I Had No Idea.

I was absolutely sure Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane had nothing to offer me. It's a comic book aimed at teenage girls and all full of high school dating stuff that I missed out on myself because I was so much of a geek. And it's about Mary Jane, who is an okay character but never seemed very deep to me. And it looks like friggin' manga. Three strikes.

Despite my prejudice I went and downloaded the series and two previous mini-series. I'd finally given in to all the talk around Manhunter, downloaded and read it and was completely hooked. So maybe people knew what they were talking about with Mary Jane as well?




They did. They so did. I really didn't think a comic for teenage girls would be done with so much respect and careful attention to characters. I had visions of some Archie-True Romance cross. Thank godness I was so wrong. Mary Jane is compelling and characters like Flash and Liz Allen, despite how easily they could come off as shallow and unsympathetic, are people a reader ends up caring about. And the art is perfect. It's like Archie with less of the formula and a lot more humanity.

So I'm sold. Now that I have a local shop that will order in comic books so first chance I get I will be heading down to put money down for Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and Manhunter.