Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane is an American comic book series focusing on a teenage Mary Jane, the love interest of superhero Spider-Man. The series, published monthly by Marvel Comics, is a teen drama set outside the regular Marvel continuity, and aimed at teenage girls, as opposed to the traditional male comic book audience.
It is written by Sean McKeever with manga-influenced art by penciller Takeshi Miyazawa and colorist Christina Strain, and began publication in December 2005. The ongoing series was preceded by two miniseries from the same creative team, Mary Jane in 2004 and Mary Jane: Homecoming in 2005.
Publication history
The initial four-issue miniseries, Mary Jane, originally intended as an ongoing series, began publication in June 2004 under the Marvel Age imprint, a line of comic books by Marvel Comics aimed at younger readers. Due to low sales the series was discontinued after its fourth issue, with Marvel waiting to see how the digest-sized trade paperback collecting the four issues would sell, before deciding whether the series should be cancled for good or not. Simultaniously, a collected edition of the series was also released in magazine size with a cardstock cover, exclusively available at Target stores.
After the initial sales figures for the digest came in, Marvel announced a second four-issue miniseries, Mary Jane: Homecoming, which began publication in March 2005. Unlike the first series, Homecoming was not published under the Marvel Age imprint, but as a regular Marvel Comics title, because Marvel Age had by then been restructured into the Marvel Adventures imprint. A second digest, collecting Mary Jane: Homecoming, again sold well enough to justify the continuation of the series. Following writer McKeever winning an Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition in summer 2005, Marvel announced that the third series, titled Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and launching in December 2005, would be an ongoing title and not a miniseries.[1]
The title differs in a number of ways from the mainstream Marvel continuity. For example, Mary Jane lives with her parents, not with her Aunt as she did in the original continuity, and she has romantic feelings for Spider-Man. Furthermore, the focus on Mary Jane rather than Peter means that classic Spider-Man characters such as Aunt May or Gwen Stacy are either de-emphasized or absent altogether.
Characters
- Mary Jane Watson - Called "MJ" by her friends, one of the most popular girls in high school and seemingly always in a good mood. Also has a huge crush on Spider-Man.
- Liz Allen - A cheerleader and MJ's best friend. Liz tends to be very bossy and self-centered, which puts a strain on her relationships with Flash and Mary Jane.
- Flash Thompson - A football player in high school and Liz' boyfriend. Hurt by Liz's constant criticisms, he becomes infatuated with the more sensitive Mary Jane.
- Harry Osborn - Friends with Mary Jane, Liz and Flash. Briefly dated Mary Jane, but their relationship ended after the fight at Homecoming. His father is Norman Osborn, a wealthy industrialist. Harry often carries the image of a spoiled rich boy (such as when offering Peter a large sum of money to help him cheat on a test), but he can be kind and sensitive as well.
- Peter Parker - A good friend of Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn. Lonely and timid, he is more interested in his studies than his social life. He's been dubbed "Puny Parker" by Flash.
- Spider-Man - A superhero who has recently crossed paths with Mary Jane on more than one occasion, and even saved her life. He knows her name and where she lives. Spider-Man is, of course, actually Peter Parker, but MJ does not know this, and nor would the reader without a pre-existing familiarity with the characters.
Plot summaries
Mary Jane miniseries
As the Homecoming dance is approaching, Mary Jane cannot think of anyone to go with and thinks about not going at all. Her best friend Liz suggests their friend Harry as Mary Jane's date and thus - despite Mary Jane's reservation against dating a friend and her crush on Spider-Man - the two start going out. Then, driving home on the subway after her first date with Harry, Mary Jane's train is attacked by the supervillain Electro and Spider-Man rescues her, reinforcing her crush on him; She now wants Spider-Man to be her Homecoming date.
Mary Jane decides to get a job to be able to afford her dress for the Homecoming dance, and because she feels dependant on Harry as he is paying for everything on their dates. After going through several different jobs and getting into trouble at school for being tired from working, she wants to stop working to avoid any more problems, but then the owner of the store where she wanted to buy her Homecoming dress offers her a job as a salesperson.
Mary Jane has an argument with Liz because she thinks it is wrong that Liz always calls Flash stupid. She also wants to break up with Harry, because he is only a friend to her, but just as she is about to dump him, she realizes what a nice guy he is and how much she likes him. Later, after accidentally taking home Flash's notebook and flipping through it, Mary Jane finds out that Flash has a crush on her.
Liz tells Mary Jane she suspects Flash has a crush on somebody else. During a school football game Liz loses it and attacks an opposing chearleader who was talking to Flash. After the incident, Mary Jane tells Liz, who still does not know that Mary Jane is the one Flash has a crush on, she will talk to Flash. After the game, Mary Jane waits for Flash at his home and returns his notebook, telling him that she is not going to do anything about his crush on her and that, contrary to what he might assume due to her constant insults, Liz really loves him. However, as Liz, who was going to apologize to Flash for her previous behavior, sees the two together in front of Flash's house, she suspects Flash is having an affair with Mary Jane.
Mary Jane: Homecoming
Harry's father is disappointed with Harry's grades and, assuming it is because Harry is dating Mary Jane, forbids him to see her (and particularly to go to the Homecoming dance with her). Thus, Harry plans to cheat on the upcoming physics test so he is allowed to spend more time with her. Meanwhile, Liz is avoiding Mary Jane because she thinks she is having an affair with Flash. When Mary Jane and Harry have to stay in class after school for passing notes, Harry sees his chance to steal the test papers, as Mrs. Feester is called to the office to pick up some flowers her husband sent her. However, Mary Jane offers to go pick up the flowers instead. Harry, mad that she sabotages his plans to cheat, breaks up with her.
Liz finally tells Mary Jane that she has been avoiding her because she thinks Mary Jane is having an affair with Flash and Mary Jane assures her that they don't. Meanwhile, Flash convinces Harry to apologize to Mary Jane and to get back together with her.
On the day of the Homecoming dance, Mary Jane is thinking about Spider-Man again after running into him twice that day while he fights the Vulture, but Liz does not want to hear about it as she is looking forward to the Homecoming dance and to becoming King and Queen with Flash. However, things do not go as Liz planned them: While Flash does become Homecoming King, not Liz but Mary Jane – who wasn't even on the balot – is voted Queen as a write-in candidate.
Mary Jane is shocked that she won and worried how Liz, who suddenly disappeared, reacts. Flash, who still is not over his crush on Mary Jane, thinks fate brought them together and tries to kiss her during the ceremonial post-crowning dance, just as Liz comes back. While Mary Jane tries to explain everything to Liz, Harry, who had been looking for Liz, comes back and starts fighting with Flash as Liz tells him Flash and Mary Jane made out. Mary Jane storms out and accidentally meets Peter at the Coffee Bean and he later walks her home, where Liz has been waiting for her to apologize and tell Mary Jane that she wanted to become Homecoming Queen so she – despite being her friend – would not hate her anymore for being so popular.
Trade paperbacks
The individual comic books are also being collected into digest-sized trade paperbacks. As of 2005 two such digests have been released:
- Mary Jane Vol. 1: Circle Of Friends (ISBN 0-7851-1467-X, published November 3, 2004) collects Mary Jane #1-4
- Mary Jane Vol. 2: Homecoming (ISBN 0-7851-1779-2, published October 5, 2005) collects Mary Jane: Homecoming #1-4
References
- ^ "Marvel's Mary Jane digest leads to new ongoing". August 30.
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