Time to see how JMS handles a silent issue. These 2 and the aforementioned New X-Men one are the only ones I can clearly remember. I’m sure Bendis & Maleev did one on Daredevil. I think I was still reading Captain America when this happened, and was definitely reading Avengers and Hulk (Being drawn by Romita, Jr. at the same time as ASM, in his usual fashion). Not really sure how many of these I saw, but the ones I remember are the Spidey ones. The New X-Men one is a little different due to it actually being a crucially important issue of the run, so it’s memorable with or without the silent gimmick. Oh yeah, the Avengers one took place during Busiek’s huge Kang story with Kieron Dwyer. I should really revisit the Busiek Avengers sometime. Hey, I got my tangent in early this post. ASM missed a 2nd month between 38 and 39. Not uncommon in this era. That’s what you get when you obsess over getting marginally famous people to write comics as a much less lucrative side gig. ASM 39 and PPSM 41 hit stands at the same time. We open on a shot of a very fancy building, and guess who’s in it?
I guess MJ isn’t a hot dog fan. Bar none, the funniest thing to me about the endless quest to get rid of Spider-Man’s marriage is this period right here. They finally arrived at a reasonable ending. They break up! But everyone involved knew it was just a separation, and they’d be back together eventually. Like people for real thought they were replacing Peter with a clone from the 70s, no hesitation. But “They broke up” was apparently never even remotely the actual end of their relationship. Anyway, we see MJ has returned to modeling despite saying she didn’t want to in ASM Annual 2001, and that’s how she’s in such swanky accommodations. She does some modeling, she greets some fans on the street at lunch. She attends a Hollywood premiere and is visibly bored, but then puts on the MJ face for the crowd as she leaves.
Tiiiiny hand in that bottom panel, JR!
She had quite a day. Meanwhile or next day or something, Aunt May is at the library, reading up on Spider-Man. Specifically, she’s reading about him in various newspapers. On a computer! No previous Spider-Writer would EVER have allowed Aunt May to be computer savvy! I so approve. The Bugle is, of course, the Bugle. The NY Herald doesn’t much like Spidey, either. The Brooklyn Banner has a headline called “Spider-Man: Misunderstood?” Aunt May smiles. What, no Daily Globe? What’s Barney Bushkin up to? Well, May then writes emails unsubscribing from the first 2 and subscribing to the 3rd. Getting her licks in where she can for her nephew. Also:
This is a John Romita, Jr. comic, that boy could be anywhere from 6 to 22 years old!
So funny. So funny! I love Aunt May trying to help her poor nephew. I really loved that editorial let May & Peter have this. While it lasted. But it’s not all sunshine in Aunt May’s world…
She heads out into the world to work on those last 2. And now it’s time for the Spider-Man portion of this Spider-Man comic. That is not meant as sarcasm. Especially lately, focus on the supporting cast is much appreciated. Spidey saves a man and his son from a burning building before seeing famous model Mary Jane Watson smiling for the fans as she leaves a big Hollywood premiere on some TVs.
That was a nice one! They don’t have to be extremely broad mime comics just because they’re silent. The difference in the scripts is really something. Jenkins’ script was conversational. It’s a long letter to his friend Mark Buckingham that happens to include instructions for drawing a comic. Straczynski, trained in TV, is all business. He describes the MJ on page 2 as being in “something knee-bucklingly revealing,” in case you were wondering whose idea that was. She is later described as “barely wearing a towel” and “modeling a micro-bikini.” JR never seemed to go in for the cheesecake thing too much. This was by far the most sexualized MJs he’s ever drawn before or since, but he was just following orders. Well, anyway, Nuff Said has completed here on the blog. It was a fun stunt. Back to normal programming next month.