Panel(s) of the Day #968 (Mary Jane Monday!)

13 Comments

1. If you read through old issues knowing that MJ always knew, some of them make sense, some of them don’t matter, and some of them don’t make sense. It’s pretty even – one category doesn’t have a huge number compared to the others.

   It’s like on Deep Space Nine when you find out Bashir’s past – some of the previous episodes don’t make sense when you know about him, but some kind of do. The actor said that it was something he didn’t know until just before the episode that revealed the truth about him, and that he wished it was something he knew from the beginning since he would have played the character differently.

   When you read comics you have to deal with retcons. You can dig your head in the sand and ignore them, but they still happened. We can complain about Peter selling his marriage to Mephisto all we want, but it happened. Pretending it didn’t won’t solve the problem.

2. I don’t know where the editorial staff is when the writers retcon major events like this. But having gwen impregnated by Norman Osborne is within canon and So is Mary Jane knowing Peter was spider-man all this time….. which of course breaks other continuity plot lines, thought bubbles, time lines, etc. When you go back and reread Previous issues within this context some much is confusing at best and contradictory at best. I’m waiting for the new neo super retcon plus where they retcon the retcon and kill off aunt may yet again the next time they get lazy writers. To me Gwen was never pregnant, Norman is still dead, and Mary Jane didn’t k ow peters ide Tory until sometime in the 200s. I understand that’s incorrect now but I hope that someday the power that be will make it clrrrct again.

3. Sorry, but it’s in continuity – MJ found out Peter was Spidey the night Uncle Ben died. And Gwen had sex with Norman and had twins.

   Roger Stern had nothing to do with either of these things. #LeaveUncleRogAlone

4. Like I said! I don’t care HOW mad Gerry Conway gets mad at me!

   Seriously, I do think of that as akin to the Gwen pregnancy.

5. @Jack Brooks

   I think you mean Gerry Conway, not Roger Stern.

6. (I don’t care what Roger Stern says! — MJ didn’t know, just like Gwen was never pregnant!)

7. @Rick – Agreed. If you believed that MJ doesn’t know Peter is Spidey in these panels, everything she says still works. Peter and MJ have been getting closer after Gwen’s death, and she is threatened by “Gwen” returning. She assumes that Peter will go back to Gwen and whatever MJ and Peter have will be over. She doesn’t know how or why Gwen is alive again, but this is the Marvel universe, so someone coming back from the dead wouldn’t be the strangest thing for a NY civilian to encounter.

8. @Adam and @Hornacek. While we all now “know” that Mary Jane knew Peter’s identity at this time. I think the pull page and previous panel will provide context that shows she’s just getting desperate and trying different angles to get Peter’s attention. Mary Jane isn’t used to being ignored by men in general and Gwen’s return really has he worried that she’s losing Peter. My take is that she’s trying to first appear bossy and antagonistic and then later to be empathetic to “Gwen” Returning to Peter’s life see these images
   https://flic.kr/p/2jXy9mJ
   https://flic.kr/p/2jXy9mo

   Mary Jane has it pretty bad for peter during these issues. and some of them pretty sexually charged. Just look at the eye contact that she makes with Peter while she licks an ice cream cone in ASM #136
   https://flic.kr/p/2jXuz44

   This was just moments before she was caught in an explosion and hospitalized while opening the door to Peters Apartment. So Mary Jane does indeed understand that crazy stuff happens to them all the time. And perhaps she is telling Peter that she knows without really telling him, but from a broader context she should equally be just saying. “I get it, crazy stuff goes down a lot with us and we have to just adapt and move past this together”. I guess it could go either way! such a great panel. thanks for posting and for your insight.

9. @Adam – When MJ says “I understand that” she’s acknowledging that Gwen is suddenly back from the dead with no explanation, and that she and Peter can’t explain it, but she’s acknowledging Peter’s love for Gwen. There is nothing Spider-Man related in what she’s saying. Just my opinion.

10. @RIck and Hornacek: I’m being completely genuine. In the second panel Mary Jane is adamant that she “understands” that something isn’t right. Seems like a bit of a hint to me.

11. @Rick – I agree. Unless I’m missing something I don’t see anything from MJ’s dialogue that indicates she knows Peter is Spidey.

12. I know you are being facetious, but I dont really see how this panel implies MJ may know peters secret ID. The peter/my issues from 122-186 are my favorites

13. Wait … I thought Marvel said that Peter and MJ’s marriage and romance came out of nowhere! But this story, >10 years before the marriage, shows that MJ is definitely interested in Peter romantically and is willing to fight for him.

    Now I don’t know what to believe!