Pure Fun!
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Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane is the story of teenage girl Mary Jane post-homecoming, after her life has fallen apart. Now, all she has is her tutor, Peter Parker-- and Spider-Man.
In the previous books, it has been set up that MJ loves Spidey, and has barely noticed Peter.
The book is a fun little romance, with lots of manga-esque moments, and "ohmygosh"es. The only problem that I have is that the dialogue is a little off, when the writer tries to avoid using any words that might offend.
It is written for preteen-teen girls who love shojo manga, but I think it'd work for people just wanting some exciting romance with the ocassional superpower in the background.
Cute and fun.
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The Mary Jane-Spider-Man-Peter Parker love triangle begins at last
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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. 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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