Mary Jane

Mary Jane (Watson-Parker) is one of the most - if not the most - beloved female characters of the Marvel Universe. Having been in a on-and-off romance with Peter Parker/Spider-Man for over forty years (and married to him for almost half that time, i.e. 1987-2007) it felt as if she was also the girlfriend of all the readers that have grown up with her (in a time, remember, when the overwhelming majority of readers were of the male sex). So, when Marvel launches a new comic book with the daring prefix AMAZING on its title, aping Mary Jane's husband's most famous book, it comes as no surprise that every comic book artist wants to do the cover. And, with almost twenty variant covers to choose from, and with such an enticing subject to represent, one would naturally expect that many of those covers should be extremely sexy. And one is not defrauded. Above all, by the breathtaking Ashley Witter cover. If there is a painting that can make you feel closer to paradise, well... this is it. And then the gorgeous covers by veteran J. Scott Campbell, that encapsulate Mary Jane's evolution through the decades from that distant THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #42 (1966) until today. It's a sassy trip down memory lane. And then both Jay Anacleto and Stanley Lau remind us that inside that fiery red-head lay a diva-class actress, with the sultriness of a fire-heared Lauren Bacall, and the down-to-earth beauty of a...well, why not, Kirsten Dunst. Finally, closing up my selection of covers, Mark Brooks (why does he draw such masculine faces on his females?) evokes a time when both MJ and Gwen Stacy were tearing apart Peter's (and the reader's) hearts. All in all, a well deserved homage for a character that became larger than life...and, more important yet, part of our lives.

Covers by: Ashley Witter, J. Scott Campbell, Jay Anacleto, Stanley Lau, and Mark Brooks