Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol. 1 - Brawl in the Family

This weekend gone, I decided to try something a little different.

Somewhat forced to take a 30 day prime trial in order to purchase a Christmas gift (although 'forced' is maybe too strong a word), I decided to take advantage of this by utilising Comixology Unlimited.

First up under this new experiment, I decided to check out Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol. 1 - Brawl in the Family by Gerry Conway and Ryan Stegman. This series focused on the Parker family from one of the many tie-in's to Hickman's Secret Wars as Peter and Mary-Jane, now married parents of Annie, juggle parental responsibility and Spider-power as a superhero family.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this comic prior to reading it, knowing only that I'd heard good things about this series and the cover looked enticing. However, after reading the first volume, I have to admit that I'm still not sure.

Conway writes and fun and relatable Spider-family, with none of the characters feeling too perfect or too annoying (a difficult balance in my opinion, especially with child characters). However, the plot itself feels a little broken for my tastes, vibing like a Tarantino movie as the focus darts back and forth through time. That said, the specifics of those various focuses are cute and really help sell the individual members of Spider-family as well as some of the supporting cast they interact with (except maybe a really creepy Normie Osborn. I have a theory about him).

As for the art, I have to admit that I absolutely loved Ryan Stegman's work here. I thought that he offered up a style reminiscent of J. Scott Campbell look within his pencils, giving it a rough but otherwise very a realness and wholesome look. His style also gave the villains who appear (Scorpion, Sandman, Mole Man) this very off kilter look which really stuck then with a more monstrous vibe. Then there is the Spinneret costume which I thought was a terrific design, as it nicely contrasted Spidey's own look.

Added to that were the colours by Sonia Oback, which had a varied look, seemingly utilising the whole spectrum; as it seemed to look both light and dark in equal measure throughout the Parkers' adventure.

All in all, I thought that Renew Your Vows' first trade was a bit of a mess, but a fun, gorgeous looking mess. It wasn't compelling literature but it was a fun waste of time and it's convinced me to check out the next volume sometime soon.