Mary Jane Volume 1: Circle of Friends Digest

"Mary Jane, Volume 1: Circle of Friends" reminds me a lot of more of television's "Smallville" than any of the Spider-Man comic books for several key reasons. First, this four-part story by writer Sean McKeever and artist Takeshi Miyazawa is set in its own little Marvel universe. This is not "The Amazing Spider-Man" where Mary Jane Watson was not around when Peter Parker was attending at Midtown High, nor is it "The Ultimate Spider-Man" where Mary Jane is not only around at the beginning, she is the girl next door and knows that Peter is Spidey. Second, both Peter Parker and Spider-Man are really secondary figures in this story. The emphasis is on Mary Jane, her boyfriend Harry Osborn (who was not around in the high school days of the original comic), her best friend Liz Allen, and Liz's boyfriend Flash Thompson. Peter is the science geek that Flash insults and when Spider-Man rescues MJ from Electro and takes her home (he explains he knows where she lives because it is, ah, one of his special powers) she has a crush on the mysterious superhero and she confesses to Liz she wants him to take her to homecoming. But this is not about a high school girl having a superhero as a date for homecoming. It is about a high school girl who does not understand why she is not happy with her boyfriend. Harry pays for everything and MJ does not like it, so she goes out and gets a job to carry her own weight. She is also a kid who is concerned that Liz is calling Flash "stupid" all the time and she thinks it is really starting to affect him. But then she finds out there is a bigger problem for her small circle of friends when she discovers Flash is "crushing" on her. Sound like a teenage soap opera? Absolutely. But take away the fact that every once in a while MJ runs into Spider-Man and you have a pretty serious attempt at dealing with typical teenage problems (certainly more realistic than "The O.C." and arguably more so than "Smallville"). There is also some decent role-modeling involved since these kids talk about their problems, albeit indirectly in many cases. At the heart of the stories is Mary Jane, which justifies having the Spider-Man face that appears between her first and middle names on the cover is in the shape of a heart. She is an interesting kid. We are currently three-quarters of the way through the next story, "Mary Jane, Volume 2: Homecoming," which picks up right where "Circle of Friends" leaves off, which is good because this one ends with what is no so much a cliffhanger as a major crisis point for MJ and her friends. These comic books are doing more than re-modeling Mary Jane Watson as the girl next door, whereas she was the ultimate party girl in "The Amazing Spider-Man." Besides, the way Miyazawa draws her Mary Jane is really cute. No wonder Peter Parker is pinning for her from afar and no wonder the rest of us are willing to read these comic books.

I, having a rather well documented history of not being a teenaged girl, can only speculate on whether or not this book would appeal to them but my gut tells me its probably so. `Mary Jane' is a re-imagining of the Spider-Man mythos from the viewpoint of 16-year-old Mary Jane Watson and the world around her. One of the points of interest is that Spider-Man himself has very little on-panel time in this book, making only two solid appearances over the four issues with Peter Parker having little more than a handful of lines in his few cameos. Most of the four issues collected here focus on the relationships between MJ, Liz Allen, Flash, and Harry Osborne. Sean Mckeever of Marvel's Mystique and Sentinel (of which he makes light of here, forever endearing him to me) handles the writing chores for MJ's adventures that include teen-age staples like shopping for a homecoming dress, getting your first job, and your first boyfriend. Art chores are handled by Takeshi Miyazawa, who brings a very anime-styled flair to the book. However, don't denounce the book off the bat just for that fact. Even as someone as staunchly against eastern styled art in my comics as I am I was able to enjoy the series, and my distaste for it is almost as well documented as the me not being a teenaged girl thing. Special mention should also be given to Christina Strain, the series colourist. Because of her, every image contained here nearly pops off of the page. Should you buy this book? Why not. I know some people may be to stuck up to think of having a book like this on the shelf with books like Watchmen or DKR, but Mary Jane is a fun, different take on the love of Spider-Man's life, and for the price is too good to be passed up.