Peter and Mary Jane's First Date

[sandoz_iscariot.insanejournal.com]

FYI, Mary Jane Watson fans: Marvel's just put out a new TPB called Spider-Man/Mary Jane: You've Just Hit the Jackpot! that collects MJ-centric stories from throughout the character's history. I'm happy I finally own the Parallel Lives graphic novel! Now back to your regularly scheduled post, already in progress.



We're all familiar with this classic moment, right? But what happened after Peter opened the door? Scans from ASM #43.


Peter and MJ are set up on a blind date by their aunts. May has been trying to get Peter to go out with "Miss Watson's niece" since ASM #15--the usual "oh, she has a nice personality!" running gag. Peter finally gives in, dreading the ordeal, but then he actually meets Mary Jane. Tiger, jackpot, hit, etc. etc.


(Their song is, of course, "Kung Fu Fighting.")





*insert fight here*




*insert plot here*



And with the typical Parker Pity Party, the issue ends. And Mary Jane was here to stay.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

"And Mary Jane was here to stay"

until Mephisto came around

[tacobob.insanejournal.com]

Oh Aunt May, must you ruin everything with your constant dying! She's been at death's door for what, 40 years now?

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

She always forgets to knock.

[tacobob.insanejournal.com]

Aunt May: "Oh Peter! I feel too weak to knock, will you help me?"
Peter: "Sure Aunt May!" Knock Knock!
Death: "Oooh! A Young One!" YOINK! (Snatches Peter away!)
Aunt May: "SUCKER!"

[autolychus2.insanejournal.com]

Except for that very short period when she was actually dead. Eh, she got better.

[tacobob.insanejournal.com]

Was that the recent one when she got shot, or the really nice send off they did for her (And was posted here not that long ago) that closed the chapter on the character and thus started a new one for Peter? Which Marvel later screwed up and said she was an actor...Or a Skrull...Or a Skrull who acted.

DAMN DIRTY SKRULLS!

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Ohhhh goooooosh I love that boss slang, dad! MJ is my HENCHMAN.

Though I, uh, think Rock Hudson might get over the raincheck.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Oh, how I miss hipster MJ.

[taggerung301.insanejournal.com]

MJ's slang . . . can't stop laughing . . .

[vignettelante.insanejournal.com]

Motto, right on the dott-o!

am I doin it right? Her slang is like Cockney rhyming slang, except that's actually pretty cool and this is just...wha.

[fredneil.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

Paul Simon found it very influential.

[taggerung301.insanejournal.com]

the more I look at this, the more it seems like MJ is baked out of her mind

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

And that makes her even more awesome.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

"Why, Mary Jane, your eyes are red. Have you been crying?"

"Uh, no, Petey, say can we get something to eat?"

[arilou_skiff.insanejournal.com]

Well, it was the 60's...

[fredneil.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

This is why I love Stan Lee. He was obviously having fun with the hipster dialogue. The "If I was in charge I'd throw an a-bomb at him..." "Could be that's why you're not in charge" is a great throwaway, and the perfect touch is making it between to anonymous bystanders. And he fits a lot of teenage angst over Gwen and Mary Jane -"Mary Jane is so much better than Gwen," "I've never given Gwen a chance," "Mary Jane doesn't really care about me"-into four panels, with bonus angst over being selfish. That would be decompressed over several months today. Plus, there's the stuff that isn't spelled out. He doesn't notice it, but Gwen and Harry are sticking up for him and his relationship with Flash has started to become friendlier. Snarky Aunt May is also fun. "Then why don't you pass it, dear."

There's also evidence against the retcon that MJ always knew that Peter was Spider-Man, since she's talking about them as two seperate people when no one else is listening.

And if Aunt May prevented Peter from having friends because she was worried about him, another retcon someone told me about the other day, why would she be worried about him having too quiet a life here?

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

And if Aunt May prevented Peter from having friends because she was worried about him, another retcon someone told me about the other day, why would she be worried about him having too quiet a life here?

I've mentioned that retcon from SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN. Perhaps May figured once Peter was in college, he would be able to have a more dynamic life. And May wasn't a total sheltered airhead all the time. She and Anna Watson went to see "Hair!" on Broadway.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

OMG I remember that! May said something about her and Martha were going to be "slingers!" And Pete was like, "Swingers?"

WHICH TOTALLY PROVES ME MAY/MARTHA HOT OLDER LESBO THESIS HAHAHA

[liliaeth.insanejournal.com]

Actually, MJ's in the middle of a crowd, so you could say she's trying to keep up Peter's cover by talking about him and Spidey as two different people.

[fredneil.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

That's why I said no one listening and not no one around. She's in the middle of a crowd of complete strangers, none of whom are talking to her at the moment and who probably don't know Peter Parker or have any reason to suspect that he's Spider-Man.

Of course that doesn't mean she wasn't doing that, just that it would have been a stupid idea if she were. Maybe they could write another retcon of this scene where George Stacy is standing behind her thinking, "Now, why would she say that out-loud? It's as though she wanted everyone to hear that Spider-Man and this Peter are two different people. Now that I think of it, Spider-Man does have the same build as my daughter's classmate, Peter Parker. No, that's absurd. Then again..."

Norman Osborn would be even better, but that would cause even more continuity problems.

[lonewolf23k.insanejournal.com]

The fact she practically handed Peter an excuse to go over to where he could fight the Rhino -does- make a lot more sense if she secretly knows who he is...

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

I wonder where Stan Lee heard "lingo" like this? I understand the next issue of THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAVIOR 28 will cover how Savior 28 tried to become relevant and hip in the 1960s, so maybe he will talk like this, daddy-o.

[arilou_skiff.insanejournal.com]

IIRC the slang is mostly 40's, early 50's slang. So about 20 years outdated when Stan used it...

[gothamsprincess.insanejournal.com]

Wow! Isn't the dialogue the most, to say the least!

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Oh man, they're so lame and adorable.

[proteus_lives.insanejournal.com]

I don't think Stan Lee was ever "hip" he was probably born with a widow's peak, thick glasses and a pipe.

But make no mistake, just because he wasn't hip doesn't mean he wasn't cool.

[thanekos.insanejournal.com]

best take i've seen is when Deadpool mindjumps into this timeframe.

" Poor kid. Too young to be on the crack... " or something like it.

[arbre_rieur.insanejournal.com]

There was an issue of Untold Tales of Spider-Man narrated from MJ's point of view that was done in this Stan-slang. Kurt Busiek's said that was the most troublesome scripting job he ever did because each time he worked on it, he had to first grab several Lee-written Spider-Man issues and type up all their MJ dialogue in one burst. That was the only way he could get the right feel for Stan-slang.

The dialog is jake

[salad_barbarian.insanejournal.com]

Spiderman is the bees knees man! That Mary Jane is the berries. Her chassis is hotsy totsy. No wonder Peter wanted to give her a ride on his iron.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

"Yes, one thing I can be sure of! Aunt May will die of loneliness if I move out!"...

Now there's an interesting What If idea. What if Peter's spider-activities caused him to lose his scholarship so he got drafted to Vietnam?

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

Oh, that's full of possibilities. If it had been written back in 1966, I don't think Stan had any idea what was really going on in Viet Nam, and he'd write it like another WW II story. But if it was written today and set back then, there could be a powerful series there. I can particularly see Peter after his discharge, trying to adjust both to civilian life and to crime-fighting without using lethal force all the time.

Maybe Captain America would find out and try to help, only to be rebuffed ("You don't understand, Cap. You weren't there, you don't know what we had to do.")

[bariman1987.insanejournal.com]

I think it would probably be difficult to keep his spider-abilities hidden during the various tests and such recruits go through. Peter would probably get exposed at some point and forced to become a special operative or something. Assuming he let them, I can't imagine Peter voluntarily using lethal force, even if he was ordered to by his government.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

Peter Parker, Agent of SHIELD? Conscientious objector?

[bariman1987.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, so no matter what he'd have a skin-tight costume to wear. But even then, a lot of SHIELD agents would have to use lethal force sometimes, even Captain America and Black Widow, though they go to length to avoid it.

Hmm... if Peter was in SHIELD he'd probably hang out and work with Black Widow a lot... Peter/Natasha?

Now that I think of it, I think there was a What If where Peter ended up in SHIELD, though I forget how. I think he had kind of a Deadpool-ish costume. I'll have to go look it up.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

Stan's hip dialogue is like Krazy Kat or Pogo, to me. It's not the way people talked but it's infectious and hilarious, and you take it almost as if the characters live in their own strange country.

[(Anonymous)]

Ha! MJ is talking like a beatnik. I'm surprised Lee didn't toss in a "real gone, man" or "real George, baby" for good measure, or allusions to bebop and Kerouac. Endsville, daddy-o! *Bongo riff*

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

I love 'fun-loving MJ'. I've always liked that aspect of her character - that she really does her best to enjoy life and keep those around her happy. Left alone on a Saturday night while hubby's out webslinging? No worries - she'll go out dancing on her own! Peter's in the dumps about how his career's going nowhere? Time to doff her top and suggest a few pictures for their 'private collection'! And if she's speaking in Stan-the-Man-slang, it's even better! There are times when I hate that comics have to modernize themselves to keep from being dated - it'd be great if MJ could still call people 'daddy-o' and alliterate like mad. (It'd also be nice if Lois Lane's little niece Susie was still one of Superman's main antagonists, and Batman still took the time to enjoy himself during a fight every now and again. And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony.
...
Wait - no, I wouldn't. I'd like a monkey! A FLYING monkey! A giant flying monkey with wings that I could ride piggyback on! Infested with gigantic friendly talking lice that dressed like stewardesses and served my favorite root beer! OK, I'll stop now.)