Mary Jane: Homecoming #4

Background

(Note to editor: Goofed up with that last post and accidentally re-wrote a paragraph twice. Here's the corrected version.)- Paul S.

"With both couples reunited preparations for homecoming are underway. Flash wins the footbal game for Midtown high, Harry becomes a better boyfriend and the girls get all gussied up for their big night on the town. MJ finds happiness in having all her friends back together, while Liz revels in the anticipation of being crowned Homecoming Queen. Everything is perfect and right in the world... that is until MJ gets named Homecoming Queen instead of Liz. Prognosis on Homecoming Dance -- Flatline."

From the Previously Page... making lazy reviewer's lives easier since 2002.

Story 'The Homecoming Thing'

MJ pauses completely befuddled, her boyfriend more so. Mr. Limke (the history teacher from issue #2) explains that Mary Jane wasn't on the ballot, but won as a write-in candidate asking the crowd to applaud her. MJ nervously steps up the stage worrying where Liz has disappeared off to. Or possibly because she's seen the movie Carrie.

Flash and MJ are crowned, thankfully without incident. Meanwhile a shell- shocked Liz is crying to herself in the bathroom when she overhears two girls commenting on how amazing Flash and MJ look together and how they might make a perfect couple. You know if Terry Kavanagh was writing this comic, this would be the exact point where Liz Allen constructs a suit of stompy-fun power armor and vows revenge on Mary Jane leading to a drag-out fight scene with Spider- Man before Wolverine and Gambit inexplicably showed up. (For some weird reason Gambit guest-starred in EVERYTHING back in the early 90s, I have no idea why.)

Actually I take that back... that would be a lot cooler than anything Terry Kavanagh would come up with. Heck I'd pay to see super-robot Liz Allen fighting the MegaMorphs. Or maybe Araña. Or better yet Araña in a Mega Morph. That would be twelve pints of awesome juice.

Back to the comic at hand, MJ and Flash are enjoying the ceremonial post- crowning dance. Well actually Flash is enjoying the dance, Miss Watson is more worried about Liz at the moment than Allen's own star-struck boyfriend. Alas poor delusional Flash has convinced himself that this must be some kind of sign from the gods that he and MJ were meant to be together. Mentioning that he recently found out about her crush on him in the Eighth Grade. A panicked MJ tries to talk some sense into Flash, but a lovestruck Thompson is clearly off in his own little world. Cue a furious Liz Allen to walk in on the scene.

"Don't you dare Harry! If anyone gets to slug his stupid mug, it's me!" Liz warns. Watching her friends fighting causes MJ to panic and flee the scene. MJ takes the train back to the Coffee Bean where Peter Parker finds her looking at some magazine articles on Spider-Man. She asks why Peter wasn't at the dance this evening but Parker alas can't really think of a good answer. The two talk about Spidey for a bit before Peter agrees to walk her home. She pauses wondering if there might just be something more to this nebbish kid.

As she arrives home she finds Liz Allen standing at her doorstep. Liz explains that after MJ left, she decked Flash herself, and the Principle broke things up ejecting the three kids from the dance. Liz just wants someone to talk to. After much soul baring the two reconcile and our second MJ mini-series comes to an end with a lovely rendered scene of the two playing on an old swing set.

General Comments

Still a wonderful alternative to superhero comics, Sean Mckeever manages to bring the second arc of MJ to a close many questions still unanswered. Will MJ and Harry reconcile? Will we see more of Spider-Man? Will Flash ever get a clue? Will we see more supporting characters like Gwen Stacy show up? Will we get more Spider-Man? Well apparently we will find out eventually as another Mary Jane mini-series is coming down the pipeline.

Overall Rating

A fitting ending to a highly enjoyable series. McKeever's shine for dialog shines as does Takashi Miyawa's lovely artwork. Still a very good book well worth checking out. On a side note writer Sean McKeever was recently given the 2005 Eisner Award for work on this book, along with Sentinel, The Waiting Place, and Inhumans. A prestigious honor indeed. In the meantime Sean McKeever took home the Eisner award for "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition." So really now you have no excuse now not to pick this book up. Four webs.

Footnote

Things are looking pretty up for writer Sean McKeever. In addition to an upcoming Sentinel revival a third Mary Jane mini-series has been announced for next year. And we've also got 2005's most heavily anticipated toy-based giant robot comic Megamorphs coming down the pipeline! Could McKeever be up for a second Eisner award next year?