Summary
- A kiss between Peter Parker and Mary Jane in Amazing Spider-Man #143 transformed their relationship, reframing their entire history up to that point.
- The historic moment signifies that Peter and Mary Jane are now officially a couple, ahead of the complications caused by the return of Gwen Stacy.
- The sequential art in the issue effectively captures Mary Jane's shock and contemplation after the forceful kiss, solidifying the significance of their newfound relationship.
"To Quote a Phrase" is a feature where I spotlight memorable quotes from comic books. Today, we look at how a kiss between Peter Parker and Mary Jane transformed their relationship in a big way.
October is a Month of To Quote a Phrase, both here and at Pop Culture References!
I have an ongoing feature called If Her Hair Was Still Red, which details Mary Jane Watson's evolution as a comic book character through her publication history, so if you're a fan of Mary Jane, you might get a kick out of reading that feature. Obviously, I think of that feature when we look at this historic moment in the history of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson that went down in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #143 (by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, Dave Hunt and Frank Giacoia), where Peter and Mary Jane shared their first kiss.
Of course, the moment is a lot more than just a kiss, as it is also sort of a reframing of the entire relationship of Peter and Mary Jane to that point in time, which was one of the central developments of Gerry Conway's historic run on Amazing Spider-Man in the first place.
What was the state of Peter Parker and Mary Jane's relationship heading into Amazing Spider-Man #143?
The most famous storyline during Gerry Conway's run on Amazing Spider-Man was definitely "The Day That Gwen Stacy Died," a story that saw Conway and John Romita decide to kill off Peter Parker's longtime girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. Conway felt that Gwen was too idealized of a partner, so he felt that she would do more good for the story being a dramatic tragedy than as a girlfriend. So in Amazing Spider-Man #121, the Green Goblin threw Gwen off of a bridge to get at Spider-Man (as Norman Osborn's memory returned, so he remembered that Peter Parker was Spider-Man). Spidey tried to save her, but in the process, her neck was snapped and she died in Spider-Man's arms. He vowed vengeance against the Green Goblin, but in the end, he could not bring himself to kill the villain (the Goblin then tried to kill Spider-Man, and missed, impaling himself to death instead...or, at least impaling himself to Europe, as that was what Marvel later retconned the story to show that Norman Osborn survived).
Naturally, Peter was reeling in the wake of his girlfriend's death, and when Mary Jane went to comfort him, he lashed out at her, taking some low blows to someone who just trying to help him. However, she saw how much Peter was hurting, and in one of the most important Spider-Man sound effects of all time, when Mary Jane was about to cut and run to avoid Peter's ire, she instead stayed and clicked the door closed.
Starting with that scene in Amazing Spider-Man #122, Mary Jane and Peter slowly but surely started to get romantically interested in each other. Conway played it as a real slow play, though, with Mary Jane herself not even really understanding her feelings. It was at a Christmas Party that Mary Jane finally really realized just how much Peter meant to her. They began to date, but it wasn't really sure just how serious the relationship was. This changed when Peter was forced to go to France on an assignment for the Daily Bugle, so Mary Jane had to say goodbye to Peter at the airport.
Why does Mary Jane call Peter "tiger," and how does Peter react to that?
In Amazing Spider-Man #143 (by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, Dave Hunt and Frank Giacoia - this was before Andru was officially reunited with Mike Esposito as his inker. Andru and Esposito had been working together at DC for many years, but when Andru made the move to Marvel, Esposito wasn't ready just yet to come over to Marvel with him. Eventually he did, though), Peter and Mary Jane go to say their goodbyes before Peter heads to his flight, and he asks her why she calls him, "Tiger" all of the time, and she explains that it is an ironic nickname. She calls him "Tiger" because he's NOT a Tiger. Well, I guess Peter took that as a challenge, as he then gives her a forceful kiss...
The kiss obviously throws Mary Jane for a loop, as she can't believe that this is the Peter Parker she thinks she knows. There's a great bit where she then asks if he is blushing or if he has acne. Peter laughs a confident laugh, and they part...
It's an excellent sequential moment by Andru, as he just slowly pulls back and shows just HOW shocked that Mary Jane was by that kiss, as she is just sort of shocked into place, dwelling over and over on the kiss she just received from Peter. Any one of these quotes could be considered THE quote, but I guess I like to go with the initial "Wow," but I guess you can pair it with "Far freaking out."
This, of course, signified that Peter and Mary Jane were now outright a COUPLE couple. Of course, then Gwen Stacy seemingly returns from the dead (as the Clone Saga kicks into high gear), and that throws some problems into the relationship (but don't worry, there is one more iconic "click" moment coming in the history of Peter and Mary Jane). Again, though, you can follow this whole period in my If Her Hair Was Still Red column.
Okay, folks, if you care to suggest cool comic book quotes that you'd like to see spotlighted here, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com. There's a decent enough chance that if you think the quote in question is super cool, than I, too, will find it super cool and feature it here. Not a 100% chance, though, of course. Let's say roughly a 60% chance.