The Amazing Mary Jane #5 // Review
Time goes really quickly in danger. Marvel’s most famous Hollywood actress is three issues into her own series, and she’s already nearly finished with principal photography on a film that started shooting at the beginning of her series. When the male lead actor abandons the production with one major scene left to shoot, MJ and the director are forced to get creative to wrap the production. Leah Williams’ opening story for The Amazing Mary Jane continues as drawn by Carlos Gomez. Though it’s appealing to see MJ’s relentlessness in completing the project, the story still lacks the kind of energy that it could still harness in future issues.
The Mysterio biopic is about to shoot its final scene when Sonny Diperna backs out of the project. He’s a professional film actor and everything. Still, considering that the production had been attacked by a group of real-life supervillains and a light fixture fell dangerously close to seriously injuring someone... Diperna is more than happy to call his agent, SAG, and anyone else who will listen to escape the project. Now with one pivotal scene left to film, the production is without a Spider-Man, and Mary Jane is going to have to figure out a way to wrap-up the project. Meanwhile, the supervillains who had attacked the project are planning their next strike.
Williams throws a lot of dramatic weight around the page as Mysterio (in disguise as the film’s director) is deeply involved with the completion of a movie about his own life. Mary Jane has an irrepressible dynamic about her as an actress determined that the film will be completed. There’s an emotional connection between the two and the project, which could lead in exciting directions. Williams isn’t really embracing the culture of filmmaking in the Marvel Universe with a group of people drawn from the margins of superhero activity. It’s a fun story that could be wildly inventive if Williams were to simply pivot the story just a little bit.
Gomez gives Mary Jane and Mysterio an appealingly dramatic page presence. MJ is intensely charismatic. He cleverly captures her appeal as a heroic actress dealing with a villainous director. The vivid fantasy of Hollywood in a world of superheroes sweeps across the page. The only issue here is that so much of the drama in the story is delivered with an over-the-top intensity that can feel a little tedious. More significant modulation in the drama would make for a more dynamic tension.
Williams manages a balance between the Hollywood drama and the more traditional superhero-style action that feels more or less appealing. There’s clearly more than enough going on in Williams’ story to hold interest together for many, many issues to come. The problem is going to lie in keeping the action consistent without compromising the fact that at its heart, this IS a series about a Hollywood actress in a world of superheroes.
