Amazing Mary Jane #1 thread (spoilers)

[Hugo Strange]

So... spoilers:

Does MJ think it's a great idea work alongside her boyfriend's muderer, liar and manipulator enemy who knows Spidey's secret identity, and working in a place full of super villains while her boyfriend is across the country?

end of spoilers

[Frontier]

So... spoilers:

Does MJ think it's a great idea work alongside her boyfriend's muderer, liar and manipulator enemy who knows Spidey's secret identity, and working in a place full of super villains while her boyfriend is across the country?

end of spoilers

spoilers:

To be honest, that she's still sticking with the production even after finding out it was paid for by fraud, just seems like something that's going to come back and bite her even if this wasn't all an overarching plan to keep her away from Peter. I mean, even if she denies it...doesn't this technically make her an accomplice or aiding and abetting Beck considering the dubious legality of all this?

end of spoilers

[WebSlingWonder]

spoilers:

I think you're overthinking it a bit. Since she knows the truth, and knows that McKnight is really Mysterio, she'd probably want to keep him close to keep tabs on the whole thing.

end of spoilers

[Vortex85]

So... spoilers:

Does MJ think it's a great idea work alongside her boyfriend's muderer, liar and manipulator enemy who knows Spidey's secret identity, and working in a place full of super villains while her boyfriend is across the country?

end of spoilers

spoilers:

What choice does she have though? If she refuses Mysterio is gonna go supervillian on her and force her to do it with threats or blackmail or something worse. Last thing she wants is bad blood between her and a supe villian and on the off chance he's telling the truth it may turn out to be all ok if she just goes with it

end of spoilers

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Remember Leah Williams doesn't tell stories for free. I happen to think there's more going on here...and I think MJ has some tricks and ideas up her sleeve.

This is a setup that's part of a hook.

You know it's kind of interesting how Mary Jane resembles Peter, because this setup is identical to the plot of Ditko's ASM #14 aka "The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin" (i.e. Goblin's first appearance).

Goblin tells Peter that he's got a big Hollywood project...Peter flies off to LA and arrives at the set, and finds a bunch of villains (Enforcers) playing Enforcers and then Goblin takes him in the middle of the desert near a cave to reherase and they promptly ambush him.

MJ feeling pity for Mysterio is also similar to Peter/Boomerang in some ways.

[WebSlingWonder]

Remember Leah Williams doesn't tell stories for free. I happen to think there's more going on here...and I think MJ has some tricks and ideas up her sleeve.

This is a setup that's part of a hook.

You know it's kind of interesting how Mary Jane resembles Peter, because this setup is identical to the plot of Ditko's ASM #14 aka "The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin" (i.e. Goblin's first appearance).

Goblin tells Peter that he's got a big Hollywood project...Peter flies off to LA and arrives at the set, and finds a bunch of villains (Enforcers) playing Enforcers and then Goblin takes him in the middle of the desert near a cave to reherase and they promptly ambush him.

MJ feeling pity for Mysterio is also similar to Peter/Boomerang in some ways.

You got a point there. What is it with these two and movies? Lol
The callback to #14 is evident, I didn't even think about that. But Peter was also unknowing that it was the real Enforcers and that Green Goblin was an enemy (though he should have guessed it lol)

[Mister Mets]

spoilers:

I think you're overthinking it a bit. Since she knows the truth, and knows that McKnight is really Mysterio, she'd probably want to keep him close to keep tabs on the whole thing.

end of spoilers

I was kinda surprised they went with that so quickly, but it makes for a more satisfying story.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The callback to #14 is evident, I didn't even think about that.

Here's something else, ASM #13, the issue before #14, had Mysterio's origin. ASM #15, the issue after 14 is the first appearance of Kraven but also the first mention of Mary Jane in print (where Aunt May tells Peter she would make a wonderful wife). So there's a deep subterranean linkage there.

But Peter was also unknowing that it was the real Enforcers and that Green Goblin was an enemy (though he should have guessed it lol)

On another forum, another poster noted that Peter getting suckered by Goblin is comparable to a Nigerian email scam. Goblin tells Spider-Man, "I'm a make you famous, just pay money out of your own pocket and fly to LA in the middle of nowhere".

In the case of MJ here...the director of this movie, Craig McKnight is a real guy. She got pitched the project by an agent and she hungered for getting back to But making movies because it's her artistic calling. So it's not quite as dumb as Peter. At the same time, remember MJ has no superpowers at all. One of the underexplored parts of superhero comics is how having powers makes you more reckless...like in ASM #14 when Goblin arrives, a part of Peter might be "Hey, I'm Spider-Man, I have powers, I have Spider-Sense...I got a good feeling about this" and he takes wilder risks.

[WebSlingWonder]

I was kinda surprised they went with that so quickly, but it makes for a more satisfying story.

Same here! I thought it was going to be issue 2 or 3, but nope: from the get-go.

[WebSlingWonder]

Here's something else, ASM #13, the issue before #14, had Mysterio's origin. ASM #15, the issue after 14 is the first appearance of Kraven but also the first mention of Mary Jane in print (where Aunt May tells Peter she would make a wonderful wife). So there's a deep subterranean linkage there.



On another forum, another poster noted that Peter getting suckered by Goblin is comparable to a Nigerian email scam. Goblin tells Spider-Man, "I'm a make you famous, just pay money out of your own pocket and fly to LA in the middle of nowhere".

In the case of MJ here...the director of this movie, Craig McKnight is a real guy. She got pitched the project by an agent and she hungered for getting back to But making movies because it's her artistic calling. So it's not quite as dumb as Peter. At the same time, remember MJ has no superpowers at all. One of the underexplored parts of superhero comics is how having powers makes you more reckless...like in ASM #14 when Goblin arrives, a part of Peter might be "Hey, I'm Spider-Man, I have powers, I have Spider-Sense...I got a good feeling about this" and he takes wilder risks.

I still laugh at the one scene in #14 where Peter as Spider-Man is getting prepped for the shoot, looks dead center at the Enforcers, and goes: "Wow! The casting director did a great job! Those guys look like the real Enforcers!" I'm like BRUH. For real?

[Lukmendes]

You got a point there. What is it with these two and movies? Lol
The callback to #14 is evident, I didn't even think about that. But Peter was also unknowing that it was the real Enforcers and that Green Goblin was an enemy (though he should have guessed it lol)

Green Goblin hadn't done anything to show he was a villain yet, he looked creepy and all, but that's the same world Ben Grimm exists, and he's a good guy.

Here's something else, ASM #13, the issue before #14, had Mysterio's origin. ASM #15, the issue after 14 is the first appearance of Kraven but also the first mention of Mary Jane in print (where Aunt May tells Peter she would make a wonderful wife). So there's a deep subterranean linkage there.



On another forum, another poster noted that Peter getting suckered by Goblin is comparable to a Nigerian email scam. Goblin tells Spider-Man, "I'm a make you famous, just pay money out of your own pocket and fly to LA in the middle of nowhere".

In the case of MJ here...the director of this movie, Craig McKnight is a real guy. She got pitched the project by an agent and she hungered for getting back to But making movies because it's her artistic calling. So it's not quite as dumb as Peter. At the same time, remember MJ has no superpowers at all. One of the underexplored parts of superhero comics is how having powers makes you more reckless...like in ASM #14 when Goblin arrives, a part of Peter might be "Hey, I'm Spider-Man, I have powers, I have Spider-Sense...I got a good feeling about this" and he takes wilder risks.

To be fair, just like MJ, Peter only went because there was a famous director involved, and he needed money at the time to help out with Aunt May; he also didn't trust Green Goblin's word just like that, as he was still suspicious, but willing to give him a chance, he only believed when he went to check with that director to confirm what he was saying, and signed a contract because it looked legit, so while he was certainly gullible, he wasn't trusting Green Goblin just because he said stuff.

Either way, this was a pretty good issue, spoilers:

I didn't expect for MJ to find out about about what Beck's doing so fast, much less in the very next page after the preview's last page lol. MJ shouldn't be trusting what Beck says about what happened with McKnight so quickly though, Beck can make some pretty realistic looking robots, so it could be a robot of McKnight there, and she doesn't even need to have Peter telling her this, we have the X-Men robots that he used back in ASM Annual#1 in that very own set, but maybe she has something up her sleeve, no idea what though. Also I didn't think that Vulture's Sinister Six would show up here, thought they would show up and annoy Spidey after the current story arc, or maybe even during it. Oh, and the call between Peter and MJ was cute, also probably lasted for a really long time considering Peter fought a villain, changed identities and went grocery shopping lol. Oh well, 6/10.

end of spoilers

[Vortex85]

Wonderful first issue. I like the plot and concept very much.



She could say that she had to go along since she didn't know what these villains would do to her if she said no...that's the out there.

To me, MJ feeling pity for Mysterio while also being impressed by his skill is not dissimilar to Peter's dynamic with Boomerang.

Well you’re definitely right about this feeling similar to the dynamic between Peter and Boomerang when looking at the January solicit for Amazing Mary Jane. Looks like she’ll get to do a team up as well. Except she gets an A-lister while Peter is stuck with a D-lister, LOL.

[powerpackers90]

Yeah i think MJ is playing the long game and trying to see what more dirt she can find on Beck and friends.

I love the Peter and MJ call. It had hints of Micheline and McFarland's early marriage issues of fitting/dirty talk. And the continuity winks like MJ mentioning hitting Chameleon with a ball bat, and Peter referencing ASM 14.

[Vortex85]

Yeah i think MJ is playing the long game and trying to see what more dirt she can find on Beck and friends.

I love the Peter and MJ call. It had hints of Micheline and McFarland's early marrige issues fitting/dirty talk. And the continuity wink like MJ menting hitting Chameleon with s a ball bat, and Peter referencing ASM 14.

Yeah I loved that era and I hope Spencer picks up on it and incorporate some into ASM when MJ returns. I like Spencer’s MJ but it would be cool to see things spiced up a bit from time to time.

[Chris0013]

Her stalker, Jonathon Caesar, was a very wealthy man, and as such, very used to getting his way. When he was put in prison for kidnapping (Mary Jane, no less), he nonetheless still had enough pull from behind bars to get her career torpedoed. This was all way back in the early 1990s, more than twenty years before certain recent scandals surrounding abuse of power and position in the entertainment industry.

With Mephisto re-writing history...wonder whatever happened with him. Did she move into the expensive place alone, find out he was stalking her and get him busted on her own?