Monday with hayley Mills: Mary Marvel, Hayley Mills' 2nd Biggest Fan

From Formerly Knows As The Justice league #2 (Oct 2003),

Exclusive preview of the new on-going Mary Marvel series spun out of FINAL CRISIS!

The radical change in the characterization of Mary Marvel in Final Crisis #3 is probably temporary and I think she will she'll be a hero again, however flawed. But Morrison likes screwing with reader's minds so Mary's new personality could very well be as permanent as it gets in comic books. Still, once Mary was spiritually corrupted it can't be undone and she is going to be changed forever by the experience. "Our" sweet little heroine is gone forever.

I'm liking Final Crisis so far. It's coming together nicely.

Original cover of Mary Marvel #1 (December 1945) for comparison here.

Mary Marvel: Ch-Ch-Changes

Quite a bit was said a few months ago about Mary Marvel, a symbol of purity in DC Comics, being "ruined" when she became the possessor (or was possessed by) the powers of Black Adam and Eclipso. Mary was no longer the avatar of all that was good and in fact all of the Marvels were dirtied up a bit for the contemporary comic book market. This is a sort of nonsense in my opinion and not all necessary as character development. I have always believed the squeaky-clean Marvels could show up in a Vertigo title with no problem or mis-characterization. They are the angelic force to balance against whatever evil nastiness was out there giving Swamp-Thing or Constantine a hard time.

So I waited a bit to see what reaction there would be to Mary re-gaining her goodness-based magic powers in Countdown. What I noticed was that there was very little mention of it aside from a few blog entries and forum posts glad that Mary had changed back to "normal".

But did she?

What people may not have noticed is that after throwing off the skin-tight latex she is not quite back to her old self. Readers may have missed, or just don't care because of the lukewarm reception Countdown seems to be getting, that Mary's symbol is no longer golden and is now a shade of gray. This is probably permanent as the symbol has now remained gray (or even black, depending on the artistic license) over several appearances. While Mary was appropriately thankful to once again have the blessing of the gods she hasn't really explored her newest self yet. Mary has now done too much, seen too much to be considered pure any longer. She is no longer of one side or the other and is instead a living Yin Yang symbol that is reflected in her costume. Plainly, the gray lightning bolt is her "Scarlet Letter" and serves as public notice and as a warning that Mary Marvel is no longer pure and perhaps is not to be trusted.

It is now up to the writers to make use of whatever new concept Mary is going to be a part of. The entire Marvel Family is going through some changes, some of which may allow them to support and sustain their own title. Hopefully, Mary will not be prone to "Hulking Out" in the future and forgetting herself and killing a few bad guys for a sense of hacked-out false drama. In the pantheon of DC heroes, especially in regards to the magical ones, I think that at least a few need to be the avatars of all that is good.

It must be cold there in my shadow

She's invulnerable, yet the chill of space causes interesting Chaykinesque effects to 17 year old Mary Marvel's ever-enlarging breasts.

Via Mike.

Mary Marvel: Rode hard and put away wet

If anyone told me that DC couldn't manage to squeeze in an unconscious teen-age girl, an upskirt and a porn-face in just one page of a comic book I would have laughed and told them they underestimate the creative teams of today's funny books.

A few things to remember is that most of today's artists and fans are children of the Bad 90s and they expect a risque type of imagery. The other is that companies are so desperate to make a sale, any sale, that inappropriate sexual imagery is almost always added to any scene in a comic book (and movie, novel, advertisement, etc.) because it just may motivate that tiny percentage of the population to hand over some cash that otherwise they would not. It may be that teasing a small portion of consumers by using saucy poses is worth it to the bottom line because most of the stable audience of die-hard fans will ignore it in favor of reading and collecting a book in spite of the continuing negative portrayal of the sexes. Think of it like chocolate sprinkles on a ice cream sundae. To many people it doesn't hurt and may be seen as a value-added commodity.

As example, Mary Marvel in the recent issue of Countdown #22 (November 2007). After a battle, Mary is rendered unconscious or insensate and is drifting in space. For no reason at all the scene is sexily designed to show readers what is under her very short skirt. There were a lot of poses for Mary that the artists could have used but the "Am I a good girl, Daddy?" pose is the one they chose. Mary then begins to wake up. She is confused, disoriented and manages to shed a tear in the vacuum of space. Hey, it's comic book magic, don't sweat the how. Maybe she is mourning her lost innocence.
I don't know what artistic point the creators were going for by having a single tear run down the face of an unconscious teen-age girl wearing an adhesive mini-skirt and kinky-boots, but the scene is kind of familiar.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Mary is another strong and capable female character with a rich history that is is knocked unconscious and portrayed as helpless, who then and wakes up disoriented with something wet spilling down her face. I think there are movies that start out like that. When will we see Batman in a similar panel layout and situation?