The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #15 Review

“Great power, great responsibility. I know you’ve heard it a million times. But it’s about more than just choosing to take action. It’s about choosing to take on the risk.”

Spider-Man decides to trust The Lizard and leads the Spider-Family underneath Coney Island. Is this a trap? Or will they find something far more sinister below?

WRITER: Jody Houser

ARTIST: Nick Roche

COLORIST: Ruth Redmond

LETTERER: VC’s Joe Caramagna

COVER ARTISTS: Ryan Stegman & Brian Reber

EDITOR: Heather Antos

SUPERVISING EDITOR: Jordan D. White

SPIDER-MAN created by STAN LEE & STEVE DITKO

STORY: At Coney Island, Spider-Man decides to trust The Lizard and hear his plea for help, cutting him loose. Spiderling objects, but the Spider-Family follows The Lizard underground, finding various beings caged in a makeshift operating room. A man in circus attire calling himself Dr. Krikos attacks, but runs away after the Spiders free his captives. With the threat over, everyone goes their separate ways, with The Lizard not being held since he did nothing wrong. Somewhere in the jungle, Dr Krikos bottles a genetic sample he took of Spiderling during the fight and reveals himself to be none other than X-Men villain Mr. Sinister!

THOUGHTS: Wow! Big surprise here-I love another Stegman cover! Once again, he channels his inner Todd McFarlane when it comes to the shadowy figures lurking in the background. Reminds me of the Morlock arc in Spider-Man 13-14.

Continuing the pattern Conway set in his first arc, Houser shifts the narrative responsibilities over to Annie. Having been aged to a teenager, she definitely has a mild case of questioning authority, in this case, her parents. Absolutely convinced that Lizard is trying to lead them into a trap, Spiderling feels her dad is crazy. Houser depicts a Spider-Man who not only is applying logic to the situation, but faith and a little instinct, too. I really appreciate that while Annie may think he’s being dumb, Houser doesn’t portray Peter as such, with Spidey turning the potentially deadly situation into a teaching moment.

I’m assuming a lot happened in the eight year gap and that they were active as heroes the whole time, so given that, I was surprised that Spidey is giving this lesson for the first time. You’d think the Wall-Crawler would be teaching about power and responsibility all week long to his young daughter. Maybe this time the difference is Annie is finally feeling like she’s being seen as closer to an adult. I think Houser did a great job again with characterization this issue, making everyone feel down to earth. 

I was actually starting to warm a little to Roche’s art this issue. He does an homage to Stegman’s splash page in RYV #4 as our characters wallcrawl through an underground tunnel to reach their objective. Spidey even remarks that it feels like Mole Man to him. What was eight years ago for them is only 11 issues for us, so it doesn’t come off as very fresh, more derivative, but at least they acknowledge it. I like the worried look he imbues The Lizard with as they reach the captives. I feel like his art has a little more detail this time out, too, but still has his cartoony style.

I wasn’t terribly shocked by the reveal of Dr. Krikos really being Mr. Sinister. As far as X-Men villains go, I like him fine, but I’m not jumping in the air at the thought of another X-villain gracing these pages after just having some eight issues ago. This is only issue #15 and how many X appearances have there been? I appreciate establishing that we are part of a greater Marvel U, but there is plenty of Spidey’s world to explore without having to dig into the X roster. Hopefully after this next arc we can see more of Spidey’s rogues.

“8 Years Later” slides the timeline forward with minimal change other than needlessly aging Annie and giving us basically Spider-Girl 2.0. In fact, I can’t see how placing this particular story eight years from the last makes any difference. Peter’s Star Trekian lesson of “just because something looks scary doesn’t mean we have to beat it up, maybe they just need help” would actually play better if Annie was younger, still a novice at being a super-hero in the field.  We’ll see where Houser takes us next arc, with the promise of high school. Despite some narrative redundancy, I did enjoy elements of this issue and am willing to stick along for the ride a bit longer. There is still potential in a married Peter and MJ, especially with all three members of the family being a team. There is at least that aspect of differentiation with the bygone Spider-Girl title. I think a lot of fans are going to be scratching their heads for just a bit longer on what this title is supposed to be though. Here’s hoping Houser can wow us as she continues to establish this new setting. 

MY GRADE: C+

JAVI’S HUH?: Is that Howard the Duck and Rocket Raccoon captured in some of those cages?!?! How’d that happen? And is that a Brood? Yet another X character…