Mary Jane Watson: What Do WE Know?

If you're regarding the recent reveal that actress Zendaya Coleman had been cast as Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man: Homecoming (or Michelle Jane Watson, but still "M.J." regardless) in terms of fidelity to the source material, then it probably is disappointing that Hollywood is still adverse to gingers..but Zendaya is an actress and glamorous model..and the Mary Jane Watson of the comics is an actress and glamorous model...she's as good a choice (perhaps a better casting choice) than the 2 actresses who preceded her (Kirsten Dunst and Shailene Woodley). And there's another thing to consider:

"Face it tiger, you hit the jackpot!"..is kind of a ridiculously corny thing a woman could say. The only actresses who could get away with saying that line just right - in all sincerity, without a trace of sarcasm or saccharine schmaltz - are Karen Gillan and Ellie Kemper, and they're not teenagers. Megan Fox could do it, because we've seen her play the M.J. all of you detractors think you want to see onscreen...in 4 Michael Bay movies (yes, I'm counting the TMNT movies). And I don't know if Bella Thorne could've delivered that line, either.

Past Spider-Man films tended to downplay M.J.'s personality to match the performance of their Spider-Man/Peter Parker. Dunst's M.J. could be noncommittal and fickle. Leaked dialogue for Woodley's deleted scenes appeared to portray Mary Jane as pragmatic and less of a party girl than the M.J. from Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.'s stories. In other words, she might've been characterized as having more in common with Peter, socially.

There's a superficial take on Mary Jane..and a more complex one. The superficial M.J. is...Megan Fox in a Transformers movie. I'm not going to waste words - if you want to see quintessential M.J. Watson, watch Megan Fox in the first 2 Transformers movies. That's Mary Jane in all but name only...yet lacking complexity.

The complex Mary Jane Watson is the one who became Peter's confidant..and eventually, his wife. She's the one who became the love of his life..first by staying by his side to help him with his grief after Gwen died. We haven't seen that M.J. depicted on film at all...maybe we will see Zendaya bring out that aspect of the character. That would be awesome.

Fantastic Floored

Are the Fantastic Four cool? I don't think so. I don't think they are edgy or dark or, to be honest, likable or heroic in an archetypal sense - they're too flawed. What makes them an effective superhero team is that they're dependant on eachother to accomplish anything. Reed Richards likes to work in solitude, Sue Storm-Richards is often described as having potential to be the real powerhouse heart & soul of the team, but while she does have her moments, she is not Wonder Woman. Johnny is a giant dork who thinks he's cool, but always runs the risk of being a fatuous phony. Franklin is the wild card - one moment, he's this ordinary, sometimes saccharine Beaver Cleaver-type, the next..he might as well be a djinn. Valeria thinks Doctor Doom is a cool guy and would probably leaves the back door open for him to crash family events. Namor is the myopic homewrecker. As for Victor, he's the guy who has everything, but not exactly to his liking.

And then there's Ben - The Thing. This guy can hold his own against The Hulk, knows how to fly rocketships and has a college education..yet he likes to downplay his intelligence, which is interesting..but never explored much.

All these characters play off eachother and are dependent on eachother...but they are not The Incredibles. That lazy analogy keeps coming up and bores me because the Fantastic Four have a much richer, varied and interesting world than the one depicted in that Pixar film.

I have a theory that nobody really knows what to do with these characters, which is why I'm convinced we've seen a lot of boring/unremarkable/awful comics, cartoons and movies with them. I think it's because the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run is so highly regarded that the book stagnated and went out of gas, creativity, although John Byrne and Walt Simonson's respective tenures do have a lot of fans. But the consensus, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!", has resulted in either crude pastiche or grotesque reinvention, appealing to fewer people each time. Consider how Doctor Doom was once regarded as one of the greatest comic book villains, the inspiration for Darth Vader, even - yet his portrayals on film have cast him as a roadshow also-ran. Sailor Moon could beat him up.

The Magrs Method of Book Reporting: "Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours" by Jim Butcher

Encapsulate the plot of this book in one sentence?

Kinfolk of Morlun - Spider-Man's deceased vampiric foe - have arrived in New York City to avenge their dead brother and have Spidey in their sights.

When and where did you get this book?

I saw a mass-market paperback edition in a comic shop and checked the public library to see if they had a copy, because of the author involved. They did. So I borrowed it from the library.

What year or edition?

2006 Trade Paperback. First edition. Larger size, easy-to-read print. Perfect.

Did you finish it?

I almost bailed out when I realized Butcher had written a direct sequel to a story arc from a time in Spider-Man continuity - when J. Michael Straczyinski was writing Amazing Spider-Man - that I'm not a fan of. Thankfully,  Butcher has his own voice and provides all the backstory you need in entertaining ways, so the book is accessible.

What's your verdict?
Butcher gets Spider-Man - the characterization, the consistency of the street-level feel to his adventures and interactions with other characters,  which is surprisingly tricky, because a lot of comic book writers and artists often complained about the Spider-Man of this era: his marriage to Mary Jane Watson was considered a drawback,  but Butcher handles it far better than the comics did at that time. I would suggest Marvel have Butcher write Spider-Man comics sometime soon. He's that good. And that's what made me want to finish reading the book - it reminded me of why I used to follow Spider-Man's adventures closely. This was my Spider-Man: smart, resourceful,  clever, witty, cool and wise beyond his years.

What surprises did it hold - if any?

The book is narrated in the first-person by Spider-Man, which is interesting - it more closely captured the feel of the comics. Superhero prose novels are often narrated in third-person.  Also, the number of guest-stars in what feels like a simple adventure (it's Rio Bravo with Spider-Man, really): Black Cat, the Rhino, Doctor Strange - all in major supporting roles, but depicted casually, as being a normal part of Spider-Man's world, which they are, depending on whoever's writing for him.

Which scenes will stay with you? Which characters will stay with you?

Butcher's take on Felicia Hardy (The Black Cat) and The Rhino will stay in my head as fully-realized characters for the first time. Spidey's on-and-off relationship with Felicia was always the one that set off the most sparks (at one point, her character was considered as having more depth than DC Comics' Catwoman, who was more one-dimensional, until the latter character was fleshed out more and then Felicia's characterization became increasingly one-dimensional). And the Rhino, Doctor Strange and Wong - Strange's major domo - seem definitive here. Also, Mary Jane Watson Parker, wife of Spider-Man,  is given a fairer shake than the comics at that time (Marvel Editor-in-chief Joe Quesada had compromised  that character and Spider-Man badly with his edicts to end their marriage). However, in retrospect,  none of Peter Partner's romances ever seemed like a true meeting of the minds...maybe he should try a romance with Spider-Woman, or would that be too obvious?

One other surprise: the adventure never feels overblown or out-of-scale for Spider-Man.  Butcher is well aware that Morlun is a vampire in all but name only, and the only weakness of the book lies in the fact that Mortia and the Ancients seem like cardboard villains from Blade or Underworld, but that fault lies with the source material he's playing off.

What genre would you say it is?

Urban Fantasy-Adventure, though that seems to make it bigger, doesn't it?

Have you read anything else by this author?

Jim Butcher is best known for The Dresden Files series of novels, which I haven't read; they're usually twice as long and I'll have to check it out sometime to see if there's an installment that appeals to me.

Is it available today?

It might not be in print, but it's not hard to find.

Give me a good quote.

Sure - check out the scans below. As a bonus, I found a photo of cosplayer Soni Aralynn dressed as The Black Cat in a Spider-Man costume, a scene that does occur in the book! Did she know? Had she read it? I don't know, but it's a cool coincidence!