Mary Jane

Mary Jane Watson has big problems. Boyfriend Harry Osborn wants her to help him cheat on a test he must pass or his strict father won't let him attend Homecoming. Her best friend, Liz Allen, won't talk to her because she thinks there may be something going on between Mary Jane and her own boyfriend, Flash Thompson, who has been trying to ask Mary Jane out. And then there's poor, nice-guy nerd Peter Parker, who longs for her from afar, and the bad-boy she has a secret crush on named Spider-Man. This new chapter in the saga of Spider-Man's girlfriend is Marvel's latest attempt to break into the coveted girls' comics market using its established superhero characters, and, as those things go, it's pretty good. McKeever (Sentinel) has nailed the high school romance genre, deftly juggling conflicts with friends, boys and school to keep both Mary Jane and the reader guessing as to what's coming next. Miyazawa (Runaways) works hard to sell the emotional dilemmas McKeever has set up, combining clear storytelling with stylized but still realistic character expressions. If anything, the only weakness of this collection is its need to include Spider-Man in a perfectly engaging high school romance plot. (Oct.)