Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #20 Review: Something Sinister
By Alex Widen
Image by Marvel Comics
Another Shout out to Spider-Girl?
While it is strange to see an X-Men villain having such a large role in a Spider-Man series, it isn’t without precedent. The 1980s cartoon Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends began the major pop culture association between Spidey and the X-Men. Mr. Sinister was the main villain in the 2009 mini series X-Men & Spider-Man, which also involved clones. And when compared with other “mad geneticist” villains like Jackal and High Evolutionary, Mr. Sinister is more well known and undoubtedly creepier.
Image by Marvel Comics
Yet the involvement of a clone of Spider-Man’s daughter once again makes it easier to remember a series which may as well be its spiritual ancestor. I’ve noted more than once some general similarities between this and Spider-Girl, and those may only increase now that Annie May is a teenager. In the second volume of Spider-Girl (Amazing Spider-Girl), May “Mayday” Parker was secretly cloned by Norman Osborn. Her clone, Mayhem, had symbiotic powers and even briefly took on the mantle! It was a clever examination of “dark relaunches” and cemented what made May work.
Image by Marvel Comics
Early issues of Jody Houser’s run focused on individual members of the Spider-family, much as Gerry Conway’s did. She’s since gone on to spread the focus a bit, as this one spends time on both Peter and Annie May. While the opening issue repeats some tired tropes about “evil clones” with the heroine being mistaken, it ultimately is about Peter coming to terms with revisiting a sensitive trauma in his life. Peter just didn’t want to revisit that level of loss again, yet with Annie May’s plight displaying so many signs, it was inevitable.