Face it, Tiger...
Back in 2011, I decided to do my own homage to that legendary comics panel in The Amazing Spider-Man #42 - The Birth Of A Super-Hero! (1966). Script by Stan Lee, Art by John Romita, Sr.
The British Spider-Man Comics Weekly #36 was how I experienced Mary Jane Watson’s stunning entrance in glorious black & white, but I’m sure it was just as dramatic for me as it was for others reading the American full colour version.
Reading the saga of Spider-Man from issue one in the correct sequence was an absolute joy. Reading Marvel or DC comics in order was sporadic at best in the early 70s, and depended mostly on luck, and visiting as many newsagents as humanly possible. There was always the hope that they’d have the issue you needed to follow the story, because back then there were no collected editions available.
Here’s the cover to my copy of issue #36. A little brown around the edges, but still in pretty good nick for something that’s half a century old!
All throughout Steve Ditko’s run on the comic, MJ’s appearance was always obscured from view somehow, which was a brilliant tease, and made John Romita Sr.’s reveal all the more dramatic.
Anyway, back to the photo, which was a combination of two shots. Megan was photographed at the London College of Fashion in Hackney, London, when we were both teaching there, and for the background, I photographed a friend’s house in Sandnessjøen, Norway. For a bit of Easter egg fun, you’ll notice a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man #42 on the table in the bottom left of the photo.
There was a fair bit of internet exposure after I’d put this one together, and quite a debate raging online as to why Mary Jane has a nose ring and why her hair is bright red. Well, the reasons for this are…
(A). Because it's an homage and I decided to mix things up a little, making a contemporary Mary Jane Watson, rather than MJ from the 1960's.
(B). Because that is how Megan McGuire, my friend and colleague at the London College of Fashion looks!
As tricky as it is to find a real human being to represent a 2D line drawing of a human being, Megan has always reminded me of MJ in her manner, her looks and her joie de vivre. The fact that her hair is 100m 100y comic-book red, rather than auburn or ginger is kind of perfect, and the fact that she wears a nose ring is something that MJ may well have done too, if she'd made her first appearance in 2011.
While enjoying the online debate and comments which were mostly in favour of the picture, some of the best retorts to the more negative comments were "Face it, nitpickers... you just missed the jackpot." by someone called chipchat and "Ugh who cares about the nose ring - Girl is totally hot." by okpanic. I couldn't help wonder though, on which planet or in which century some of these people live, and the comment that sparked that was "Even wholesome girls wear nose rings these days", I mean, WTF!?!
A few months later I was invited to show this and others at an exhibition curated by Jason Atomic at Orbital Comics Gallery, in London’s West End, as you can see by his very jazzy flyer above.
Jason described it thus:Â Stripped is an exhibition featuring art that demonstrates a love of comics. Not necessarily comic art but art which celebrates the medium itself. Artistic reinterpretations of comic book iconography, the graphic devices used and the actual artifacts themselves, splash pages & spreads, select panels, logos & trade dress, corner boxes, speech & thought bubbles, backgrounds, Ben-Day dots, explosions, small ads, etc...
This spurred me on to create a new piece starring the amazing Manko, seen here at the Stripped private view, 01.03.2012. I’ll post about that another time.
Megan looks great in that photo and yes, she gives off Mary Jane vibes. So mission accomplished!
It’s perfect.