The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #12 Review

“I’ve always believed that my true power wasn’t the spider strength, or sticking to walls…but the power to shape people’s hearts.”

Normie’s plan to destroy the Amazing Spider-Man has been unleashed upon New York City! Will the combined strength of the Spider-Family PLUS the X-Men be enough to put a stop to the Osborn Legacy?

WRITER: Ryan Stegman

ARTIST: Brian Level

COLORIST: Jesus Aburtov

LETTERER: VC’s Joe Caramagna

COVER ARTISTS: Ryan Stegman & Jesus Aburtov

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Heather Antos

EDITOR: Darren Shan

SPIDER-MAN created by STAN LEE & STEVE DITKO

STORY: As the Mecha-Green Goblin goes on a rampage, the X-Men join Spidey’s side in the fray, only to quickly have their powers absorbed by the incorporated Regent tech. Spinneret and Liz make it to OsCorp where they free Spiderling and find an injured and unconscious Normie. Ms. January is revealed to be piloting the Mecha-Goblin, a.k.a. Project M.G., and uses it to drain Spidey who is quickly rescued by Spinneret. The save doesn’t last long as the Mecha Goblin drains away the Symbiote, leaving the Parkers defenseless. Normie teams up with Spiderling, giving her a camera so he can guide her. Stealing the orb that powers the Goblin, Spiderling not only defeats the giant machine, but it causes everyone’s powers to be returned as well. Eight years later, Annie gets a new suit on her birthday.

THOUGHTS: Here we are, the end of the first year’s worth of stories from the ongoing Renew Your Vows. Stegman provides a jam cover of all the characters, kind of like what you woulds see on a modern movie poster, except this isn’t photo-shopped! It’s nice to see Spidey at the top of the heap; your eye gets automatically drawn toward him.

Picking up right where we left off last issue, Spidey is trying his best to not get killed by the Mecha Goblin. Unlike last issue, a not so mysterious voice is providing narration to these events in the past tense, giving us clues that this is from Annie’s point of view. Stegman only uses this to open and close the book, making the main event feel like more of a contemporary setting, than a past that we are being guided through from a limited point of view.

Having the X-Men pop up makes sense as we had the two issue arc with them trying to recently recruit Annie. Instead of the usual “other heroes show up to save Spidey in his own book” shtick they actually make matters worse and Spidey has to save them! Ironic, given that Wolverine seems to share Marvel’s attitude that Spider-Man can’t handle things on his own. Despite the X-Men’s presence making the Mecha-Goblin stronger, the 7 year old in me got a thrill out of the mini Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends reunion with Iceman.

Our Spider-Heroes all come off pretty capable here. Spidey figures out the mech must be storing powers and is tenacious in his attempt to get to the source. Spinneret saves Spidey from a fall and hangs on for dear life when she gets stripped from her powers, too, showing her bravery and fighting spirit throughout. Spiderling’s compassion and offer of friendship turns the tide and brings Normie into the group to save the day. The group dynamic is really starting to gel. Did anyone else get reminded of Peter’s wrestling outfit from Amazing Fantasy when MJ made a web mask for herself?

Something not addressed is Normie’s chronic exposure to Goblin serum. In #10 he admits to small doses that have increased his intelligence. We aren’t really told much beyond that and we get nothing in the wrap up that mentions his usage of it. Now that they are bringing him in more to the family, at least as heroes, hopefully he confides in someone and they get him to stop using it, otherwise his and Spiderling’s newfound friendship is not long for this world and they are doomed to repeat the mistakes of their fathers. This looks like a potential plot line that’s going to get dropped when we make it to the 8 years later jump, unfortunately.

Brian Level returns on art chores and it feels a bit rushed this outing.  At times it felt more simplified than his last issue, but he still tried to carry over some of the energy that Stegman established. It somehow just looks less defined and more cartoony to my eye and I wasn’t as wowed by it as I was with issue #11. I did like how Normie made the power orb into a techno-pumpkin, keeping true to form.

As we barreled toward the end, I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t have time for January to be fleshed out a bit more motivation wise. She clearly had some emotional attachment to Harry and preserving the Osborn legacy, but there is no revelation as to why. Was it a one sided infatuation? Did Harry foster her feelings toward him? What made her so devoted to carrying things on in his absence?

The last page gives us the jump to 8 years later as Annie resumes her narration. It would’ve been cool to have the incoming art team do the last page to show the transition, but Level closes it out with a decent final panel showing off Annie’s new look.

I’ll save my thoughts for “8 Years Later” for the next issue’s review, but I’m not understanding the logic or what went on behind the scenes that made this a necessary change to the status quo. Stegman does his best to close out his very truncated era, but the conclusion feels rushed after the developments of the last few issues. I wish we had more time to let it breathe as there were lots of areas to explore.

“The Curse of The Green Goblin” concludes not with a home run, but a double that maybe steals third base depending how much leeway you want to give it. It tries to tie in elements from the proceeding year, but has to do it in a fairly quick manner, leaving the whole affair feeling fairly simplified compared to past efforts. One thing is for sure, Conway and Stegman will be missed; their time on this book was far too short.

MY GRADE: B-

JAVI’S HUH?: How the heck did the X-Men get there so fast? I know the Blackbird is quick, but…

Annie doesn’t know who Liz is? Guess she really is an absentee parent!