Publication History
The initial four-issue miniseries, Mary Jane, originally intended as an ongoing series, began publication in June 2004 under the Marvel Age imprint, a line of comic books by Marvel Comics aimed at younger readers. Marvel had decided to launch a comic book series with a female lead to attract young female readers after seeing a growing number of girls becoming comic readers through manga, and had chosen Mary Jane because of her popularity stemming from the Spider-Man film series (Spider-Man 2 was released two weeks after Mary Jane #1). Mary Jane was also the subject of a popular young adult novel by Judith o'Brien the year before. However, due to low sales the series was discontinued after its fourth issue, with Marvel waiting to see how the digest-sized trade paperback collecting the four issues would sell, before deciding whether the series should be canceled for good or not. Simultaneously, a collected edition of the series was also released in magazine size with a cardstock cover, exclusively available at Target Stores.
After the initial sales figures for the digest came in, Marvel announced a second four-issue miniseries, Mary Jane: Homecoming, which began publication in March 2005. Unlike the first series, Homecoming was not published under the Marvel Age imprint, but as a regular Marvel Comics title, because Marvel Age had by then been restructured into the Marvel Adventures imprint. The second miniseries also saw a slight change in the creative team, as the original miniseries' inker Norman Lee now only inked the covers, while the interior pages were colored straight from Miyazawa's pencils. A second digest, collecting Mary Jane: Homecoming, again sold well enough to justify the continuation of the series. Following writer McKeever winning an Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition in summer 2005, Marvel announced that the third series, titled Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and launching in December 2005, would be an ongoing title and not another miniseries.
Beginning with May 2006's Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #6, guest artist Valentine De Landro took over from Miyazawa for two issues, illustrating the so-called "Dark MJ Saga" (the title being a reference to the "Dark Phoenix Saga", a popular X-Men storyline), which retells Spider-Man's origin from Mary Jane's point of view.
In late July 2006, artist Miyazawa announced he would leave the title after issue #15, published in February 2007, to pursue a career as a manga artist in Japan; but he continued providing covers for the series. His successor was David Hahn. Writer McKeever also left the series after issue #20, as he had signed exclusively with DC Comics. Following rumors that the series would end with McKeever's departure, Marvel announced that Strangers in Paradise writer Terry Moore would take over the series, which will relaunch with a new #1. Although it was originally announced that Moore would be joined by former Runaways artist Adrian Alphona, the new miniseries was illustrated by Craig Rousseau, while Moore himself provided covers. The series lasted for five issues.
Read more about this topic: Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
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