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. Marvel had decided to launch a comic book series with a female lead to attract young female readers after seeing a growing number of girls becoming comic readers through manga, and had chosen Mary Jane because of her popularity stemming from the Spider-Man film series (Spider-Man 2 was released two weeks after Mary Jane #1).^[1] However, 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 cancelled for good or not. Simultaneously, 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. The second miniseries also saw a slight change in the creative team, as the original miniseries' inker Norman Lee now only inked the covers, while the interior pages were colored straight from Miyazawa's pencils. 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 another miniseries.^[2]

Beginning with May 2006's Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #6, guest artist Valentine De Landro took over from Miyazawa for two issues, illustrating the so-called "Dark MJ Saga" (the title being a reference to the "Dark Phoenix Saga", a popular X-Men storyline), which retells Spider-Man's origin from Mary Jane's point of view.

In late July 2006, artist Miyazawa announced he would leave the title after issue #15, which will be released in February 2007, to pursue a career as a mangaka in Japan;^[3] His successor will be David Hahn.^[4] Writer McKeever will also leave the series after issue #20, as he signed exclusively with DC Comics.^[5] As of February 2007 Marvel has not settled whether the series will continue after McKeever leaves.^[6]

Continuity

Unlike most other Spider-Man-related comic books, which share the same continuity, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (and the two preceding miniseries) are set outside the mainstream Marvel continuity and the series' plot differs slightly from Mary Jane's story as esablished in 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, J. Jonah Jameson and various other characters and villains are either de-emphasized or absent altogether.

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Characters

Main characers

• Mary Jane Watson: Called "MJ" by her friends, one of the most popular girls in high school and seemingly always in a good mood. Despite her sunny exterior, MJ has many insecurities that even her closest friends are unaware of. She once had a crush on Spider-Man, which was later complicated by her feelings for Peter Parker.
• 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's 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. Despite Peter's reputation as a "nerd", both Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy are attracted to him.
• Spider-Man: A wise-cracking 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.

Minor characters

• Betty Brant: Betty Brant was the old girlfriend of Ned Leeds, Mary-Jane's boyfriend. After getting re-acquainted with her, Ned decides to go out with her and dumps Mary-Jane.
• Firestar: Firestar makes a small cameo in issue #2. Mary-Jane watches Spider-Man and Firestar battling crime together (and flirting while doing it), causing MJ to become jealous. In issue #16, Spider-man and Firestar once again team up, and eventually kiss.
• Gwen Stacy: Mary-Jane's current rival for Peter Parker's affections. A new transfer student, Gwen quickly becomes attached to Peter and even kisses him--which Mary Jane unfortunately witnesses.
• Jessica: Jessica was Mary-Jane's old friend, until Jessica became a goth. During the time when Mary-Jane was in brief state of depression, she hangs out with Jessica until she is soon happy again.
• Lindsay Leighton: The school's resident "Drama Queen", Lindsay becomes jealous of Mary Jane after she wins the lead in the play Twelfth Night. She takes her revenge by dating Harry. Lindsay is a possible parody of teen actress Lindsay Lohan,^{[original research?]} who is known for her roles as a "drama queen" (in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen) and a "mean girl" (in Mean Girls).
• Mr. Limke: Mr. Limke was a counsellor at Mary Jane's school. He was ultimately revealed to be the supervillain 'The Looter'. The character was named after Jeffrey Limke, the consulting editor on McKeever's creator-owned comic book The Waiting Place.
• Ned Leeds: Mary Jane's first serious boyfriend, he broke up with her in favour of his old girlfriend, Betty Brant, a year before the series begins.

Spider-Man villains

A number of Spider-Man villains have made brief appearances or have been mentioned in the comic. These include the following.

• Electro
• Doctor Octopus
• Green Goblin
• Vulture
• Mirage
• The Beetle
• Morbius
• Shocker
• The Looter
• Rocket Racer
• Lightmaster
• Paste Pot Pete

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 dependent 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 aren'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 ballot – 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.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane

Super Crush #1-5

Having ended her relationship with Harry, Mary Jane once again focuses her attention on the "unattainable" Spider-Man. She reveals her crush to her best friend, Liz, and her algebra tutor, Peter Parker, both of whom are incredulous, the latter finding the news laughable. Undaunted, Mary Jane spends days tracking Spider-Man around New York as he fights crime throughout the city, failing to capture his attention. When she eventually succeeds in asking him for a date, the clearly flustered super-hero turns her down, telling her to forget about him. Mary Jane is hurt, but seems to recover quickly, with Peter Parker offers her a sympathetic shoulder.

Suspicions are beginning to arise over Mary Jane's friendship with Peter Parker, incurring the jealousies of Flash, who seems to still resent Mary Jane's rejection and reacts violently towards his rival, and Liz, who worries that she has been replaced as Mary Jane's best friend. In spite of Peter's attempts to dismiss the injuries causes by Flash's bullying, Mary Jane realises the extent of Flash's hostility, and tries to protect Peter by giving Flash an ultimatum: either he stops bullying Peter, or she stops being his friend. Flash chooses the latter option, possibly demonstrating the extent to which he has been affected by recent events with Mary Jane., leaving him with feelings he prefers to punish Peter Parker for.

Mary Jane becomes involved with the drama department at her school and auditions for Twelfth Night, subsequently becoming acquainted with Lindsay Leighton, the 'drama queen', and her friendship circle, who encourage her ambitions in the theater. However, Lindsay hotly resents Mary Jane's achievement of the lead role, Viola, in the Twelfth Night, seeing it as having been "stolen" from herself. Mary Jane seems to be the rising star of the school's drama department, primarily due to her natural approach, leaving Lindsay simmering with jealousy and a desire for revenge. She therefore aggressively pursues Harry, Mary Jane's ex-boyfriend, and proceeds to engage in very public displays of affection with him, whilst still pretending to be Mary Jane's friend. Meanwhile, Mary Jane struggles with her own feelings of jealousy, having seen Spider-Man with the super-heroine Firestar. Despite professing to be over her 'obsession', Mary Jane seems nevertheless hurt.

As Mary Jane becomes increasingly miserable at the sight of Lindsay and Harry together, Peter Parker overhears Lindsay bragging to her friend Krista about the success of her scheme, and discovers that Harry is entirely unaware that he is being used. Peter therefore determines to save Mary Jane and Harry from further pain by enlisting the help of Liz. Liz, outraged at Lindsay's behavior, and moreover detecting the opportunity to rekindle her close friendship with Mary Jane, intimidates Lindsay into breaking off her relationship with Harry. Harry, on the conviction that Mary Jane had a part in the break-up, confronts his ex-girlfriend in the hallway. Peter realizes that he may have permanently damaged Mary Jane's relationship with Harry, and attempts to make up for it by allowing his friend to realise her fantasy of a date with Spider-Man. Spurred on by the thought of her coming meeting with Spider-Man, Mary Jane returns to her up-beat self, to the dismay of Lindsay. However, the event threatens to compromise her friendship with Peter Parker, as Mary Jane becomes irritated by Peter's attempts to convince her to date him instead. She proceeds to adopt a more sensitive approach, laughing off Peter's suggestions rather than behaving aggressively towards him immediately before her date with Spider-Man.

During the course of her date with Spider-Man, Mary Jane is disappointed by his reluctancy to discuss his personal life, the unsensational nature of the event, and the constant interruptions as Spider-Man fulfils his role as a super-hero. She consequently realises that Peter Parker is the real object of her affections, but before she is able to tell him, he seemingly becomes involved with the new girl, Gwen Stacy.

Reprints

The individual comic books are being collected into digest-sized trade paperbacks as part of Marvel's line of digests, with each volume including five issues of the monthly series (four for the initial miniseries).

Both original miniseries as well as the first five issues of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane are scheduled to be reprinted in an oversized Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Hardcover, set to be released March 21 2007 by Marvel Comics.^[7]

The original miniseries has also been reprinted in one magazine-sized volume that was exculsively available at Target stores, and it's four individual issues have additionally been reprinted as library binding hardcovers by Spotlight Publications in January 2006.

• Mary Jane: The Real Thing (ISBN 1-59961-039-6) reprints Mary Jane #1
• Mary Jane: The Money Thing (ISBN 1-59961-038-8) reprints Mary Jane #2
• Mary Jane: The Loyalty Thing (ISBN 1-59961-037-X) reprints Mary Jane #3
• Mary Jane: The Trust Thing (ISBN 1-59961-040-X) reprints Mary Jane #4

Trivia

• The cover of "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane" #8 is an homage of a movie poster for Almost Famous[1][2], but also bears a strong resemblance to Untold Tales of Spider-Man #16[3].
• The cover of "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane" #9 is an homage of the movie poster for The Breakfast Club.[4][5]

References

1. ^ "Buckley & Cadenhead talk Mary Jane". The Pulse. Retrieved on August 22, 2006.
2. ^ Marvel's Mary Jane digest leads to new ongoing. Retrieved on August 30, 2005.
3. ^ Takeshi Miyazawa. "Click". Factory 9ine. Retrieved on August 22, 2006.
4. ^ "'Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane' and Sean McKeever, too". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved on November 30, 2006.
5. ^ "Sean McKeever signs exclusive with DC". Newsarama. Retrieved on January 9, 2007.
6. ^ New Joe Fridays #34. Newsarama. Retrieved on January 10, 2007.
7. ^ Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Hardcover. Amazon.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2006.

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