View Poll Results: What shade of red do you prefer MJ have?

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  • Fiery Red!

    9 45.00%
  • Realistic Redhead/Orange-ish!

    3 15.00%
  • Doesn't Matter to Me!

    8 40.00%
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  1. #1
    Astonishing Member KangMiRae's Avatar
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    Post Mary Jane and the Colorists Who Hate Red Hair!

    Over the years of reading not just Spider-Man comicbooks, but comicbooks in general, I've come to realize something—something that is very relevant to Mary Jane Watson. I hate colorists who make MJ's hair orange!

    I cannot stand it! MJ's hair should be a nice, fiery red. I know lots of colorists try to go for a much more realistic redhead in with their colors, but it looks either too orange or too strawberry-blonde, and it drives me up a wall! I think it stems from the fact that Mary Jane was made with a dark, crimson color and that's what tons of other artists did for years and years, then they started to change it depending on the colorists and artists, and I don't like it. This isn't just an MJ issue, every redhead in the comicbook world has this issue, and I dislike it. Jean Grey is colored bright red more than MJ and I don't get why MJ suffers from the sherbet syndrome! Although X-Men Red had Jean in a very orange-ish colored hair, puke!

    Spencer's current run has Ottley on art, and I have my silly issues with his art despite loving it regardless, but the worst offense is present. Dun, dun dun! The colorist making MJ's hair orange!

    Does anyone else have this ridiculous complaint like me?

    Or do you guys prefer an MJ with a more realistic redhead look?

    For some visuals—

    Current Spencer/Ottley colorist's take on red hair!
    9rL4YtbNFGOQbxTrfA2iq_JZBcSgiEJqUmEZ7ugNy0pdZqyKXL.jpg

    The red I adore!
    f5876ae30aa94835e2a7f15f0d5982c9.jpg
    Last edited by KangMiRae; 06-19-2019 at 02:28 PM.

  2. #2
    Extraordinary Member Jman27's Avatar
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    never really considered Mj hair color to be that big of a deal. I like both but since this is a comic book and not real life give her the fiery red
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  3. #3
    Astonishing Member KangMiRae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jman27 View Post
    never really considered Mj hair color to be that big of a deal. I like both but since this is a comic book and not real life give her the fiery red
    It's okay to not be practical and realistic! Give me the fiery red!

    This extends to costumes, too! Sometimes unpractical costumes are okay because they make up by being extravagant.
    Last edited by KangMiRae; 06-18-2019 at 05:46 PM.

  4. #4
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    This kind of just reminds me of how her hair color fluctuated so much with the different artists during Bendis' Iron Man run, particularly when Pepper Potts showed up.

  5. #5
    Astonishing Member KangMiRae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frontier View Post
    This kind of just reminds me of how her hair color fluctuated so much with the different artists during Bendis' Iron Man run, particularly when Pepper Potts showed up.
    They probably knew Pepper's hair would conflict with them giving MJ orange-ish hair, too.

  6. #6
    Ultimate Member Phoenixx9's Avatar
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    I liked the original look of deep brown with red highlights.

  7. #7
    The Superior One Celgress's Avatar
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    Doesn't matter to me one bit.
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  8. #8
    Kinky Lil' Canine Snoop Dogg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phoenixx9 View Post
    I liked the original look of deep brown with red highlights.
    some facts right here
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  9. #9
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    According to Ron Frenz, colorists mix red with black to create that distinct look of MJ's crimson hair. When Frenz worked on Spider-Girl, he made it more orangish to indicate that she had started dying her hair as she got older.

    My personal head-canon is that Mary Jane's hair should be the same shade of red as the red in Spider-Man's suit. And the red in Spider-Man's suit also fluctuates wildly, sometimes being very crimson, and sometimes looking orangish.

  10. #10
    Uncanny Member Digifiend's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KangMiRae View Post
    They probably knew Pepper's hair would conflict with them giving MJ orange-ish hair, too.
    That shouldn't matter if they get the hairstyles right - specifically MJ's fringe.
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  11. #11
    Spectacular Member Erik Larsen's Avatar
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    It was a flat red for years because that was the only option they really had. Colors used to be extremely limited--the next step down would have been 50% magenta and 100% yellow (as opposed to 100% magenta and yellow). Colors needed to be made up of 25%, 50% or 100% cyan, magenta, and yellow. There was no way to make it more subtle.

    John Romita (who defined her look) drew her hair mostly black with a small highlight, which was colored flat red. Because it was mostly black, MJ's hair looked more of an auburn and less like Ronald McDonald's hair.

    But successive artists have strayed very far off model and nobody in editorial is enforcing any kind of standard appearance for much of anybody--gone are her arched eyebrows, her dimples, the cleft in her chin, her strong jawline and the heavy blacks in her hair which worked with red highlights. Once her hair became open for color--the red looked too garish.

    I blame society.

    Last edited by Erik Larsen; 06-19-2019 at 08:06 PM.

  12. #12
    Astonishing Member KangMiRae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Erik Larsen View Post
    It was a flat red for years because that was the only option they really had. Colors used to be extremely limited--the next step down would have been 50% magenta and 100% yellow (as opposed to 100% magenta and yellow). Colors needed to be made up of 25%, 50% or 100% cyan, magenta, and yellow. There was no way to make it more subtle.

    John Romita (who defined her look) drew her hair mostly black with a small highlight, which was colored flat red. Because it was mostly black, MJ's hair looked more of an auburn and like like Ronald McDonald's hair.

    But successive artists have strayed very far off model and nobody in editorial is enforcing any kind of standard appearance for much of anybody--gone are her arched eyebrows, her dimples, the cleft in her chin, her strong jawline and the heavy blacks in her hair which worked with red highlights. Once her hair became open for color--the red looked too garish.

    I blame society.

    Wow! It's really great to get some deeper insight on the case. Thanks for sharing!

  13. #13
    Astonishing Member KangMiRae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revolutionary_Jack View Post
    According to Ron Frenz, colorists mix red with black to create that distinct look of MJ's crimson hair. When Frenz worked on Spider-Girl, he made it more orangish to indicate that she had started dying her hair as she got older.

    My personal head-canon is that Mary Jane's hair should be the same shade of red as the red in Spider-Man's suit. And the red in Spider-Man's suit also fluctuates wildly, sometimes being very crimson, and sometimes looking orangish.
    That's really cool to know! I can only wish for consistency on the coloring of the shade red in this industry!

  14. #14
    Astonishing Member KangMiRae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Celgress View Post
    Doesn't matter to me one bit.
    I envy you as you swim down the calm river while I force myself to whine like a baby over red hair

  15. #15
    Astonishing Member KangMiRae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digifiend View Post
    That shouldn't matter if they get the hairstyles right - specifically MJ's fringe.
    Very true, but I'm partial to having MJ with wild, crazy, large ridiculous hair myself. Kinda like how Buscema drew her every now and then. Then again, I think most long-haired women were drawn like that in the older days(?)

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