Gerry Conway on Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows
Ultimate Spider-Man isn’t the first series to explore Peter Parker as a family man
I’ve previously covered the popularity of Marvel’s new Ultimate line of comics and the popularity of Ultimate Spider-Man in particular. There is a very vocal segment of Spider-Man fans who chalk up its success to the fact that this version of Peter Parker was allowed to grow up, get married, and have kids while also still becoming a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. This is in stark contrast to the Spider-Man of the primary continuity of Amazing Spider-Man where his marriage was magically dissolved through a deal with Mephisto in an attempt to keep him perpetually young and single.
But this isn’t the first time a Spider-Man in an alternate universe has become a family man. One of my favorite ongoing Spider-Man series in recent memory was Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (2016). Spinning out of a limited series of the same name by Dan Slott and Adam Kubert from 2015, this new series followed Spider-Man (Peter Parker), his wife a fellow superhero Spinneret (Mary Jane Watson-Parker), and their daughter who was also a superhero called Spiderling (Anna-May Parker). The first nine issues of the series were written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Ryan Stegman with colors by Sonia Oback and Jesus Aburtov. It’s a really fun series that explores what it means to be a family in a world full of superheroes, and it makes some really cool changes that could only be explored in an alternate reality.
I was fortunate enough to get to speak with the legendary Gerry Conway about his time on the book (and some other works from his incredible career). I hope you enjoy what he has to say as much as I did.
You can read Gerry’s Substack here. I also encourage you to go out and read his many great comics. Most of his best known work at Marvel is available on Mavel Unlimited, and they are available in trade paperback collections as well.