Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol. 2: The Venom Experiment (Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows by Gerry Conway

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 6-12 of Amazing Spider-man: Renew Your Vows and includes three story arcs and a one-shot:

School Daze (6 and 7): Mary Jane and Peter receive an invitation to enroll Annie in Xavier's School for the Gifted and they make a visit on the same day an attempt to take over the school is made. This story is pretty fun (and the last fully written by Spider-man legend Gerry Conway.) It raises some interesting questions and also fleshes out the alternate universe and explains at least part of why the deal with Mephisto that happened in 616 didn't occur here.

The Venom Experiment (8 and 9): Feeling the pressure of trying to balance being a Superhero with the challenges of being wife, mother, and small businesswoman, Mary Jane gladly accepts the Venom symbiote from Liz Allen. There are two problems with this. First, the way that it effects her is weird and different from how Venom typically operates. Secondly, the arc is rushed. She doesn't even get the Venom symbiote until late in Issue 8. This should have been at least a four issue arc, but the rush to wrap it up in two issues makes it unsatisfying.

A Day in the Life of an Osborn (10): This story sets up the finale as it focuses on the sad and lonely life of Normie Osborn. There's some good emotion and also Spider-man and daughter battling the Lizard to get things from getting too heavy.

The Curse of the Green Goblin (11 and 12): Normie's evil plans are revealed, Annie is kidnapped and it's up to Peter and Mary Jane to write things. This story has some great action, but also allows some good character moments and allows Annie to save the day through her heart rather than her fist without being corny about it. The issue is maybe a little too compressed due to the demand to wrap this run up with Issue 12.

Indeed, that's my prime complaint. Really, this series and this team needed six more issues. I also did think at times they made Peter too weak, so the ladies could step up. Still, these didn't become big enough issues to stop this from being an enjoyable book.



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