Geekshow

Review: Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Vol. 1 (Marvel Comics)

True Believers – Book of the Month – December 2008

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE VOL. 1

Written by Sean McKeever

Artwork by Takeshi Miyazawa

Published by Marvel Comics

A Review by Scott Carelli

High School.

No two words can mean so many different things for so many people. For some, it was the best time of their life. A time when bills weren’t due, getting a job was an option, and the biggest problems you faced were things like passing that quiz on Friday or trying to pony up the guts to ask that girl (or guy) to the dance. For others, walking the halls each day was like walking through the gates of hell. It was the absolute epitome of misery, isolation, and heartbreak. For most of us, though, it could be either of those things depending on what the high school gods felt like throwing at you that particular day. But regardless of the feelings you may have for those four years, it’s impossible to question their significance. They help mold you into the person you will become for the rest of your life. It’s a bizarre and fascinating time in anyone’s life, which must be why I find it so interesting and tend to gravitate toward the notoriously love it or hate it genre: the High School Drama.

I’ve seen many teen-centric series come and go within my television-watching career, from Dawson’s Creek to The OC to the more recent 90210 and Gossip Girl. I’ve watched them all (and more) and while I’ve enjoyed each of them (to varying degrees) there’s always one thing that they never seem to get right: Being a teenager. It seems to me that the creators of these shows don’t trust the viewers to remember what high school was actually like, and, not wanting to cause them to be disconnected to the characters on screen, they come up with this alternate universe with something that vaguely resembles high school, but is actually far more thrilling and mature.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for leaving the reality out of my fiction. Some of my favorite writers (Smith, Sorkin, Paladino, Whedon) are all about creating a world where people talk in monologues, at superhuman speed, or in a style that no has ever spoken in reality (until they started emulating their favorite show of course). But it would be nice to see at least one high school series that was a little more realistic. Real high school drama is just a series of overreactions, where every little thing is the end of the world, and the big lesson to be learned is to stop sweating the small stuff.

It may never happen on television, but I finally have the high school story I’ve always wanted in the form of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. Of course, it’s pretty funny that the most realistic portrayal of life in high school involves a guy with spider powers who swings around the city in red and blue tights.

Gotta love irony.

Created by Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane follows Mary Jane Watson and her band of close friends as they experience high school’s exhilarating highs and devastating lows. But that’s what this book does best. Those “devastating lows” would never be considered the end of the world to anyone other than high schoolers, but McKeever excels at making even the most insignificant of problems feel like the world is caving in. So there you are, reading along, back in high school again, remembering the person you were before you escaped. It’s no small feat, and I applaud McKeever for doing it so masterfully well.

The version of Mary Jane depicted here is that of a sweet but insecure girl constantly struggling to please everyone, no matter how impossible an act it may be. This is quite a departure from the carefree party girl Stan Lee created, but the meek Mary Jane is a far more interesting one. She’s the most popular girl in school but is completely unaware of it. I just love how innocent and naïve she’s portrayed here. But of course she does grow, as any good character does. When the story begins, Mary Jane is harboring a crush on the mysterious Spider-Man, but the end she comes to realize that her dream of a relationship with the webslinger might not be a very realistic one.

Mary Jane is joined by a supporting cast of other Spider-Man alum. Her best friend is Liz Allan, an ambitious cheerleader who is every bit the yang to Mary Jane’s ying. She’s the harsh, unapologetic, and slightly overbearing friend that every sweet girl-next-door type seems to have. Liz is the definition of drama, self-interest and overreaction. She wants everything to be perfect for her, despite what anyone else may want. The guy on the receiving end of most of her self-centered rampages is her boyfriend, Flash Thompson. Flash is a thickheaded and immature jock that tends to be a pummel first, ask questions later kind of guy. He let’s his anger and frustration get the better of him, but more often than not, it comes from a place that is well meaning. Liz seems to be the only one who can take him down a peg, and he resents her for it. Mary Jane describes the couple best when she says that they’re the only two people she can imagine divorced before they’ve even gotten married.

Flash’s best friend, and MJ’s would-be suitor is Harry Osborn, a rich kid who lets his father’s desires overpower his own. He’s been friends with MJ for as long as either of them can remember, and while she’s never seen him in a romantic light, he desperately wants her to. Mary Jane ends up giving him a shot but, as Harry learns, he’ll always be second best to a certain masked crime fighter.

Finally, there’s Harry’s nerdy friend, Peter Parker. McKeever treats Peter and Spider-Man as two completely different characters, never once even hinting that they may be one in the same. Spider-Man pops in and out of the book like a celebrity cameo, with most of his exploits taking place off panel (on news reports and the like) with MJ occasionally getting caught in the middle. As the series goes on, Mary Jane slowly begins to see Peter in a new light through a progression that seems much more natural then any other depiction of their eventual romance.

The artwork by Takeshi Miyazawa is manga-influenced fused with American sensibilities in a way that shouldn’t work in a Spider-Man book, but I can’t picture this series any other way. The art actually changes later in the series, and it proves to be a jarring period of adjustment. Miyazawa’s art sums up the complex spectrum of emotions that all of us go through as teenagers. His updated character designs do a great job of modernizing Spider-Man’s classic characters in a way that makes them feel fresh but still recognizable.

So we may never get a television series about teenagers that actually act like teenagers, but at least with Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane we finally have a realistic look at what it’s like to live and love in high school…

… only with superheroes.