tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post2854445654252457963..comments2024-03-28T13:01:45.311+00:00Comments on Steve Does Comics: Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson. Two Women separated by one dance.Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09191442559702617745noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-61165389037208503532015-03-25T08:48:14.955+00:002015-03-25T08:48:14.955+00:00Hi, Grandpa Chet.
I think it's basically that...Hi, Grandpa Chet.<br /><br />I think it's basically that, in terms of fiction, an unhappy relationship generates more potential for melodrama than a happy one, and comicbook writers therefore tend to gravitate towards writing about things going wrong.Steve W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09191442559702617745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-79507500544657078762015-03-24T16:13:30.349+00:002015-03-24T16:13:30.349+00:00This is why the Spider-Man comic strip is where I ...This is why the Spider-Man comic strip is where I turn for my 1965 Spider-Man fixes. <br /><br />If I want pre-Romita Spidey, I almost always turn to the Lee/Ditko days and the real and true girl (she was a girl then) for Peter: Betty Brant.<br /><br />These things said, I have to wonder if current comic book writers can even comprehend, much less write, a happy marriage? The comic strip successfully blends soap opera & heroics (often focusing on one over the other, depending on what connects with the current audience tastes) and it may be because Stan Lee is one of the few working comics writers (along with his assistants) who HAS a successful marriage, and has had one for a very long time.MormonYoYoMan@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04760670974938562837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-14501596092410800892012-06-19T09:02:55.442+01:002012-06-19T09:02:55.442+01:00I take it you're not a big fan of the current ...I take it you're not a big fan of the current Spider-Man tales. :)Steve W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09191442559702617745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-62111248886497550692012-06-19T01:43:22.923+01:002012-06-19T01:43:22.923+01:00Even at age nine or ten this Mary Jane cover is me...Even at age nine or ten this Mary Jane cover is memmorable.Was Spider Man there too ?Hadn't notice.<br />And Marvel thinks undoing her marrage to Parker was a good idea.Duhhhhhhhhhh.No.Superduhhhhhhhhhhh.No.Superduperduhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh to infinity and beyond.<br />Spider crap Spider crap.all the print now is Spider Crap.Look out Marvels printing more Spider CrapDoc Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08255204147754923490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-52237361998639680702011-03-22T16:03:30.808+00:002011-03-22T16:03:30.808+00:00Ah, yes! The notorious scene from #65, with Mary ...Ah, yes! The notorious scene from #65, with Mary Jane standing in revealing dress, Pam Courson curls and fishnet stockings affront the dubious 'men's club' (which, to the best of my knowledge, went mysteriously unnamed throughout its entire existence in the '60s tales). One wonders what members like Jolly Jonah, Norman Osborn and Capt Stacy may have been getting up to with her in hotel rooms.<br /><br />And have your ever noticed the cigarette pack and book of matches affront her on the dashboard of Harry's car in #61, just after Harry's picked her up out of nowhere on a street at twilight? <br /><br />She always seemed to be walking out of nowhere on a nocturnal or evening street (e.g., last page of #62). I hope the johns weren't too rough on the poor young lady.... <br /><br />Gwen, on the other hand, was most definitely still a virgin. She displayed all the symbols--blonde hair, policeman's daughter, constant weeping--especially after Romita and Kane took over the drawing duty. (Ditko drew her like he's drawn all his blondes over the years: sly, vain, and a little vicious. Ditko, for all intents and purposes, has been drawing the same blonde woman over and over for decades. 'Gwen' was the blonde star of all his '70s horror/suspense tales for Charlton Comics. I've often wondered who the blonde girl was who broke his heart early in life....) She may have had a bit of a (non-physical) Elektra complex, but other than that, she was an all-around symbol of complete purity--and an obvious choice for snuffing come 1973. <br /><br />As a result, some of those apocryphal retellings of Gwen's history that have been published over the past twenty years are difficult for older fans to take in. If Norman Osborn had intended on raping and impregnating any young woman in the lead-up to his death, it would obviously have been the one to whom he had had the most exposure: Harry's then-girlfriend, that embarrassing hipcat whore who was hurting and corrupting his vulnerable soft-shell son, Mary Jane Watson.R. W. Watkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14660716315419914578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-48105442913151922372011-03-22T09:03:32.157+00:002011-03-22T09:03:32.157+00:00Clearly we have similar minds.
I've always a...Clearly we have similar minds. <br /><br />I've always assumed, from reading the 1960s tales, that Mary Jane took drugs (let's face it, the clue's in the name) and that she was working as a prostitute. The prostitution thing certainly leaps to mind in one particular scene in issue #65, where she's hanging round on a street corner at night for no noticeable reason.<br /><br />It's also clear that there was something dark in her background. Just where were her parents and why was she so determined to be up all the time? I'd always assumed her parents were either dead or had abandoned her.Stevehttp://stevedoescomics.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-90757999689190005462011-03-22T01:05:47.155+00:002011-03-22T01:05:47.155+00:00Gwen Stacy was self-evident or self-defining--ther...Gwen Stacy was self-evident or self-defining--there were no dark undertones or hidden narratives. But do you want my honest-to-Allah take on Mary Jane Watson? For my money, the young woman had been an abused child--possibly an incest victim--from a considerably dysfunctional family. She worked as a go-go (and possibly 'exotic') dancer and moonlighted as a whore. She smoked cigarettes, and had a fleeting, flakey relationship with nearly everyone--a common characteristic of incest victims. I gleaned this view of her from merely the '60s and early '70s comics, and did not reference any of the apocryphal origin tales and redactional retellings of the post-1970s. I think Lee and Ditko introduced her as a 'mystery girl' in much the same spirit as they introduced the Green Goblin a few issues prior. She was a character they could play around with, and they weren't exactly sure where she was headed. They may have had a mind to create a nefarious villain out of her. I've been thinking of writing an essay on this subject for <i>The Comics Decoder</i>, incidently.R. W. Watkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14660716315419914578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-44833550264757770462010-11-24T00:56:51.525+00:002010-11-24T00:56:51.525+00:00The Mary Jane in the movies was my least favourite...The Mary Jane in the movies was my least favourite thing about it -- having an emoting, guilt-tripping MJ was way wrong, it was like they got her personality mixed up with Miss Brant. Nice post, it really explains the lasting appeal of the vivacious Miss Watson, and why Gwen Stacey was expendable Goblin-fodder. Though she was put to good use in Marvels.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04513689328502499665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-17068219666987920482010-11-24T00:43:51.586+00:002010-11-24T00:43:51.586+00:00Red.Red.Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07224781868125924337noreply@blogger.com