Representing Mom's Of The Costumed Sect Everywhere

What? Sorry, no mama-joke themed title. I'm just responding to Ragnell's call for mother-related posts.

Ragnell asked for good Moms in comics, and I think this lady does a pretty good job. It's Mary Jane Watson-Parker, mother of May and Ben Parker in Spider-Girl.

So what kind of a role does she play in May's life (her role in Ben's life is a little obvious, he's an infant, so periodic feeding, changing, etc.)? Well, she often seems to be the buffer between May and Peter. She's the one who reigns Pete in when he comes down too hard on May for an error in judgment, because MJ knows Peter's made some doozies of those himself over the years. She's the one who goes to May and gets her to understand that Peter is just being overprotective because, well, he's been on the front lines, doing what she is, and he lost a leg doing it, so he is understandably worried about his daughter's safety.

At the same time, she's not going to let May slide on things. In this week's issue, MJ didn't intervene when Peter pulled May aside to find out why she had told them that the Venom symbiote was destroyed when it wasn't. Mary Jane has history with Venom, that's the sort of thing the Parker family needed to know about, and May hid it. She's not going to get any defense from her mother this time, and this is another valuable role Mary Jane plays. She often sort of gently reminds May that she has responsibilities besides being Spider-Girl, that she has family who care about her, and she needs to think about them before she does things. May doesn't listen a lot of the time, or at least stop long enough for it to sink in, but that's part of being a teenager.

MJ isn't going to play hostage either. Normie Osborn tried that once, and Mrs. Watson-Parker socked him one, then cracked him over the head with a lamp before Spider-Girl even showed up. She's not going to play the weakling that needs to be looked after. She had a lot of Aunt May in her during her second pregnancy, in that she may not have been in the best of health, but she didn't need to be coddled or looked after by May or Peter. She was still able to go to work, and take care of things around the house that needed to be taken care of. She knows that her family has a lot of stress in their lives, so she tried to avoid adding more until she had to. I'm not sure that's wise when it comes to pregnancy, but I admire the spirit.

And I think she's helped May's public image. I really believe that part of the reason Mary Jane started the Spider Shoppe is because she wanted Spider-Girl to have more widespread acceptance. It makes her part of the culture, maybe makes people feel less fearful of her. And it seems to work. May has never had the problems with the public or the police that her father did. Heck even Jonah Jameson likes Spider-Girl, considering her to be much more respectful than that "other" wallcrawler. Granted, May isn't nearly as combative with JJJ as her dad was, but I really believe that her mother helped May seem less like some creepy costumed vigilante, and more like a friendly neighborhood life-saver.