Mary Jane Watson is among my preferred characters in superhero media. She’s among the couple of females in comics that has actually had the spotlight throughout years of publication, and adequate interest by developers and fans that she’s had the ability to have actually real stories focused around her — for both good and bad. It’s likewise the reality that the huge bulk of those stories have actually likewise fixated Peter Parker, and how MJ as a character is impacted by his choices and errors. This is, naturally, aggravating, since MJ has actually existed for enough time, and has adequate history and fans that she ought to have the ability to support stories fixated her (shouts to Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane).
Unfortunately, while Mary Jane and Black Cat: Dark Web pays lip service to the above being overturned, however winds up treading ground surrounding them that is both boring and frustrating.
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Marvel Comics
Told from Black Cat’s viewpoint, among the primary disputes here is that she feels bad about dating Peter when she had actually just recently informed MJ that she isn’t thinking about him any longer. This causes Black Cat’s bad luck powers adversely affecting MJ’s brand-new powers which are partially based upon her own luck. All the while, MJ continuously embraces just how much of a complete individual she is, which she exists apart from Peter, which is certainly incorrect, as she’s just routinely appearing in his book today, and she’s not even with him.
Apart from typically being based in a lazy kids’s comedy trope (with lazier execution), this simply typically couldn’t offer that core style, that these are independent females who are their own people. So much time is invested in them explaining aloud that they don’t require Peter to be happy, and it simply stops working to land whenever. Maybe if it were played as more of a commentary about how both these characters have a much better opportunity of remaining in Amazing Spider-Man instead of their own titles — truly, MJ required Black Cat and superpowers to be half a title character — it would have worked.
Even all that aside, I discovered MJ to be as dull as I’ve checked out, coming off as any lady with newly found superpowers at the majority of times. I believe MacKay discovered a good voice for her in a couple locations, however mainly I was dissatisfied.
I likewise took this chance to check out MacKay’s bigger Black Cat series, and I discovered this volume doing not have because world also. I found a lot of his run to be forgettable, but where it really shone was where it let itself just be a fun heist book. Short and punchy was the sweet spot, in my opinion, and worked as well as most any heist comics I’ve read.
This bears little of the strengths of that run, and hedges its bets on fun references (MJ saying “Peter B Parker” felt particularly key jangly, but the X-Men references leaned closer to fun) and the aforementioned silent conflict between the titular ladies. The dungeon crawl is a total snore, and nothing about the conclusion feels particularly meaningful.
That aside, it is disappointing for MacKay to have composed this Black Cat “epic” for so many years, successfully showing that Felicia is her own person and doesn’t need no man, only for the status quo to revert her back to Peter’s girl yet again. It feels like a regression for a character that was able to have some freedom of movement, however is now caged in.
Marvel Comics
Mary Jane and Black Cat: Dark Web is a book that I wish was good, but instead, just feels like a mismatch of theme, metaphor, and character. I’ll go back to hoping for a Leah Williams Amazing Mary Jane revival, I guess.
‘Mary Jane and Black Cat: Dark Web’ review
Mary Jane and Black Cat: Dark Web
This is just kind of a mess. Not truly grounded in character or in ‘Dark Web,’ it’s the worst kind of disposable comic.
I simply desire some good food
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