Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane

The first 2 issues of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (season 2) are out and I finally got around to reading them. Terry Moore is the author and that was my main reason for picking this title up. I'll admit it, I'm a Terry Moore fanboy now. After reading the first 5 issues of Echo and the first 6 trade paperbacks of Strangers In Paradise, I'll be reading anything Terry Moore writes. He's a fantastic writer. He really knows how to make stories personal. His stories are not your typical superhero action comics with very little character development. After reading just the first issue of one of his series, I feel very connected to the character(s). And it's no different for Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

The first series of this title was written by someone else and the art had an almost manga style to it, so I steered clear. It also looked like it was marketed towards teenage girls. I am not a teenage girl. I avoided it. But, since Terry Moore has picked up writing the current series, I decided to give it a whirl. Boy am I glad I did.

Yes, this is probably marketed to teenage girls, but that doesn't make it not good. It is a fun, clean, all-ages comic. That is rare these days. It's good story-telling and fantastic art. Here is the cover of issue #2:
So, yeah, I like it. I'm anxiously awaiting issue #3. The first two issues came out right on schedule - it's a monthly title. Since this is a mainstream Marvel title, hopefully they will stick to that schedule. Echo, Terry Moore's sci-fi title put out by Abstract Studios, has not been so regular. Echo has been coming out about every 6 weeks or so. And even that is not bad at all when compared to All-Star Batman & Robin or Fell (almost a year between issue #8 and #9 of Fell). When books come out that irregularly, it almost makes me want to not buy the issues and just wait the 2 years for the trade paperback to come out. But that won't happen :) The new issue comes out and I'm so excited that all past history is forgotten. LOL

Anyway, back to Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. Mary Jane is the main character in this story. She and Peter Parker are sophomores in high school. It deals with high-school-type issues and is very much about the people, not so much whatever is going on in the story. Aunt May, J. Jameson, and the like are simply side-characters and we don't see much of them at all. This story revolves around Mary Jane and her experiences in high school.

It's a fun read. Not your typical capes and cowls superhero story. I'm liking it :)

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