Rating:  -
This is a thoroughly enchanting version of the Spider-Man universe, seen through the eyes of Mary Jane Watson, who (as we all now know) grows up to be Spidey's wife... Here, though, she is still a teenager in high school, full of anxieties, insecurities, dreams and talent. While fantasizing about going out on dates with Spider-Man, MJ spends her free time hanging out with Spidey's alter-ego, Peter Parker, who tutors her in math, and helps her deal with the heartbreak of a recent break-up with her boyfriend, Harry. Like Brian Micheal Bendis' run on the new "Ultimate Spider-Man" series, this book revisits their high school days, investing them with an emotional depth and character nuance that is rarely seen in mainstream comicbooks. It's also, very consciously, a "girly" version of the Spidey saga, with lots of talk about boys and who likes who, and very little violence -- the super-battles are seen only fleetingly, almost as comic relief, and it may surprise longtime readers to discover how engrossing comicbooks can be without all the kabooming and thwipping that we were raised on. Particularly nice is the story arc where Mary Jane gets her start in acting -- after landing the lead in the school's staging of shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," MJ finds herself warmly welcomed by the girl who was the previous star of the drama department... Of course, her friendliness is completely fake: while MJ doesn't even realize there is any rivalry between them, the other girl seethes and plots Mary Jane's downfall... It's one of the best, most true-to-life depictations of high school society I've seen in comics, and a good indication of the strengths of this enjoyable new series.
I look forward to checking out more books in this series soon!
Rating: -
As primarily a Spider-Man fan I ignored the "Mary Jane" title (that precedes this book), because I thought it sounded a little lame. But I heard good things about the creative team and when the first issue of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane came out I picked it up. I was hooked right away and even went back and bought the preceding "Circle of Friends" and "Homecoming."
A bonus for me was that these books piqued the interest of my 9-year old niece and she is now into Spider-Man comics as well. Finally, someone else in the family I can share my love of Spidey with! (Couldn't interest any of the guys, but us girls love him... go figure.)
This will make you smile and make you anxious to find out what comes next! I highly recommend SMLMJ... even to all you "mostly" Spider-Man fans.
Rating: -
This is Volume 1 of "Spider-Man Love Mary Jane," but it is the third collection of comic books about the future Mrs. Peter Parker when she was a redheaded high school student. Written by Sean McKeever and drawn by Takeshi Miyazawa, these stories take place in a different reality from either the continuity of the "Amazing Spider-Man" or the more recent "Ultimate Spider-Man" universe. What we have here is similar to the "Spider-Man" movies in that Mary Jane Watson is now the girl next door, who attends Midtown High just like Peter Parker and does not know he is Spider-Man. When we first met this MJ in "Circle of Friends," she was dating Harry Osborn while her best friend Liz Allen was dating Flash Thompson. She thinks more (and sees more) of Spider-Man than she does Peter Parker, and the main problem in her life is that she is uncertain about her feelings for Harry and discovers Flash is "crushing" on her. The second collection, "Homecoming," keeps the focus on high school concerns as Liz learns about Flash's feelings of MJ and Harry wants her to help him cheat on a test. When MJ is named as homecoming queen instead of Liz, it just about destroys their friendship.
With "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane," the dynamic of thes stories changes in significant ways. Up to now, Peter Parker has been a minor character in these stories. But when we get to the first of the five (not four) issues collected in this volume he is in MJ's bedroom, tutoring her for algebra, while she is distracted by watching Spider-Man on the news. As she tells Liz, all of the times she has run into Spider-Man and the fact he even knew her name, is just too much of a coincidence for it not to mean something. But when MJ tells Peter she wants to go out with Spider-Man and wants his help in tracking down where she might find Spidey, Peter just laughs at the preposterous idea. Meanwhile, when she sees him Spider-Man is clearly ignoring her and when she finally corners him, he tells her he cannot go out with her. The night she tells Peter she is over her crush and when does not say "I told you so" and says "Who needs him, right?", as well as approving of her interest in trying out for the auditions for "Twelfth Night," MJ is touched.
All five of these stories are about some sort of thing in "Super Crush." The first issue is "The Boyfriend Thing," while the second, in which MJ reads Flash the riot act for pulling a prank on Peter and Midtown High's resident actress is upset when MJ wins the lead in the play, is about "The Jealousy Thing" (the titles always appear on the last page of the issue). In the third issue, "The Hurtful Thing," Lindsay Leighton, the aforementioned drama queen, tries to shakes MJ's confidence by dating Harry. When Peter finds out what is going on, he tells Liz, who corners Lindsay in the girl's room and threatens her ("I'm not afraid of you..." Lindsay whimpers, "Yes you are," Liz shoots back). Liz then wants to know what Peter is going to do to help MJ, which leads to "The Fantasy Thing" in issue four, where she is all excited about going out on a date with Spider-Man, only to get another offer when she leaves for it. The date takes place in the fifth issue and it is entitled "The Unexpected Thing." Actually, that should be plural, because MJ has several surprises in this one, including a final page revelation that shakes up everything big time and has you eager to find out what happens next, because unlike the previous pair of self-contained stories, this one is to be continued.
In that case you might have to actually go to your local comic book store to pick up these issues as they come out instead of waiting half a year for the next volume of "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane" to come out. The chief charm of these books, besides the way Miyazawa draws Mary Jane with those large eyes that make her look so darn cute, is that they really are about your standard high school issues. They just happened to be played out by familiar characters from the "Spider-Man" comic books. So I hate to think that this one is the best of the bunch to date because suddenly Spider-Man is an active character in the stories, because that sort of runs against the spirit of the earlier books. But there is something about these sort of love triangles, going all the way back to Clark Kent loves Lois Lane but she loves Superman, that are appealing. Besides, it is not like we do not know who marries whom in the end. Between these comics, "Ultimate Spider-Man," and teaching the first twenty-one issues of "Amazing Spider-Man" in my Pop Culture Class, I obviously have a strong affinity for Spider-Man: The High School Years.
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