Despite her hidden-in-shadows buildup during several issues of Amazing Spider-Man, followed by her knock-em-dead introduction on the final page of issue #42, it was a long road bringing Mary Jane Watson into her own, not to mention finally making her girlfriend material for Peter Parker. It certainly took some doing to get Peter on board with even meeting her:
But if there's one person who could teach a course on the art of making an entrance, it's MJ:
Yet Peter would be more drawn to Gwen Stacy, and the mag would effectively put Mary Jane on the back burner--establishing her as flighty and unwilling to get serious about any one guy, while generally making on-again off-again "boyfriend" Harry Osborn's life miserable. But after Gwen's death, writer Gerry Conway began to move Mary Jane more into Peter's orbit--first as closer friends, and finally as something more.
Which brings us to a very romantic
Marvel Trivia Question
When did the big moment come when these two sealed the deal?
The moment when these two kids realized they wanted a relationship with each other took place at Kennedy Airport, where Peter and Joe Robertson were waiting to board a flight to Paris in order to investigate an odd telegram from J. Jonah Jameson.
Since "tiger" reminds us where it really all started with MJ, it makes sense for Conway to give a little symmetry to the moment by using the word to open a deeper scene between the two which has been long in coming.
Naturally, answering a call to board a departing flight makes for a perfect way to cut the moment short and leave it "out there," as it were. And just watch how Conway provides the perfect word for the farewell, which helps to bring MJ full circle from that long-ago introduction where she had been fully in control of the moment:
I think artist Ross Andru can take it from here, don't you?
2 comments:
Yes, a classic Marvel moment - I hope justice will be done someday and Peter and Mary-Jane's marriage restored. I've read that the 'Brand New day' retcon was originally intended to bring back Gwen Stacy too but this was considered a step too far. Heaven knows what's in store with the upcoming merger of the Marvel multiverse though !
"Merger"? Aw, man, was Mephisto behind that, too??
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