Mary Jane: Face It, Tiger
As a way to celebrate the character's 60 years in comics, Marvel releases this one-shot featuring three separate tales and what they are referring to as "an epilogue," each centered around different periods in Mary Jane's life. Notably, all stories take place after being married to Peter Parker and none really capture the version of Mary Jane Watson represented in her first appearance 60 years ago.
"Faces in the Crowd" is a super-serious (and pretty damn depressing) story of MJ dealing with the trauma of being attacked by the Chameleon in her home. "Vamp #9" features MJ taking on D-list villain giving Spider-Man a hard time while shooting her new vampire movie. "Soft Words at Sunset" offers another bittersweet tale of an elderly MJ visiting Peter's grave.
The epilogue, "Redux" is a follow-up the the "Vamp #9" story with MJ fighting off the same villain again on set but this time with the help of her symbiote. MJ's acting career doesn't seem to have improved all that much since the first story, still working on struggling B-movie projects, but at least the pair of stories do focus on her expanding role as a hero in her own right.
[Marvel, $4.99]
- Title: Mary Jane: Face It, Tiger (One-shot)
- Comic Vine: link
- Writers: J.M. DeMatteis, Ann Nocenti, J. Michael Straczynski, and Ashley Allen
- Artists: Andrea Broccardo, Alina Erofeeva, Luigi Zagaria, and Phil Noto
