has already been decided, but that doesn’t mean Slott can’t take one final swipe at an institution he doesn’t much care for.
The situation with Spider-Man murdering Venom just feels like, to me, of Slott inserting his own philosophy into the storyline. He’s been quite adamant in his stories that Peter killing is “wrong” (Even thought whenever the problem IS resolved with a character’s death in WHATEVER story he is writing the net result tends to be positive), so therefore him being married, him being a father, would result in him taking such an out of character action that it “shows” how it is wrong. But, as typical with most of Slott’s work as well, what he INTENDS to show and what we take from it sually end up being two radically different things. I do think that perhaps Slott’s true intent with this story was to show that Peter will a family IS what Venom describes- a “weakness.” A weakness that causes him to kill. That causes him to abandon his role as Spider-Man. To shirk his responsibility. So this story won’t be a “This is why Peter and MJ are good together” but more “This is why they should remain as they are,” at least as how Slott originally intended it to be.
In addition, I suspect that, despite the MASSIVE amounts of pro-MJ material that Marvel is pushing out with this series, her character WILL take a back seat to the narrative, so that it’s more about Peter as a FATHER than MJ as his love interest. That all the focus will go onto Annie, who is- surprise, surprise- a Slott created character, who will probably garner the majority of the attention of the tale. After all, Slott did say Peter is a father, a husband, a hero in THAT order. And since he’s not that big of a fan of Peter and MJ, that will probably be his way around it- make the story about THAT rather than the popular couple that is all over the promos.
Still, this is only the first part. And MJ may have some fairly important moments to come that lets her character shine. But somehow I doubt it, given Slott’s track record with the series. I have a feeling at the end of the day the event should have been called “ANNIE, and Peter… and MJ is there too, I guess”, but “Renew Your Vows” was catchier.