The Amazing Mary Jane #3 // Review

The Amazing Mary Jane #3 // Review

A big-budget biopic runs into further complications as a prominent Hollywood actress tries to keep things running in the third issue of The Amazing Mary Jane. Writer Leah Williams gives MJ a chance to show off considerably deft creative problem solving and a heroic level of moxie in an increasingly promising new series drawn by Carlos Gomez and Lucas Werneck. Color comes to MJ courtesy of Carlos Lopez. The weird complications of principal photography on a supervillain-helmed movie continue to cast light on a cleverly under-developed end of the Marvel Universe. In her third issue Mary Jane is starting to look very, very good.

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Hollywood films are insured for all kinds of different things. Itโ€™s difficult to imagine that even in the Marvel Universe, there would be coverage for a sudden attack by an aging supervillain and five of his allies. For those making a film about Mysterio, it goes with the territory. Mary Jane is indispensable in saving cast and crew, but thatโ€™s not what nets her assistant producer credit on the film. Naturally, an attack on the production so going to involve a change of location and the signing a few b-list Marvel celebrity crew members including an early model Fantastic Four H.E.R.B.I.E. unit as a sound guy and a rather unique pair of delivery people for craft services. Before long, the cast and crew of the movie will realize that there are dangers that donโ€™t involve struggling supervillains.

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With the story well underway, Williams is having a lot of fun with the rich weirdness of the margins around the Marvel Universe. Hollywood in-the-panels seems like a fascinating place, and Mary Jane is coming across with an impressively heroic sense of dedication. Itโ€™s a great deal of fun seeing someone with sheer cleverness and little else making her way through a very dangerous job in a world populated by earthbound gods and monsters.

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Gomez and Werneck give the page sharp, witty detail that balances humor, action, and heroism. Mary Janeโ€™s confidence and range of emotions are delivered sharply to the page in both moments of action and drama. A combat scene involving six supervillains and a whole bunch of civilians might have been a bit bleary and indistinct in an art style that lacks the kind of precision Gomez and Werneck manage here. Lopezโ€™s color brings depth to the page with an impact that ranges from subtle to overwhelming.

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Williams has settled-in to the milieu of Mary Jane with this issue in a way that feels both smart and sophisticated. She manages this without compromising action and pacing. The series is beginning to reach some of its potential with this issue. A slightly more detailed look at Hollywood in the Marvel Universe in the course of production, these first few issues could go a long way towards making this series something original AND accomplished. Various elements of cast, tone, and mood need to lower into place a bit more, but this is a striking move in the right direction for the young series.

Grade: B

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