MJ and BC #5

[Mercwmouth12]

I'm really struggling to come up with a reason this mini existed.

I mean, it's a "Dark Web" tie-in that other than the demons and limbo really didn't have much to do with Dark Web other than explaining what MJ and Felicia were doing. Not only did outlast said event it even dropped the branding.

This was supposed to be building on the success of the Mary Jane and Black Cat Beyond one-shot but I don't feel like this series played to either ladies' strength or relationship as well as that story did and wasn't anywhere near as fun, especially when a lot of the plot was spent on Felicia whining about dating Peter and MJ whining about her kids.

MJ's got a super watch now with no explanation even within this actual mini...I know Wells will seemingly address it but it's just that you set something up in one book and don't even bother to resolve it in any satisfying way, you're left scratching your head and feeling underwhelmed. Now whether you care for MJ with powers or not, I'm not even sure if they were conveyed well here in a "cool" way aside from maybe 1-2 instances. So not sure if this is selling people on Superhero MJ, especially when she's still insistent she wants nothing to do with it.

Belasco felt pretty generic here and the ladies' last-minute demonic power-up made things feel a tad anti-climactic and convenient.

The only thing this story seems to have accomplished is making MJ approve of Peter and Felicia being together and acting like she doesn't care about being with him any more or doubling-down on MJ's kids that nobody cares about. I guess they also double-down on the leads' friendship but that only really felt prominent in the last half of the mini.

Overall, I can't help but feel a little disappointed after loving the Beyond one-shot to bits. The art was great, Jed Mackay is at least solid even with one of his weaker works, but this just didn't feel like a mini that was firing on all cylinders or achieving the heights it could have. And maybe that was out of Jed's hands to some extent.

I think more than anything this was supposed to be something else, but then they wanted it to be tied to dark web and Jed created the idea of the watch so MJ could be apart of the book and now it seems since the watch wasn't explained it's be repurposed as a reason to be used as apart of the mystery so they for the 3rd time have a Jackpot character. So the mini being a backdoor tryout so people can see her use the powers and to have the blessing for a fling with Peter and Felicia. It doesn't seem like Wells is fully committed to them as other writers have to pick up the slack and we may get a few months of them together at the most. But what is clear is that MJ cares about the pseudo kids here and it's hinted that she doesn't want them to be separated and with his comments about MJ getting a superhero origin clearly paints what's going to happen in the next 2 issues of ASM.

[CaptainUniverse]

It's funny that throughout this whole mini-series she doesn't seem to even give a damn about what happens to Paul, she only cares about the kids. I have a feeling the guy is nothing more than a glorified nanny for those Math Gremlins.

[scouse mouse]

This mini is the first dud from Jed, but I don't blame him as this had editorials hands all over it. He tried his best to make it work but even a writer as skilled as he is can't make this status quo work. The whole thing felt like it could have been told in 3 issues max and was a overly drawn out just to get MJ and Felicia back to being bestie again.

[Frontier]

I think more than anything this was supposed to be something else, but then they wanted it to be tied to dark web and Jed created the idea of the watch so MJ could be apart of the book and now it seems since the watch wasn't explained it's be repurposed as a reason to be used as apart of the mystery so they for the 3rd time have a Jackpot character. So the mini being a backdoor tryout so people can see her use the powers and to have the blessing for a fling with Peter and Felicia. It doesn't seem like Wells is fully committed to them as other writers have to pick up the slack and we may get a few months of them together at the most. But what is clear is that MJ cares about the pseudo kids here and it's hinted that she doesn't want them to be separated and with his comments about MJ getting a superhero origin clearly paints what's going to happen in the next 2 issues of ASM.

It just all felt half-baked.

I mean, who knows who came up with what first, it just didn't come together as well as it should have.

But I am expecting something happening with the kids (who obviously MJ cares more about than anything) will drive her to become a full Superhero. Whether that actually works is another story, especially with writing like this and in ASM.

[sunofdarkchild]

So do Mary Jane and Black Cat actually have a soul sword they can summon they're in trouble or is it basically destroyed? This entire plot already ruins the soul sword, but if Belasco's blade is truly gone at least the damage can be contained by pretending this mini never happened, and maybe in the future someone can do a good story where Belasco discovers how to make a soul sword on his own to make him a real threat again and retcon this garbage out of existence.

[KangMiRae]

Bleeding Cool shared some more panels from this issue. spoilers:

Felicia continues to whine about MJ and Peter like an insecure OF model and MJ doubles down on spending a lot of time with Paul in the alt. world trying to explain why she’s moved on and had kids.

end of spoilers

46usrk.jpg

I hate Felicia and this new age push to make her a legitimate love interest for Peter. She’s never going to be the Lois Lane to his Clark Kent. Please, stop.

[Frontier]

Bleeding Cool shared some more panels from this issue. spoilers:

Felicia continues to whine about MJ and Peter like an insecure OF model and MJ doubles down on spending a lot of time with Paul in the alt. world trying to explain why she’s moved on and had kids.

end of spoilers

46usrk.jpg

I hate Felicia and this new age push to make her a legitimate love interest for Peter. She’s never going to be the Lois Lane to his Clark Kent. Please, stop.

I think it's just faulty execution all around, and it's hurting the characters.

[charliehustle415]

I wish this never acknowledged Paul and the kids, let me enjoy this throw away mini as MJ's final adventure but it is unescapable.

[sunofdarkchild]

So I've learned what happened with the soul swords, and it's just as stupid and destructive as I feared. I know Marvel in general and the Spider-Man office in particular have no respect for their characters, world, continuity, and past stories, but now they've extended that same attitude to destroying the X-Men and mystical sides of Marvel. I am so pissed off at what they've done to Belasco and the soul sword it's taking a lot of self-control not to use a ton of profanity in this post. Dear god Mary Jane and Black Cat needs to be retconned out of existence, and all copies of it should be burned.

[Jman27]

It's funny that throughout this whole mini-series she doesn't seem to even give a damn about what happens to Paul, she only cares about the kids. I have a feeling the guy is nothing more than a glorified nanny for those Math Gremlins.

she did mention Paul and the kids in this issue. Overall I dont know why Jed spent this whole mini in limbo. He could have spent like 3 issues there and do something else like how it was in Gold Goblin. Not the best Black cat story from Jed and now that he has Avengers unsure when he will get back to writing her

[Johnny]

Good art and that's about it. One thing to note is Belasco called the kids MJ's "progeny" here. Why would an immortal sorcerer call them that if they were not her "real" kids. If this is really a fakeout, they're truly going the extra mile with it. And as mentioned before, MJ naturally keeps doubling down on the "too much time passed and I don't care about Peter anymore" stuff. I know she's an actress and all, but she didn't even look happy to see him at the end of #24. We're told that whatever Peter did when he came back for her is what drove a ledge between them, but she already seemed indifferent to him as soon as she saw him back. So because "a lot longer than six months has passed" means their almost 60 years worth of publication history as friends and lovers no longer matters? I'm done trying to make sense of this, it's been evident for a long time now that staying true to who these characters are was never a priority at all for the sake of telling this crappy story, and this series only keeps proving that.

As for Felicia, this didn't make me care about what they're doing with her anymore than it has since they brought her back. She deserves better than being used as a consolation price who keeps asking for MJ's permission to be with her ex who she keeps claiming not to care for anymore because apparently her loyalty to him was only measured by how much time had passed. Do they realize how awful all of this makes Felicia look. How am I supposed to root for any of these people, they're either portrayed as losers or jerks.

[Johnny]

Bleeding Cool shared some more panels from this issue. spoilers:

Felicia continues to whine about MJ and Peter like an insecure OF model and MJ doubles down on spending a lot of time with Paul in the alt. world trying to explain why she’s moved on and had kids.

end of spoilers

46usrk.jpg

I hate Felicia and this new age push to make her a legitimate love interest for Peter. She’s never going to be the Lois Lane to his Clark Kent. Please, stop.

Well they clearly hate MJ being his Lois Lane either, so if not her they would just try to insert someone else in that position. I honestly don't mind Felicia being a "legitimate" love interest for Peter, these guys are clearly just not the right people to do this or any "legitimate" transition from MJ to someone else. Look how far they went to try to remove MJ from the equation and not only it hasn't convinced anybody, but it had the polar opposite effect. It's especially funny if the "leaks" about Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 regarding Peter and MJ turn about to be accurate.

[Frontier]

I wish this never acknowledged Paul and the kids, let me enjoy this throw away mini as MJ's final adventure but it is unescapable.

Conversely, does this make people more excited about seeing MJ as as hero?

I kind of doubt it.

[Mercwmouth12]

Conversely, does this make people more excited about seeing MJ as as hero?

I kind of doubt it.

I think more than anything it's a soft reset for her to get everyone to stop being angry about the kids and Paul and have year 2 with her having an active role doing something else

[Jman27]

Conversely, does this make people more excited about seeing MJ as as hero?

I kind of doubt it.

I gotta see her in a situation where she is on her own