Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #6 Review: The X-Men Adventure
By Alex Widen
Spider-Man and his family take a field trip to visit the X-Men! Yet will a traitor and an old enemy turn it into a nightmare?
Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #6
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Ryan Stegman
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov
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The first arc dealt with a Fantastic Four villain. How about an X-Men villain this time around? It seems that this series, set around a different Marvel Universe, has Spider-Man and his amazing family taking on all sorts of threats. After a brief one-shot interlude with the Sandman, regular artist Ryan Stegman returns for this two part arc. It features more buggy continuity between this series and the original Renew Your Vows mini series, but an altogether riveting story line.
Image by Marvel Comics
The issue starts with the one X-Men member who can’t catch a break—Banshee. He was killed off in X-Men: Deadly Genesis a decade ago and out of all of the X-Men, he’s never been outright revived. He gets killed off once again two pages in, this time by Magneto. The master of magnetism is leading another incarnation of the Brotherhood, and boasts of a traitor within his enemies’ midst. Yet what, if anything, does any of this have to do with Spider-Man or his family?
Image by Marvel Comics
Is It Really a Good Party When Your Boss Shows Up?
The meeting of webs and magnetism ultimately comes down to poor timing. Peter Parker is initially surprised not by any super villain, but by a surprise party Mary Jane throws for him. Even his grumpy boss J. Jonah Jameson shows up! Peter and MJ reminisce about their dead aunts, as Annie May tries to navigate past “healthy” cupcakes. Yet the real surprise is who decided to crash the party. None other than Professor Charles Xavier himself, complete with his 1990s hover chair!
Image by Marvel Comics
Xavier’s not there to offer any presents, but issues a day pass to his School for Gifted Youngsters. The presence of Annie May Parker (a.k.a. Spiderling) has come to his attention, and he feels his school would be the best fit for her. Despite being seemingly killed off and used as a power source for Regent in the original mini series, most of the X-Men seem alive and well. Furthermore, Wolverine and Jean Grey are married, and have their own precious red-headed daughter, Kate.
Image by Marvel Comics
As Jubilee takes Annie May and Kate on a tour, Xavier and the Parkers meet to discuss her fate. While whether Annie is a mutant or a mere super-human is debatable, Xavier feels she would be better able to develop at his school. Mary Jane angrily disagrees, feeling she is best served with as normal a life as possible. Peter himself is torn, having endured feeling like an outcast in school long before he gained spider-powers. Meanwhile, Annie May continues getting prophetic visions.
Image by Marvel Comics
Secrets, Strong Art, and Obscure Characters!
Despite the facade, not all is rosy at the school, or with Professor X himself. Mary Jane runs into Cyclops, a very jaded ethics teacher at the school. It seems that Xavier hashed out a deal with the Avengers and the world’s governments to police super-humans. Hence, his invitation is more to keep an eye on Annie May than anything. Yet with a traitor revealed among the X-Men, Magneto and his Brotherhood stage their attack! Like I said, call this another case of “that old Parker luck!”
Image by Marvel Comics
Continuity conundrums or not, Gerry Conway seems to be having a ball with this alternate universe. His choice of Brotherhood members is amazingly eclectic. Blob and Toad are old mainstays, but Mist Mistress takes the cake. She first turned up in Captain America #346 from 1988 as a member of the Resistants. It was as a team formerly known as Mutant Force, who were formerly Magneto’s one time minions from another Captain America comic from 1977. Whew!
Image by Marvel Comics
After taking one issue off, Ryan Stegman returns on art, with Jesus Aburtov on colors. Stegman’s work is strong, and he gets in some fun renditions of the X-Men circa 1992. The only one who gets any major redesign is Jubilee, with a new hair style and earrings done up for her. His take on Magneto and the Brotherhood are also interesting, with a very frog-like Toad and what appears to be Xorn in a different costume. Some of his line work and inking looks rushed, but remains strong.
Image by Marvel Comics
Continuity Conundrums Abound!
The issue of awkward continuity between this series and the Battleworld miniseries it is supposed to be a sequel of came up in the letter column. Editor Darren Shan explained that Spider-Man and his family were able to free many of the heroes that Regent had seemingly killed and used for power. Considering Regent used their powers for years in the original series, this doesn’t quite work. Sandman’s appearance in the last issue conflicted with the previous series too.
Image by Marvel Comics
While a world with most of Earth’s heroes dead may not have left Gerry Conway much to work with, it remains a little awkward. There are some moments which directly call back to the original Renew Your Vows miniseries, such as MJ using one of Regent’s prototype costumes as Spinneret. Yet in that mini, Sandman not only died, but was nothing but an ally to Spider-Man. In the previous issue, he was a dumb bank robber. The X-Men were Regent’s first casualties in that series as well.
Image by Marvel Comics
Considering how many Marvel Comics set in “mainstream” continuity have equally glaring errors, it’s worth ignoring for the greater good. At least here, Peter and MJ are a couple once again, having both fun and dramatic times raising a daughter. And since recruiting kids with super powers is the X-Men’s main premise, it makes sense to do an arc featuring them. It offers an interesting conflict, seeing how both Spider-Man and MJ react to the idea of letting Annie May go to school there.
Image by Marvel Comics
Could We Be Adding an X to the Spider-Symbol?
Considering all of the drastic changes which have gone on with the X-Men, it’s refreshing to see a more classic setting with them too. We see a mix of 1990s era costuming with the “Academy X” horde of students from the early 2000s. Like most alternate universe X-Men, Wolverine and Jean are a couple. It comes up all the time in alternate X-worlds for some strange reason. Cyclops being the jaded one is a bit interesting, especially as it may be revealed that he was on the money.
Image by Marvel Comics
Next: See the Spider-Family take down Mole Man in #4!
Seeing Spider-Man battle Magneto may seem odd, but it’s happened before. Both of his 1981-era cartoons, Spider-Man and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, saw the two lock horns. Ultimately Spider-Man may learn that life with the X-Men would be more dangerous for his daughter than a field trip with the Sinister Six! Annie May and Kate have some cute scenes together, and, in conclusion, this looks to be another exciting arc for the amazing Spider-family!