"Face It Tiger...", Mary Jane Watson/Parker Appreciation

[Kevinroc]

What's going on in the background with Spidey on this cover?

[Vaegrin]

What's going on in the background with Spidey on this cover?

Haha, that's great. Or it would be great if I wasn't getting worn out by all this tease.

[Kevinroc]

Haha, that's great. Or it would be great if I wasn't getting worn out by all this tease.

It's for "Not Brand Ecch." (A humor comic where Marvel has a history of mocking themselves and others.) I give this one a pass.

(But only this one. )

[Digifiend]

Yeah, there's plenty of jokes on that cover alone, let alone inside the comic:

• Forbush Man's bare bum is showing, which disgusts even Gwenpool. You can see that Tippy Toe is so disgusted that she's being sick.
• Peter and MJ are re-enacting the kiss scene from their first movie, but Venom's about to cut Spidey's webline.
• Captain America's costume is torn, revealing an Octopus design underneath - a reference to Secret Empire.
• Tony Stark is being vain.
• Deadpool has commandeered the corner box.
• Gwenpool has hijacked the Comic Code Authority stamp.
• Superman and Batman are parodied there as well - this is an element from the original series.
• Moleman and his Moloids are stealing the barcode.

[Confuzzled]

[*]Peter and MJ are re-enacting the kiss scene from their first movie, but Venom's about to cut Spidey's webline.

Is that supposed to represent the absolute high (Upside Down kiss) and absolute low (upcoming Venom solo movie) for Sony's Spidey Cinematic Universe?

[Ursalink]

I love Renew Your Vows, but I want MJ back in Spider-Man's life in the main comics. She's just playing the role of Pepper Potts with Iron Man, and MJ can't be Pepper.

[Miles To Go]

I love Renew Your Vows, but I want MJ back in Spider-Man's life in the main comics. She's just playing the role of Pepper Potts with Iron Man, and MJ can't be Pepper.

Pepper had a lot more raw backbone than MJ in her role back in the day. Bendis doesn't inject any backbone or personality into MJ at all...and the fact that even that is better than the poison Slott injects into her is damning praise indeed.

[Vaegrin]

I'm so sick of seeing writers poison MJ's character. I'd really rather she not be used at all than see her used by someone who doesn't value her and will inevitably trample all over her character.

[Huntsman Spider]

Pepper had a lot more raw backbone than MJ in her role back in the day. Bendis doesn't inject any backbone or personality into MJ at all...and the fact that even that is better than the poison Slott injects into her is damning praise indeed.

I'm so sick of seeing writers poison MJ's character. I'd really rather she not be used at all than see her used by someone who doesn't value her and will inevitably trample all over her character.

Agree with you both. I was hoping Bendis's use of Mary Jane would lead to a kind of renaissance for her character, show that she could be viable in her own right and not "just another love interest," show why her character was one of the more intrinsic parts of the mosaic that is the Marvel Universe, but if she's just going to be wallpaper . . . what's the point?

[Vaegrin]

At least Bendis isn't doing any damage. It's just ... neutral right now. But neutrality is better than poison. I appreciate that Bendis must like MJ enough to want her around, even though she has to be pretty low on the priority list for time in the spotlight.

[WebLurker]

Pepper had a lot more raw backbone than MJ in her role back in the day. Bendis doesn't inject any backbone or personality into MJ at all...and the fact that even that is better than the poison Slott injects into her is damning praise indeed.

Interesting, esp. since his USM work was pretty good to the character.

[Confuzzled]

Bendis's stories are so incredibly, incredibly decompressed, many of his sub-plots just stay on the backburner forever until he has to leave at which point he rushes them to an unsatisfying conclusion. The interruptions by "events" and crossovers don't help his slowboiler storytelling style any. This is hardly the first time it has happened. I didn't raise my hopes for MJ in IIM a ton after learning my lesson with Dazzler in his Uncanny X-Men run.

[SpiderClops]

Is that supposed to represent the absolute high (Upside Down kiss) and absolute low (upcoming Venom solo movie) for Sony's Spidey Cinematic Universe?

Unintentionally, yes.

[Confuzzled]

Unintentionally, yes.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were intentionally either Although it is funnier if it was by accident.

[nx74205]

Marvel is more than happy to reap the monetary benefits of the vocal group of supporters who clamor for the marriage, (i.e variant covers, inside nods etc) but don't want to take the actual step and give us what we've been clamoing for for ten years. This cover is just another example of that in all honesty and it conjures up a mix of sadness and contempt on my part.