Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1

Jun 23

Jun 23 Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1

To Have and to Hold

Now

Peter Parker has his hands over Mary Jane’s eyes and asks her if she is ready. She says she is, but Peter teases her by asking if she’s totally sure. When he finally does, Mary Jane discovers that she is standing at the very top of the Empire State Building. Seeing the entire city of New York out on display from this high makes Mary Jane feel like up there they can be anybody they want.

Earlier

Mary Jane is walking into the Coffee Bean when he is stopped by someone who recognizes her. However, she tries to deny who she is when she realizes that this is actually Brady O'Brien, the man who acted as her bodyguard during her time in Hollywood.[1] He tells her that he has since moved to the east coast for some security work. When he offers to buy her a cup of coffee, Mary Jane is reluctant at first — especially since O’Brien had previously made romantic advances — she decides to agree, but asks him to stop saying her name so loudly. When they sit down at a table, Brady tries to make small-talk about how quaint the Coffee Bean is, but Mary Jane — on guard — notices that there was a new barista working the cash. Brady finds it interesting that Mary Jane knows all the staff and asks how long she has been coming to the Coffee Bean. This causes Mary Jane to think back to the first time she came to the Coffee Bean….

… It was a winter day when Peter (then dating Gwen Stacy) and Harry (who was dating Mary Jane) brought the two women to the Coffee Bean.[2] Gwen couldn’t believe that the boys would take them to a beatnik hangout. Mary Jane on the other hand, complained about how her 3 dollar “coffee” tasted like dirt, not knowing that she was actually being served espresso. When Peter begins explaining the process in which espresso is made, Gwen jokes that Peter and Harry are the biggest dorks they know, to which Peter points out that, despite this, Gwen and Mary Jane continue to date them. When the women ask why they were brought here, Peter says that the place has a lot of character and a lot of history. He has them look up at the tiled ceiling, proving that the building has the type of history they try to get rid of these days. Peter bets that 30 years ago his place hosted a group of university students just like them who were trying to get in from the cold. Mary Jane jokes that this must have been the era when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Peter allows Mary Jane to have her joke but says the Coffee Bean is a place where you don’t attract a lot of attention. It feels safe to him, a place where he feels he can stay forever.

… Her recollection, Mary Jane says she has been coming to the Coffee Bean forever and apologizes for drifting off for a moment. When she asks Brady for more details about his current job, he is surprised that Mary Jane still hasn’t figured it out. He points to the new barista and various customers who seem a little too interested in their conversation. Mary Jane suddenly realizes what’s going on when Brady pulls out his SHIELD badge and orders her to tell him where to find Peter Parker, otherwise, she is under arrest.

Hopper’s Diner

Detective William Lamont has come to this empty diner after getting a note from Spider-Man asking him to meet. In disguise, Peter Parker enters the diner and sits at the next table. He then asks Lamont to place him under arrest. Peter tells Lamont that he woke up in a cheap motel with his aunt in the hospital and his wife scared out of her mind and he decided he was sick of it.[3] Peter is ashamed over the sacrifices his family has had to make for him and he just wants it to end. He wants to put himself under arrest before he changes his mind but also asks for immunity for his family since they don’t deserve what has happened to them. Lamont says that Peter can learn a thing or two from these women about manning up and asks why they would hang him out to dry now. Peter figures they won’t be able to take much more of this, He says that Lamont cannot understand what the women in his life have to endure. Something that has been the case ever since they were kids.

Thinking of a time when they were all were at a party being thrown for Flash Thompson.[4] Peter says Mary Jane was always his rock and how he and his friends all clung to each other for survival. Remembering how both Gwen and Mary Jane grabbed Flash and pulled him out on to the dance floor, Peter remarks how he and his friends were totally outclassed by the women in their company and how they would play them like fiddles, something the men in Peter Parker’s group of friends allowed to happen.

The Coffee Bean

Brady tells Mary Jane that her times up and if she gives Peter up he will give both her and May complete immunity. He promises that Peter will serve out his sentence in a secure safe location away from other superhumans. As Mary Jane covers her face to cry, Brady reaches out, telling her that the nightmare can end for her and May if she turns Peter in. As he reaches out to take her hand, Mary Jane says that Brady has no idea what Peter has lived through and what he has lost and what it’s cost him[5] Mary Jane thinks about the time that Peter showed up at a party she and her friends were having. Dazed and confused due to the flu, Peter then pulled out his Spider-Man mask and told them all that he was secretly Spider-Man.[6] She says they were all kids none of them knew the burden that Peter carried every day. It was his nightmare, they were just living in it.

Harper’s Diner

By this point, Peter Parker is telling Detective Lamont that he keeps thinking this is all some terrible nightmare and that he’ll wake up and it’ll all be over. However, he knows this isn’t the reality of the situation and that this is no way to live. After reflecting over Peter’s words for a moment, Detective Lamont joins him at his table and asks what exactly Peter wants him to do. He reminds Parker that there isn’t much he can do since the charges against him are federal and through SHIELD. He points out that even talking to Peter is treason. When Peter suggests that Lamont make an anonymous call to SHIELD for him, Lamont suddenly rips off the fake mustache that Peter has glued to his face. Having Peter’s full attention now, Lamont tells him to stop acting like an idiot and think of his wife. Peter tells him he always thinks of his wife. He puls out his wallet and produces a childhood photo of himself with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. He shows it to Lamont and tells him how his parents died how his aunt and uncle raised him.[7] He had a good childhood while being and later on, Mary Jane became an important part of his life too. He says that when his Uncle Ben was murdered it was what got Peter out of bed, but Mary Jane was the reason why he went back to that bed every night.[8]

The Coffee Bean

At the same time, Mary Jane is also being introspective, recalling how relentless the damage caused during childhood can affect them.[9] For Mary Jane, she used to always pretend to be the party girl. She was never alone and she never took anything seriously in those days. She remembers that early on in their relationship, Mary Jane made Peter a mixtape full of songs that secretly told him how she felt about him. In turn, Peter gave her audio recordings of a nature documentary about rhinos and a lecture about magnetic fields. She thinks back to the day he gave Mary Jane that tape….

Peter tried to explain that he didn’t really listen to music and that he gave her a tape of things he liked. Mary Jane kept on making jokes about it, even though she realized that she was sabotaging her attempts to get Peter to kiss her. Peter ultimately apologized for giving her a tape of boring things. Mary Jane then tried to change the subject by putting on a Santa hat with mistletoe on it. However, instead of taking the cue, Peter didn’t really notice, making Mary Jane think she blew it and was going to die fat and alone.[10]

… Mary Jane’s recollection is interrupted by Brady who tells her that she’s acting pretty spacy and glib for someone who is looking at a 20-year sentence. He tries scaring her by reminding her how serious SHIELD is and what happens to pretty women in prison. However, Mary Jane refuses to allow herself be bullied, telling Brady that she doesn’t scare very easily, telling him that he has no idea how deep her loyalty to Peter runs.

Harper’s Diner

Meanwhile, Peter is thinking about the first thing Mary Jane had said to him when they first met.[11] Lamont is surprised that Peter didn’t run away screaming since nobody really talks like that in real life. Peter remarks about how he couldn’t stop seeing her after that. The entire time he knew that nothing about Mary Jane Watson would be easy. He also recounts that Christmas Eve when they exchanged mixtapes. In his recollection, Peter was hoping that Mary Jane would be able to read between the lines in regard to the recording of the lecture on magnetic fields. When she put on the Santa hat with the mistletoe, Peter knew Mary Jane was trying to get him to kiss her, but he couldn’t muster up the courage to do it and chastised himself for being a coward.

As Peter struggles to come up with the words to explain what a woman like Mary Jane is to him when Detective Lamont gets a phone call. That’s when Peter’s spider-sense begins going off. Lamont is off the phone quickly and tells Peter that he is being called uptown because the Feds have Mary Jane trapped at the Coffee Bean and they are about to make an arrest. Peter tells Lamont that he already knows and when he decides to leave, Lamont lets him go.

The Coffee Bean

Mary Jane is thinking about her situation right now, they are broke and are on the run but it’s her marriage. She thinks about the time that she and Peter and she were separated and she was in California pursuing her acting career. Even at her richest, she feels poor because she and Peter were apart, and doesn’t even really remember why.[12] When Brady tries to convince her that the pair of them had a connection during that time and could have one again, Mary Jane points out that one night where she almost made a drunken mistake does not make them an item. She points out that Peter Parker is her husband, and even though Brady had gone from a bodyguard to a SHIELD agent he’s just some dude she hardly knows. Having reached the end of his patience, Brady gives Mary Jane one last chance to tell him where Peter is or he’s going to put her under arrest. When she becomes grimly silent, he pulls out handcuffs and tells her to think really hard about what she’s giving up by continuing to protect her husband. Mary Jane pauses for a moment to think….

… Mary Jane had accompanied Peter and Joe Robertson to the airport where the two are waiting for their flight to France to cover a story for the Daily Bugle. Peter and Mary Jane stopped to get something to drink at a kiosk. Mary Jane insists that they all get coffee, which Peter doesn't want. When she tries to get Joe Robertson to take her side, Joe wisely doesn’t look up from the newspaper he’s reading, leaving Peter on his own to deal with this. It’s no contest and Mary Jane gest her way.

After their order comes up, Peter asked Mary Jane why she always calls him a tiger. She tells him that it’s because Peter is not a tiger. By this point, both were trying to muster up the courage to kiss and at that moment they finally do. When Peter’s flight is called, he tells Mary Jane that he’ll be back, thinking to himself that he’ll always come back. Mary Jane’s parting words to him were that she’ll be waiting. Thinking to herself, Mary Jane admitted she will always and forever wait for him.[13]

… Brady interrupts her recollection and asks what Mary Jane’s decision is. Mary Jane holds out her wrists and tells Brady to put her under arrest. As he is handcuffing MJ and reading her rights he notices a spider-tracer on the seat she was previously sitting on. As he picks it up, Mary Jane explains that she wasn’t rambling this whole time, she was buying herself time. She then introduces Brady to her husband, the Amazing Spider-Man just as Peter comes swinging in through the storefront window. Before the SHIELD agents can act, Spider-Man comes crashing through the window, grabs Mary Jane, and makes a daring escape. As they swing across the city, Mary Jane apologies to Peter, saying that he knew Brady back in LA, Peter tells her that was a long time ago and that he loves her. He tells her to hang on tight as he is taking her to the Empire State Building.

Now

Still looking over the city, Mary Jane tells Peter that she doesn’t want to come down and that up there it seems like they can solve all of their problems. When Peter suggests that Mary Jane turn herself in so she can get back to some kind of normal life after allowing himself to get arrested. Mary Jane refuses, telling Peter that this marriage means something to her and that she will remain by his side always and forever. Peter agrees and the couple leap off the top of the Empire State Building hand in hand.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, William Lamont, (in flashback) Gwen Stacy, George Stacy, Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, Joe Robertson, Ned Leeds, Betty Brant, Randy Robertson

Continuity Notes

1. This time in Hollywood would have been the period between Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2001 and Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #50 when she and Peter were separated.

2. The Marvel Chronology Project places this flashback as occurring during the events of Amazing Spider-Man #50. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Mary Jane and her friends first discovered the Coffee Bean about a decade prior to this story.

3. Peter Parker publicly revealed his identity in Civil War #2 to show his support for the Super-Human Registration Act. However, he later renounced it in Civil War #4 making him an outlaw. He and his family have been living in a motel until Aunt May was shot by an assassin’s bullet meant for Peter in Amazing Spider-Man #538.

4. Per the Chronology Project, this flashback takes place during the events of Amazing Spider-Man #47, when Peter and his friends were throwing a going away party for Flash who had just enlisted in the military and was being deployed.

5. Mary Jane is depicted wearing a wedding ring here. However, not long after this, her and Peter Parker’s marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the altered timeline, Peter and Mary Jane are not married but still engaged. As such, Mary Jane would be wearing an engagement ring instead of a wedding band. Also references to Peter and Mary Jane being married would change to them being engaged, they would be referred to as the fiancee to the other, etc.

6. This flashback is recounting events that happened in Amazing Spider-Man #87 when Peter, stricken by the flu, though he lost his powers for good and decided to tell his friends that he was Spider-Man. When Peter got over the flu bug and discovered that his powers were back, he has Hobie Brown post as Spider-Man to convince his friends that Peter’s revelation was actually the ravings of a man sick with a fever.

7. Peter’s parents were government agents who died in the line of duty while Peter was still a child as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.

8. Uncle Ben was shot, remember? Amazing Fantasy #15.

9. Mary Jane came from an abusive family as detailed in Amazing Spider-Man #259.

10. This flashback takes place during the events of Amazing Spider-Man #130.

11. “Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!” Amazing Spider-Man #42.

12. Mary Jane seems to be pretty forgetful. The reason why they split up after Mary Jane was the prisoner of a deranged stalker from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #12 until Peter Parker: Spider-Man #29.

13. The flashback at the airport takes place during the events of Amazing Spider-Man #143.