Marvel: Mary Jane

[Local Hero]

Posted 01/06/04
Source Comics Continuum

Sean McKeever, writer of Marvel's new Mary Jane series, told The Continuum that the book is a "straight teen drama."

"There's bit of Spider-Man in here and there, but it really is a straight-forward teen drama," McKeever said. "It's not a super-hero comic. It's not a science-fiction comic."

The new monthly series, which debuts on June 12, features the characters in their high school years, after Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man.

"It's set in high school, sort of its own continuity, where Mary Jane goes to high school with Flash Thompson and Liz Allen and Harry Osborn and this nerdy kid named Peter Parker," McKeever said. "And they all hang out at the Coffee Bean.

"It's kind of a spin on the old Amazing Spider-Man issues where they were hanging out together, but now it's in high school.

"What's nice about it is I can look at those Amazing books which I read as a kid and get a glimpse of the characters, and I can do my own take on them. I can flush them out in a way that I'd like to and that also respects the characters as they are. It's kind of refreshing to be able to do what I want with a character like Flash Thompson, to make him three-dimensional. I'm sure it's the same kind of pleasure (Brian) Bendis gets with Ultimate Spider-Man."

Mary Jane is part of Marvel's youth movement with its Marvel Age imprint.

"With all-ages books, when you put that all-ages stamp on the book, it's kind of like the kiss of death because people go, 'Oh, it's watered down,'" McKeever said. "But with Mary Jane, it's all ages in that really good sense. Maybe not necessarily in the way with The Simpsons is and all the layers and all that, but it's something I think is very entertaining and light that anybody can enjoy.

"It's a comic that they're marketing to teen girls, but it's a comic book that adults -- men and women -- came read as well. It's got a really broad appeal, I think."

Takeshi Miyazawa is providing the art. "I've been seeing the art, and it's really beautiful stuff," McKeever said.

Click on the links below for previews from the book:

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[Enchantress]

I don't know about this one....I think Marvel doing a "Teen Drama" and trying to market it as that is a scary thing personally. They are trying to market this book to "teen girls" and let's face it, that's a very small market.
I do like the artwork quite a bit though.