The return of the spectacular Spider-Family...

(Panini Books)

One of the most controversial editorial decisions to come out of Marvel Comics in recent years was the retconning of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s marriage after 20 years of comics, auspiciously to re-establish the webslinger as a carefree young singleton, but actually serving to anger those fans who had invested in the “Spider-marriage” over this time.

But what if Peter and MJ had stayed together? And what if the daughter they lost during the events of the Clone Saga had lived? Although a similar continuity was explored during the long-running Spider-Girl series, that was set after Peter gave up wall-crawling, whereas Renew Your Vows has him still donning the webs on a daily basis.

Continuing from the events of the Secret Wars spin-off series, this new book finds Peter joined in his costumed adventures by both MJ (tapping into his powers to become Spinneret) and their eight-year-old daughter Annie, with all the complications this entails.

It’s a book where the focus is purely on fun family comedy and suspenseful action-drama, so there’s no room for anything too grim and gritty, which makes for a refreshing change given the dark nature of many comic books on the marketplace.

The creative team is also pretty hard to beat – Superior Spider-Man artist Ryan Stegman is joined by my personal all-time favourite Spider-writer, the incomparable Gerry Conway – and if this volume is anything to go by, it’s exactly the sort of self-contained, stylish Spider-Man book many fans have been hankering for.