Greetings Crawlspacers and welcome to “Web of Love”. As most of you know, most of us here at the crawlspace love and think that Peter and Mary Jane should always be together. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult when reading recent issues of Spider-Man knowing that the god awful story One More Day is still in canon. Will Marvel see the error of their ways and fix this? Only time will tell. In the meantime I hope that this featured article shows you some prime examples (and maybe some stuff you never heard of) on why Peter and Mary Jane are perfect for each other. How much rich chemistry there is between the two that rides from stories and how relate-able it can be.
If you understand the depth and characterization of the characters you are writing about, good story telling will follow. Understanding the characters, including tone, the pacing, and sense of action choreography is what lures the readers into the book. It’s what gets them hooked and allows them to be passionate about the characters they are reading about. It’s one hundred percent rewarding when the reader already knows the character, how they are supposed to be portrayed and to read a NEW story involving said characters and watching them evolve. Within the Spider-Man comic history there have been writers stand out above the rest. Stan Lee, Roger Stern, Peter David, Gerry Conway, Tom DeFalco and J.M. DeMatteis just to name a few. Along with those writers are the artists that work with them to illustrate the characters. Steve Ditko, John Romita, Sal Buscema, Ryan Stegman, and Alex Saviuk are just another few.. In this edition of Web Of Love we focus on a writer and artist that completely and utterly understand both characters and how they should be portrayed.
In my opinion, J. Michael Straczynski best understands the “Spider-Marriage” better than anyone. It’s a close tie between him and Gerry Conway. Any spider fan knew Conway favored Mary Jane over Gwen, as did John Romita. The majority of fans favored Mary Jane over Gwen and wanted Peter to be with MJ. Straczynski knew that, understood that, and during his beginning run in Amazing Spider-Man he went deeper. Sometimes he went a little too deep (totem spider stuff) but the principle was still the same.
Straczynski was in a position to fix Spider-Man. When Marvel tried to kill off Mary Jane, it failed, fans didn’t like that at all and after Chapter One and this whole “Fresh Start” on Spider-Man (after MJ was found alive and moved to CA), Spidey needed a makeover and needed it now. Before you look at the picture, you need to fit the pieces together to complete the puzzle that is put in front of you. That’s what Straczynski did during his beginning run on ASM. He knew he wanted the “Spider-Marriage” back, but he needed to focused on Peter first and get him written correctly and to stabilized him. It’s 101 of good story telling. Being the Spider-Man we all knew and loved, Straczynski brought a whole new meaning to “Responsibility”. He made Peter a teacher to kids, at his old school “Midtown High” and he was a science teacher. Aunt May knew Peter was Spider-Man now. Genius move on Straczynski’s part. This is the character we know and love that is evolving!
Like father, like son, John Romita Jr helped Straczynski illustrate what made Spider-Man great. His art focused on true emotions of the characters. From every curve, outline and facial expression, he helped Straczynski evolve Spider-Man. A mature Spider-Man. We’ve seen teenage Spider-Man too many times than we can count, but knowing his history and reading about the character evolve yet still remaining to his true core, THATS the kind of storytelling you would want to read about. Romita Jr artwork when he worked with Mackie was “street level” driven. That itself fits best with Spider-Man.
With the help of Romita Jr, Straczynski stabilized Peter, helped him evolve as a character, made him readable and relate-able again, whether you’re a fan of his “Spider-Totem” arc or not. He worked on Peter and Spider-Man first, now it was time to bring back the final piece. Mary Jane and the “Spider-Marriage.” That brings us to this edition of Web Of Love focusing on Amazing Spider-Man (Volume 2) #50.
Straczynski had to build up this reunion between Peter and Mary Jane in previous issues. Every building needs a strong foundation and so did this reunion. Peter went out to California with Aunt May to talk to Mary Jane. The three had a nice talk about what to do next. How both could re-connect, but before this in ASM (Volume 2) #42, Spider-Man and an adventure that needed the assistance of Dr. Strange, which caused Peter not to physically meet Mary Jane at the airport in hopes to patch things up between them. To explain it better is Peter, in less than two minutes no doubt!
Now during that little adventure Peter didn’t listen to the good doctor and strayed away from his path in the Astral Plane. This will lead us to another adventure and I’ll get there in a bit.
Meeting Lobster-Man and fighting TWO Doctor Oct’s. (For that story check out ASM (Volume 2) issues #44 and #45) At the end of that story Peter and Mary Jane finally got a chance to sit down and talk and this was the outcome.
Straczynski handles this buildup perfectly. He shows that Peter will wait forever for Mary Jane and MJ responds back with a smile. Peter shows compassion and understanding to his wife during this time. No wonder she loves him. In Amazing Spider-Man (Volume 2) issues #46 to #48, that’s when push came to shove. Not listening to Doctor Strange back in #42, seems Peter “accidently” draws out Shathra when he strayed off his path. Who is Shathra? Oh…just a mystical Spider-Wasp that wants to play with Peter like a cat does with a mouse before killing him and then drag his dead body back to her nest to feed her children. Appears Shathra is REALLY good at this game, she took the mortal form as Shannon and went on live TV to tell the world that she was Spider-Man’s lover! Guess who was watching that broadcast. Poor Peter, can’t catch a break.
Peter did eventually defeat Shathra (Ezekiel helped), but the damage was already done to Peter and MJ’s relationship. In issue #49 Mary Jane decided to head out to New York to talk to Peter. Peter decided to head out to California to talk to Mary Jane…at the SAME time. Feeling that the fates didn’t align with them, they decided to put their relationship in the past and move on with their lives. Ah, but FATE has other plans in the story doesn’t it? Both flights head into severe stormy weather and are force touchdown in Denver, where they run into each other.
WOW, what a buildup! Things never went easy for Peter and Straczynski writes up that “Parker Luck” perfectly. Life wasn’t easy for Mary Jane either and she was married into that “Parker Luck”. They both acknowledge that and laugh about it. I love how Straczynski understands and respects the character’s history and continuity. He explains this in just three panels and John Romita Jr illustrates it nicely. This issue is a completely Peter and Mary Jane driven story. They canceled their flights home, they don’t care, they need to talk and both of them are willing to talk about their relationship. If it needs to happen in a Denver airport, fine. Mary Jane starts to tell Peter that the whole Shathra really got to her (who could blame her?), she started to question herself that maybe Peter just got bored with her. Maybe he was looking at other women and what her value was to him. Living with someone with a double life can be difficult and she questions on how much she’s apart of it. Peter is listening, he knows that this is important to both of them and nothing will stop them from having this conversation! Oh look, there’s Dr. Doom.
Dr. Doom arrives from the gate escorted by two security guards. Peter’s spider-sense starts to tingle, but not because of Dr. Doom. A human bomber runs towards Doom screams “Free Latveria!” and detonates the bomb. A blast at close range and Dr. Doom is out cold, Peter manages to jump and shield Mary Jane to safety. Exits are blocked due to the explosion and as Peter gets one of the security guards that arrived with Dr Doom to safety he realizes it’s Captain America himself. The issue springs into action sequences with Spider-Man and Captain America fighting off “Latveria Activists”(?) who threaten anyone, while trying to get to Dr. Doom. Straczynski stays focus to the real story of this issue and never strays away. I love how it’s a health mix of action sequences and emotional dialogue between Peter and Mary Jane. Peter, now Spider-Man, talks to MJ after he and Cap defeat the first wave of attacks, Mary Jane brings up a very valid point. Straczynski has already evolved Peter’s character, now it’s time for Mary Jane.
Chaos in the terminals and Mary Jane just deals with it. She used to this stuff. There’s trouble going on, she is still going to talk about this and brings this point to home. Straczynski keeps the true focus of this story in check. While there is silence for Spider-Man it’s Mary Jane who owns the next few panels. Her character development shows real class. She wants to be more of what a wife is supposed to be. She loves Peter for who he is and what he does. She understands the need for Spider-Man but really wants to know where her place is in all of this. Straczynski really hits home to her character development. She’s a normal person with normal feelings. Any cop, firefighter, doctor spouse would sympathize to this and relate. She wants to be apart of Peter’s life and Spider-Man, she really does, she just doesn’t know how. Peter responds to “You fit in because I love you, isn’t that enough.” Mary Jane responds with another valid point. The words “I love you” can mean anything. She needs more.
Juggling a balance between superhero-ing and a relationship with someone isn’t easy. JMS makes that clear in this issue as well. He writes Mary Jane as an understanding character that is in love with Peter, wants to be with Peter, but also wants to fit in to Peter’s life. Being on the sidelines, waiting at home for him, worrying about him. She feels she can do more for her husband. She has in the past, but not as much. She’s written as she’s coming close to what needs to be done to make this work for both of them, but second wave of attacks arrive and Spidey needs to jump into action. In the next few pages, after the attack it’s Peter taking a step back from being Spider-Man and talking to her face to face. Mary Jane doesn’t want the Spider, she wants Peter. Her Peter. He kindly obliges and JMS writes the Peter that we have been waiting for him to say and act. I look at this writing as if Peter knows that his wife is also his responsibility and that demands attention. The words “I love you” isn’t enough. Peter explains that he NEEDS Mary Jane in his life and explain WHY. He’s very mature, compassionate, honest, and humble during this conversation. The dialogue is truly heartwarming and that’s all that Mary Jane wanted to hear from him.
Both J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr present magic to all Spider-Man fans everywhere in this splash page and this issue. This is what we wanted and they delivered the necessary buildup and the satisfying climax of this reunion in human relate-able style.
After that sweet touching moment, the bad guys are defeated and everyone was evacuated from the airport. Peter instantly made good on his promise on what Mary Jane needs. He introduced her to Captain America. Cap put two and two together and gave Peter a “The more you know” Moment.
I know I’m repeating myself, but in my opinion J. Michael Straczynski best understands the “Spider-Marriage”. He makes it work. You can have great stories with a married Spider-Man. This issue is a direct result of that! Even in the follow up issues of ASM he delivers the goods. Now, not ALL of the issues after this one pleased fans and his name was on OMD, but he didn’t agree on how editorial mandate wanted to make Spidey single again. Both JMS and John Romita Jr did a bang up job in this issue. It stands out as one of the greatest Peter/MJ story driven issues and who can’t help but smile at this last splash page…
Author’s Note: Special thanks to my Crawlspacer peeps in helping me with this article. 🙂
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@Z-Man
After the newspaper strip changed Peter to be single again to match the comics, I laughed and laughed when, after only one story, they immediately got rid of that status quo, said the previous story was just a dream, and that Peter and MJ were still married. Talk about realizing that if something isn’t broke, you don’t fix it!
… I gotta track this issue down.
@Enigma: Right?!
@George: Preach, brother. Preach!
@William: That’s great to hear! When this issue arrived in my mailbox I was excited and hopeful because I had a feeling what was going to happen. When I read it, I was overjoyed!
@Joshua: It’s definitely on my list for the future!
Other than “To Have and to Hold” from SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN vol. 2 annual #1, I can’t think of any other story that portrayed the marriage in such a compelling and effective manner. JMS is definitely the last great writer to work on Spider-Man.
It’s funny, even as a kid reading this when it first came out, I was really happy to see them make up. I also liked their marriage in general and thought it was the logical progression from their relationship in the older comics I was also reading at the time. I definitely don’t recall ever thinking ‘wow they made Spidey so OLD and unidentifiable!! Why isn’t he a swinging bachelor?!?’
The greatest thing about JMS’s writing when it came to Peter and MJ was that it proved every marriage critic, especially Quesada, wrong. And it did so pre-emptively.
GAAAAH!!!! My heart!!!
I’m enjoying the newspaper strips more than the core recent titles!
Great piece on one of the more seminal issues of ASM, and one of the last true great installments of that title. Had JMS bowed out with Happy Birthday or Book of Ezekiel, it would have been a perfect finish, instead of being dragged into The Other, moving into Avengers Tower, Civil War and OMD.
And yeah, the least said about Sins Past, in either form it took, the better.
I will say though that the ASM newspaper strip writers (credited to Stan, but I’ve heard it’s ghost written) also understand and make the most of the Spider-Marriage, Peter and MJ’s relationship is fantastic there, probably the most stable they’ve ever been