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June 21, 2007
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Whenever I peruse our comics section in the Children’s Room at WPL, I am tempted to start openly mocking Jason for investing so heavily in the first volume of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (“Super Crush”) by Sean McKeever. We own four copies, and, for some reason, the cover reminds me in an unpleasant way of books like Mary-Kate and Ashley's Sweet 16 series. I read volume one of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane the other day, though, and it’s not so bad. I guess.
First, let’s discuss the cover:
I don’t particularly care for the shade of blue on the edge and spine, and I hate the way "loves" is in a spiderwebbed heart. It's ridiculous, like dotting one's i's with hearts – not that I don't support girls dotting their i's with hearts, but, still, I do not want to read the kind of fiction that dots its i's with hearts. The rest of the cover is fine, although Spider-Man seems all out of proportion with his muscled biceps and girlish waist. It also kind of looks like Spider-Man is, well, blooming. Maybe this issue is explored further in volumes 2 and 3, “The New Girl” and “My Secret Life,” but people seem to be steadfastly ignoring the issue in volume one.
“Super Crush” follows teenage Mary Jane while she deals with unwanted attention from Flash Thompson, her slightly more-than-friendly feelings for nerdy Peter Parker, and her really more-than-friendly feelings for Spider-Man. She is also still reeling from a recent off-camera breakup with Harry Osborn. What's a girl to do? Discover a latent talent and love for the theater, of course, and, in the process, irritate one of the drama department regulars to the point that she starts to get vindictive. It's light and fluffy reading, perfect for middle schoolers, although I should note that there's nothing shocking content-wise and that our four copies are circulating fairly well in the Children's Room. Still, we only serve up through the fifth grade in our department, and I hate to think of the fifth grader who would choose to read about a boy-crazed high schooler for fun. I'd rather the fifth graders were reading those swell Nancy Drew comics, in which Nancy deals with boys AND issues that require actual thought – talk about crazy!
Posted by adrienne at June 21, 2007 07:52 AM
Comments
For some reason I thought that girls would dig it. The response wasn't quite as explosive as I had anticipated, but, as you say, the books do all right.
Posted by: jp at June 21, 2007 05:36 PM
I think we should give a couple of them to the Teen Dept.
Posted by: adrienne at June 21, 2007 10:19 PM
Dotting i's with hearts is not the thing when writing an essay about economic systems.
but it is perfect for notes passed during studyhall though.
I found Mary Jane's face sort of disturbing myself.
Posted by: tonderdo at June 22, 2007 08:00 PM
I'm concerned that she has a spider web loosely wrapped around her wrist. Since she hasn't been bitten by a radioactive spider, I'm afraid that her arm is going to get ripped off when the web pulls taut.
Posted by: Sam Riddleburger at June 22, 2007 10:46 PM