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

[Frontier]

art by Dima Ivanov

Kind of interesting that it looks like MJ's wearing red and blue spandex, at least on her lower half, only hers looks more like an actual outfit compared to Peter's Superhero costume.

[Huntsman Spider]

art by Dima Ivanov

Thanks for sharing these works of art with us, juan678.

If this were an article about two real life people, the suggestion that a woman (a teenage girl at that) was responsible for a man's own spiral into destruction would uh... let's just say not have gone down well.



Except people keep forgetting that it was Harry who actually broke up with MJ, much to her disappointment. His daddy and drug issues were obviously disturbing her, explaining her behaviour, but she still held out hope that he'd pull through all of it.

She may have ultimately broken up with Harry on her own because... Harry is Harry, but at the time, despite pushing him away, it's not evident she wanted to actually break up with him.

I already saw a poster commenting on the very article calling it out as misogynistic tripe, and I do have to concede that the title was in poor taste, perhaps why the second page of said article was headed with a firm rebuttal of said title. The only question then is, why have it there in the first place, except as what we nowadays term "click-bait"? That being said, we do have a very long and very bad history of blaming women, whether they're mothers or lovers (or spouses) or even completely unrelated, for men's own bad actions and poor decisions, as if human beings are not all endowed with free will and thus the capacity to make their own choices and decisions, for better or worse, and the title of the article unfortunately played into that kind of thinking, even if in jest. It also doesn't help that Mary Jane has been genuinely vilified and maligned, not only by some sections of the fandom, but also by people who work for or within Marvel Comics, and a lot of that vilification has been based on the perception that she's not the "right" kind of woman for a hero like Spider-Man/Peter Parker to settle down with. Articles titled like that certainly worsen that impression and give validation to that sort of mindset, not only about Mary Jane, but also to an extent about women in real life.

[kjn]

Unmasked, a song from the point of view of Mary Jane Watson by the wonderfully nerdy Leslie Hudson.

[Huntsman Spider]

Unmasked, a song from the point of view of Mary Jane Watson by the wonderfully nerdy Leslie Hudson.

A beautiful song. Fits her character quite well. Thanks for sharing.

[TheCape]

Unmasked, a song from the point of view of Mary Jane Watson by the wonderfully nerdy Leslie Hudson.

Awesome song, thanks for the link .

[Hypestyle]

so is MJ still working for Stark Industries? does she continue into Dan Slott's storylines?

[kjn]

A beautiful song. Fits her character quite well. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome song, thanks for the link .

Thanks! I was a little unsure how well it fit her myself, but I trusted in Leslie to know her stuff. The rest of the album is also well worth checking out.

[Confuzzled]

I already saw a poster commenting on the very article calling it out as misogynistic tripe, and I do have to concede that the title was in poor taste, perhaps why the second page of said article was headed with a firm rebuttal of said title. The only question then is, why have it there in the first place, except as what we nowadays term "click-bait"? That being said, we do have a very long and very bad history of blaming women, whether they're mothers or lovers (or spouses) or even completely unrelated, for men's own bad actions and poor decisions, as if human beings are not all endowed with free will and thus the capacity to make their own choices and decisions, for better or worse, and the title of the article unfortunately played into that kind of thinking, even if in jest. It also doesn't help that Mary Jane has been genuinely vilified and maligned, not only by some sections of the fandom, but also by people who work for or within Marvel Comics, and a lot of that vilification has been based on the perception that she's not the "right" kind of woman for a hero like Spider-Man/Peter Parker to settle down with. Articles titled like that certainly worsen that impression and give validation to that sort of mindset, not only about Mary Jane, but also to an extent about women in real life.

CBR has become incredibly clickbaity nowadays.

I agree that the "MJ doesn't deserve a nice guy like Peter" mentality is reflective of a very damaging view towards women in real life. Which is why it becomes incredibly frustrating and myopic when the marriage detractors (especially the ones employed by Marvel) use the "MJ is an unrealistic, fantasy girlfriend" excuse because while reading the actual books it always seemed that she was just as much of an underdog as Peter in her own way and that he was just as big of a "get" for her as she was for him.

[Confuzzled]

Unmasked, a song from the point of view of Mary Jane Watson by the wonderfully nerdy Leslie Hudson.

Haha, she has written songs for both of my favorite redheads in comics. Nothing for Barbara Gordon and Mystique though?

[kjn]

Haha, she has written songs for both of my favorite redheads in comics. Nothing for Barbara Gordon and Mystique though?

Batgirl is mentioned in the final song of the album, but otherwise no as far as I know, either by Leslie or someone else I know.

But maybe I should set out to write a short intro to the various bands and artists I know of who explore comic book themes and characters.

[Frontier]

CBR has become incredibly clickbaity nowadays.

I agree that the "MJ doesn't deserve a nice guy like Peter" mentality is reflective of a very damaging view towards women in real life. Which is why it becomes incredibly frustrating and myopic when the marriage detractors (especially the ones employed by Marvel) use the "MJ is an unrealistic, fantasy girlfriend" excuse because while reading the actual books it always seemed that she was just as much of an underdog as Peter in her own way and that he was just as big of a "get" for her as she was for him.

I mean, she came from a broken family and had to work her butt off in a very difficult and merciless business (fashion and modeling) just to be able to be independent, and her own insecurities caused her to create a mask that prevented her from making the kind of meaningful and intimate connections that makes life worth living.

Being able to have a relationship as deep and loving as what she had with Peter was probably one of the few good things in her life, even with all the drama it led to.

[Huntsman Spider]

CBR has become incredibly clickbaity nowadays.

I agree that the "MJ doesn't deserve a nice guy like Peter" mentality is reflective of a very damaging view towards women in real life. Which is why it becomes incredibly frustrating and myopic when the marriage detractors (especially the ones employed by Marvel) use the "MJ is an unrealistic, fantasy girlfriend" excuse because while reading the actual books it always seemed that she was just as much of an underdog as Peter in her own way and that he was just as big of a "get" for her as she was for him.

I mean, she came from a broken family and had to work her butt off in a very difficult and merciless business (fashion and modeling) just to be able to be independent, and her own insecurities caused her to create a mask that prevented her from making the kind of meaningful and intimate connections that makes life worth living.

Being able to have a relationship as deep and loving as what she had with Peter was probably one of the few good things in her life, even with all the drama it led to.

Testify, both of you. I think that's the problem with a lot of the marriage detractors; they only saw the surface of Mary Jane's character and dismissed any deeper thoughts or revelations about or from her because they didn't jive with who they thought she was.

[TheCape]

Testify, both of you. I think that's the problem with a lot of the marriage detractors; they only saw the surface of Mary Jane's character and dismissed any deeper thoughts or revelations about or from her because they didn't jive with who they thought she was.

Honestly i think that a lot of married detractors or just MJ haters boiled down to shipping wars, specially from Gwen fans (surprisingly i hadn't found many Black Cat fans that hate MJ or the marriage) or some people that had this weird idea that being married=boring, this is not the case for everyone of course, butnit seems like the great majority.

[Celgress]

Honestly i think that a lot of married detractors or just MJ haters boiled down to shipping wars, specially from Gwen fans (surprisingly i hadn't found many Black Cat fans that hate MJ or the marriage) or some people that had this weird idea that being married=boring, this is not the case for everyone of course, butnit seems like the great majority.

I think it's more this than anything else. I hear that argument a lot when I lament the lack of romance in current 616 Spider-Man. I'm not even a hardcore Peter/MJ shipper rather I just like Spidey with a strong long-term love interest of some sort or even engaged in an interesting triangle. Frankly, I'd prefer anything (even a gay or bi Spider-Man for a change of pace) over the current frat boy emotionally stunted version of Peter who drifts from one meaningless short-term relationship to another.

[Digifiend]

so is MJ still working for Stark Industries? does she continue into Dan Slott's storylines?

Yes and probably no. It'll probably turn out she left off panel, because Bethany Cabe is coming back to take over that role.