The digest format is pretty much the format that the Mary Jane series was made for. It's an easier sell to the young girl manga audience that Mary Jane is really aimed at, and the book just reads better in bigger chunks of story, even though Homecoming was perfectly enjoyable in its original miniseries form as well. Homecoming definitely benefits from having read the first Mary Jane volume, as the primary conflict really stems out of relationship difficulties that started in that volume, but it picks up nicely from where that volume left off. What's kind of amazing about Mary Jane is that despite being aimed at a teen girl audience, McKeever and Miyazawa turn in a compelling and fun read for fans of all ages and genders.
The Mary Jane of Homecoming is not really the Mary Jane of any of the other Spider-Man comics or movies. Instead, she's true to the general basics of the character, but given a spin that makes her the protagonist instead of supporting player. McKeever's Mary Jane isn't the unrepentant party girl of the standard Marvel comics or the uncertain brainy girl of Ultimate Spider-Man, nor is she the sweet, flighty character played by Kirsten Dunst in the movies, but instead she has bits and pieces of all these characters. The result is a character who could easily work as a supporting cast member, but who is definitely strong enough to carry her own book as well.
This particular series is about that high school rite of passage, the homecoming game and the homecoming dance. I'm not sure if those things are still as important or if it's all about prom at this point, but at any rate, it's an easy comparison. McKeever and Miyazawa really capture how the smallest of things can seem like life-ending drama when you're in high school, and they do it without making most of the characters into outright drama queens. I say most because Liz Allen is a drama queen, but that's OK because it stays real and it is her character. This is a story where the essential conflict is about whether or not Mary Jane will help her boyfriend cheat so they can go to the dance and whether or not Mary Jane and Liz will get along or lose their friendship over petty jealousies. Not exactly world-shattering stuff, but the reader cares because the characters care, and McKeever and Miyazawa get the readers to invest in the characters.
What's really nice is that despite being essentially a teen comedy/drama with romantic elements, McKeever manages to provide some more solid, dramatic moments amongst the comedy. The sobering realization that Liz and Mary Jane come to at the end of the book is sort of a turning point for a friendship, but before it gets too maudlin, McKeever and Miyazawa leave us with a sweet moment to go out on. The talk between Harry and Flash about Mary Jane and how special she is also provides a nice window into these characters, with all their teenage behavior and personal foibles, showing off a more sincere side. It's easy to hook into Mary Jane: Homecoming, even if your high school experience was not that of a rich kid, a jock or one of the popular girls, because McKeever gets into the universal angst of romance, friendship, growing up and rites of passage that we all went through in one way or another.
This all sounds like it could take place with a different set of characters, and makes no use of its Marvel Universe setting, but that's not really the case. Spider-Man (and Mary Jane's crush on him) is a side issue, but he's an important defining element of the character. Her fantasy sequence in the beginning is cute and funny, and McKeever's brief use of Spider-Man for comedic effect is just perfect during the homecoming game.
Of course, a big part of what makes Mary Jane so enjoyable for me has nothing to do with the stories, but instead relates to the work being done here by Miyazawa. Miyazawa is on my favorite artists list, but it's not because he's ideal for everything... it's because when you put him on the right book, you can't imagine anyone else doing it, and that's definitely the case with Mary Jane. The sweet nature of Mary Jane comes to life in no small measure because of Miyazawa's design for her, and I quite enjoy the amount of emotion he gets to play across the faces of MJ, Peter, Liz and Harry. McKeever's script is accessible and clear, but a lot of the emotional undercurrents of the story, whether it's Peter's anger at Harry or Liz's resentment of MJ, come through in Miyazawa's art. I've also got to give big credit to Marvel's trade department for the bright, crisp paper that was used for the digest. Too often with the digest format (see also Livewires and Runaways), the art prints a bit dark and is notably weaker than it was in the comic book format, but the Mary Jane digest looks just as bright and clear, and maybe even a little sharper, as it did in the comic book format.
