Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane #4

Marvel Comics
Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane #4
By Zak Edwards
November 17, 2008 - 22:12

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Terry Moore
Penciller(s): Craig Rousseau
Colourist(s): Guillem Mari
Letterer(s): Dave Sharpe
Cover Artist(s): Terry Moore & Christina Strain
$2.99 US, $3.50 Canada

With only one issue left in Terry Moore and Craig Rousseau’s arc, I have come to accept Moore has planned for more than what can be done in these five issues. It is now at the point if Moore decides to wrap up this entire arc and all its threads in a single issue, it will be disappointing. But it also leaves me with a sense of longing, it was over a year between Sean McKeever leaving the series and Moore pumping out the first issue and I fear there may be that much time between this and the next writer to take up the mantle, if anyone does at all. Hopefully it can continue, this little series about Mary-Jane’s high school life is so very endearing and well written for a teenage drama.

But Moore’s story is wandering a lot. There are plenty of new elements being put in place even in this issue leading to a much longer and involved story than this one. Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane has always been one long arc, so to expect this mini-series to be any different was maybe jumping the gun a little. Moore was never meant to wrap the series up, but add to the whole concept, so maybe these four issues have been doing wonderfully. Moore has excellent characterizations, using the cast to their potential and allowing none of them to be stereotypes or generic. The whole cast exist within stereotype; Liz Allen is the cheerleader dating the football star jock Flash Thompson, Harry is the rich kid, Mary-Jane the popular gossip target, and Peter Parker his usual role of the nerd. But Moore is careful with these and makes sure they never fall back on these. It’s reminiscent of Brian K. Vaughan’s work on Runaways, utilizing stereotype to add depth to the characters. Moore is continuing to beat around the bush with Mary-Jane and Peter and their state of affairs, attempting to push the idea into a very loud part of the background rather than the central focus. It works though, and Moore utilizes that space to give more to the character of Mary-Jane.

Craig Rousseau’s artistic contributions for this series are great. His characters are expressive and communicative without becoming overly cartoonish. He does have characters whose necks are strangely thin, causing a lot of his characters to look like bobble heads. But Rousseau’s art synchronizes with the script because of his ability to communicate emotion.

7/10 Hopefully Moore will continue. If not, this series would be lucky to have someone just as talented.