Wedded Bliss in Another Life: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (Vol. 2) #s 1 and 2

written by Gerry Conway
drawn by Ryan Stegman
colored by Sonia Oback

About a year ago, I genuinely enjoyed the work of legendary Spider-Man scribe Gerry Conway on a five-part story-arc in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man called "Spiral" which pitted Spider-Man against his one-time ally, the Wraith, a policewoman who also moonlighted as a costumed crime fighter, whose methods were becoming increasingly brutal (hence the title, implying her "spiral" into darkness). It was a satisfying read, and I honestly marveled at how sharp Conway, who's gotten on a bit in years, still was in terms of both his plotting and scripting. This is the man who killed Gwen Stacy over forty years ago, after all, but his dialogue is nicely updated and he still has a good handle on what makes Spidey tick.

In "Renew Your Vows" Conway revisits an alternate universe first imagined by regular Spider-Man writer Dan Slott several years ago, a reality in which Peter Parker and Mary Jane remain married with a daughter, Annie May Parker. In the first series, Spider-Man and his family faced off against Regent, a terrifying villain who, through a dazzling array of technology was able to absorb the powers of, and consequently defeat, several of the Marvel Universe's most powerful hereoes.

Here, Peter still takes pictures for the Daily Bugle rather than run his own company, though at least this time he's upgraded to a drone camera that takes better shots, while Mary Jane is an entrepreneur-cum-fashion blogger. In the first two issues of this new series, the Parkers face off against two opponents, Norman "Normie" Osborn II, who has bought the land where the vanquished Regent conducted his experiments, and all of the remaining technology on it, and the Mole Man, who can't really be bothered with the legal niceties of actually acquiring Regent's leftover tech and decides to take it the old-fashioned way: through monsters and moloids. Having used Regent's technology, Peter is able to transfer some of his powers to Mary Jane, and as a result, the Spider-powered family is all that stands in both Osborn's and the Mole Man's way.

It's gratifying that a writer who can claim as one of his career-defining moments the fact that he killed one of Spider-Man's supporting characters has managed to continue a story that brought back to life something which Marvel had long put in its grave: Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson.

This is still very much an "alternate universe" story given that the mainstream Spider-Man over in the main title and its current event book, The Clone Conspiracy remains notably single, but it reads like the kind of Spider-Man book that I grew up with, though I confess I'm not much of a fan of Peter relying solely on his Spider-Man pics for his income. After all, over 15 years ago, J. Michael Straczynski had Peter take on the job of a high school teacher, and that run was well received, both critically and commercially. The whole photojournalist thing, after all Peter's been through, feels too much like a forced regression, even for a different reality. Still, Conway runs with it; the notion of a drone snapping pics is a winning idea, though one wonders why no one else seems to have thought of it. It's not earth-shattering stuff for the webslinger and his family, but these issues were an entertaining read just the same.

Stegman, whose art was a hit-or-miss affair for me back when he was drawing Superior Spider-Man appears to have greatly improved his craft since then, and although I'm not a fan of his design for Mary Jane's Spider-costume (assuming it was his), I generally enjoyed his work here, which looks a lot cleaner than it did when he drew the adventures of Spider-Ock.

Interestingly, sales for this book, or this "reality" seem pretty robust so far, so one wonders if Marvel has any plans to further milk this cow, and how long they'll do so.

8/10 for both issues

Censoring Art: A Review of Daredevil #14 (Mild Spoilers)

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ron Garney
colored by Matt Milla

The "Dark Art" storyline comes to a head as Daredevil tracks down the serial-killer/artist Muse, who has taken Sam, his protege/sidekick, to his horrific hideout where he keeps the discarded bodies or body parts of his aborted "works of art." Daredevil engages him in a fight, but not before he inflicts grave injuries on someone. The Inhuman police force shows up and a tense confrontation follows.

I suppose it was inevitable that a story that had as good a build-up as this did would be a let-down somehow. There are only so many ways a murder-mystery thriller can play out, after all, and it turns out Soule chose one of the less cathartic, decidedly more anticlimactic ones. I can't go into this much further without spoiling how the story ends, or doesn't end, but suffice it to say I found the ending less than satisfying if logical from the point of view of serialized storytelling.

Still getting here was reasonably fun, and the issue promised a much stronger ending than it delivered. Perhaps what made things particularly sad was that, as much of a letdown as the ending was, I could see it coming from a mile away.

This was not Garney's strongest issue in this story arc, but he finished off well, before he's off on yet another break while another artist takes over for the next story.

This hiccup notwithstanding, "Dark Art" is still, for me anyway, Charles Soule's strongest story arc so far, and if there's one consolation I have from this non-ending of sorts, it's that Soule may yet have plans for the characters involved.

7/10

Blindspot in a Bind: A Review of Daredevil #13

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ron Garney
colored by Matt Milla

Daredevil's pursuit of the murderous Muse continues, but this time it's his protege Blindspot who finds himself within striking distance of the mysterious self-proclaimed artist. After Muse murders a bailiff, he flees to the sewers with a judge, with Blindspot in hot pursuit. In the sewers, it turns out Muse has gathered two policemen, a politician along with his newly captured judge, and he already has plans for his next grisly tableau. Blindspot intervenes, and Muse turns his ire towards him. Will Blindspot be able to hold his own, at least long enough for Daredevil to make it to the scene?

I'm not quite sure why, but I really find myself enjoying this story a lot. This is the one arc I've read since Soule took over the title from Mark Waid and Chris Samnee that really has me hooked, and I think a large part of that is how Soule approaches this as more of a psychological thriller than the crime noir approach that characterized the stories before this one. The urgency feels real, and the fact that Blindspot is a new, arguably expendable character means that the peril in this particular situation has some weight to it. Also, even with the involvement of the Inhumans, the story has a distinctly grounded feel to it, and all of this makes for a surprisingly riveting read.

Garney's sketchy artwork is a perfect fit for this particular approach to storytelling, and I have to say as the series' main artist, he really does himself proud with this arc. He's still not among my favorite Daredevil artists ever, but it now becomes apparent to me why Marvel chose him as Samnee's replacement. Milla's greyscale coloring adds the just the right amount of atmosphere and chills.

Things come to a head next issue, and I'm anxious to see how this crime thriller will ultimately be resolved.

8.5/10

The Revenge of the 90s: A Review of The Clone Conspiracy #3 (Spoiler Warning)

written by Dan Slott
drawn by Jim Cheung (pencils) and John Dell (inks)
colored by Justin Ponsor

It's difficult to review this issue without treading into at least mild spoiler territory, given that, even without a disclosure of the main plot points, there are hints galore as to what it contains. So a spoiler alert is in order.

Peter and Spider-Gwen, who is revealed to have been operating undercover with the Jackal, having kidnapped the Gwen clone, escape from the Jackal and his operatives, who constitute a substantial portion of Spider-Man's formerly dead rogues gallery, but their troubles are far from over. Kaine, who has the actual Gwen clone in his custody, takes her to Horizon Labs for her clone medication, without which her artificial body will deteriorate. A much more serious problem looms if no cure is found for the Gwen clone's condition: apparently everyone who has received the regenerative treatment from New U will now suffer problems similar to that of the clones, and degenerate into zombies, unless a cure is found. However, the Jackal's New U operatives attack Horizon Labs, and in the aftermath Peter confronts the Jackal, intending to end this latest scheme of his. He is shocked by what he ultimately discovers.

I didn't follow all of the mammoth "Clone Saga" of the 1990s, which, in collected edition, takes up several twelve-issue volumes as far as I can tell. One thing I know, however, was that I was extremely disappointed with how it ended. Without giving away too much, it is evident that Dan Slott felt as I did about the ending, and even felt the same way about the conclusion of that story that Judd Winick felt about the "Death of the Family" storyline in which DC Comics killed off Jason Todd, aka Robin II. That's about as far as I'll go to discuss the plot, but to anyone who knows what happened in the 90s Clone Saga, that's far enough. To be honest, this is something I've wanted to see for a long time, and judging by how he plays the long game, I am reasonably confident that Slott has big plans for the development he has just introduced.

Cheung has been consistently good throughout this miniseries, but he really delivers some serious money shots here, including a gorgeous two-page spread and a show-stopper of a splash panel for the issue's big reveal. His Spider-Man is one of the best I've seen in years, and the years I have waited to see his art on the interiors of a Spider-Man book all feel worth it now.

The story does feel a little contrived, and while it may feel that way because not all of the pieces have quite fallen into place, it does irk me that a lot of key events to this miniseries happened in the mother "Amazing Spider-Man" title rather than here. A lot of the writing feels like it was meant to direct the reader at other books, and while that's a good marketing ploy, it doesn't do this book any favors from a storytelling perspective.

Still, the fanboy in me has been transported back to 1996, when I was feeling cheated by Marvel's editorial. Suddenly, the wrong has been righted.

Not only do I intend to see this miniseries through, I am now genuinely interested to see what Marvel has in store after it's done.


8.5/10

Small but Terrible: A Review of Black Widow #8

written by Chris Samnee and Mark Waid
drawn by Samnee
colored by Matthew Wilson

Having confronted the mistress of the new Red Room (called the "Dark Room") Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, and her new partner the psychic half of the 'Weeping Lion' duo that she confronted and conquered in the first story arc set out to take down the child assassins that were trained in the new facility, and track one of them down to a tour of the White House. As they engage her, a mysterious entity watches the entire thing from the moon.

While this marks a natural continuation from the events of the last issue, this particular effort was, to me, one of the weaker issues since this team relaunched this title. There's no shortage of action, but while Samnee and Waid have successfully staged an issue as an extended action sequence, here the story feels a little thin. The real story twists, it seems, are being saved for the next issue, which promises an appearance by the Winter Soldier and at least one more major character who has been out of circulation for a while now. Also, the characterization of Natasha as somewhat sloppy in her undercover work comes across as a bit out-of-character, even if it's suggested that her abilities are impaired by her emotional connection to the Dark Room's predecessor.

Samnee does well, as always, but this isn't one of his better issues.

This issue isn't what I'd call a turkey, but it is a bit of a creative misstep. It does set up some pretty interesting things for the future, though.

6.5/10

Catch-Up Reading: A Review of The Clone Conspiracy #2

written by Dan Slott
drawn by Jim Cheung (pencils) John Dell (inks)
colored by Justin Ponsor

In the course of investigating the disappearance of one of his missing employees, Peter looks into the headquarters of the mysterious New U, which provided the drug used to treat the missing employee. There, he finds himself facing a host of his deadliest foes, including the Rhino, Electro and Doctor Octopus, all of whom are led by no less than the Jackal. Things, however, take a strange twist. Meanwhile, Kaine, one of the original Spider-Man clones, is in a race against time to find a cure for a deadly disease that could destroy humanity.

While I felt the first issue kicked things off well enough, here the pace picks up consdirably, with Slott dropping a couple of well-timed narrative bombshells. He clearly picks up where he left off with "Spider-Verse," with Kaine and another key player from that game-changing storyline making appearances. As compact as the issue is, Slott makes the most out of the available pages to take the story in a very interesting direction, and sets up the next issue quite nicely.

More than just Spider-Verse, though, Slott revisits a much earlier storyline from six years ago, in which Peter declared emphatically that "no one dies." It's central to this story, and after all that Slott has put Peter through over the last few years I am genuinely curious as to what he has in store for him now.

Artist Jim Cheung continues to shine here, and fortunately Justin Ponsor works with a slightly brighter color palette. I'm happy that Cheung is drawing this series all the way through unlike the bookend issues he did for the Infinity event miniseries a few years back. I hope he's able to do every single issue without a fill-in artist taking over. I wouldn't even mind a delay.


8.5/10

Taming a Weeping Lion: A Review of Black Widow #7

written by Chris Samnee and Mark Waid
drawn by Samnee
colored by Matt Wilson

After conquering her antagonist at the end of the last story arc, the Weeping Lion, Natasha sets her sights on the headmistress of the new Red Room, which is churning out and deploying new child assassins. Helping her out is the psychic who was the real brains behind the Lion. She confronts ghosts from her past, but much remains to be done. Revealed here, for the first time, is the Lion's "secret origin" which reveals that he was, in fact, the nephew and cousin of one of her victims many years before.

While I'm not generally a fan of retcons, any excuse to see Chris Samnee drawing characters in 50's or 60's style is worth seeing him (aided by Mark Waid) tinker with history a little bit. This one features Natasha as a child assassin making her first kill, and it just so happens that the telepath who was effectively the brains of the "Weeping Lion" was in the back seat of the car where the murder took place, also as a child.

The story raises questions, of course, given that Natasha is actually very old but looks young courtesy of the Infinity Formula or its Soviet equivalent, and makes one wonder how this similarly-youthful looking telepath preserved his looks over the years, making his own back story, as unthinkable as this may seem, even more interesting than Natasha's adventures. It's also disappointing when one realizes that, as a bad guy with an axe to grind against the titular anti-heroine, the Lion is inevitably going to come off worse. But it should be interesting to see how they'll get there. This issue also bears the relatively rare distinction of being effective kick-off point for a new story-line and a "done-in-one" issue.

As always, Samnee's art is the main draw here (pardon the pun). There's minimal action, save for the flashback sequence in which Natasha murders the Weeping Lion's uncle, but it's utterly riveting just the same, particularly as Samnee gets to flex his "retro" muscles once more.

I really like that Samnee and Waid are getting to tell the kind of stories they want to tell, but the market being as fickle as it is, I doubt this series will last too much longer, especially considering that it isn't tied into any major event, like Civil War II. I will continue to enjoy it for what it is, though, for as long as it lasts.

8/10