If you thought the first issue of Jackpot and Black Cat was mid, you haven’t read bad yet.

Bronfman continues on her merry march of character assassination. Last issue she turned Mary Jane Watson into a melodramatic parody of Batman. This issue she annihilates Felicia Hardy, turning her into a callous liar who doesn’t care that her and her girlfriend’s larcenous blackmail scheme is causing pain and suffering to everyday Marvel citizens, doesn’t care that their scheme turned innocent bystanders into would be assassins who shot at Jackpot and a tech bro with intent to kill, doesn’t care that their heists are putting other people like the candy store employee and the customers in harm’s way. It was bad enough when Dan Slott turned Felicia into Queenpin but at least she was supposed to be a villain. Here she’s a “hero,” but in reality she’s just unlikeable.

This issue also makes a mockery of issue one and destroys the reading experience. In issue one, Felicia is introduced pulling a heist. She tells us - as we are in her head - that she has to follow the blackmailer’s instructions exactly, indicating she is being blackmailed. But…it turns out the blackmailer is Felicia’s girlfriend and Felicia is in on the scheme so the narration is all a lie.

This is the author not playing fair with the reader. It’s a sign of weak writing craft and highly amateurish, and it’s shameful this wasn’t caught before this series was printed and sold. It’s dishonest writing and doesn’t deserve the reader’s time and certainly not the reader’s money.

The rest of the issue is just as poor. There are two artists but the art appears rushed with the scene in the candy store especially static and confusing. The colors are as flat as Mary Jane’s hairstyle. MJ is forced to play nursemaid to Paul’s feelings instead of centering her own emotions in her own book, the banal planet murderer who is super sorry he got tricked but who still refuses to show remorse for all the deaths he caused and who hasn’t done a single proactive thing to atone, the closest being making MJ’s power device which, y’know, can kill her. But then, this Jackpot version of MJ bears little to no resemblance to the Mary Jane Watson created in 1966. They can’t even be bothered to remember she has dimples and a cleft chin, that’s how little thought and care when into this book.

“Mary Jane and Black Cat: Beyond” was a delight to read. It’s no wonder Marvel wants to continue to pair up the two characters, but the Zeb Wells status quo, MJ’s nonsense super powers as she plays house with a planet killer, and now the destruction of Felicia Hardy has turned the concept into nuclear waste. And Bronfman’s hackneyed, amateurish writing nails the coffin closed. more

to be honest, as a whole I got to say this event was bland, mediocre, and forgettable. I dont know what it is, but from what I'm reading, it feels like its devoid of passion and doesnt have that much effort at all.

Spidey literally gets his butt kicked multiple times in this event, then he talks about his feelings to Madame Masque, then wins the day by shooting out webs into her gauntlets. Very anti-climatic as well.

The art here is also bland and not interesting. John Romita Jr art doesnt stand out anymore, its too clean for my taste. This event was basically people talking, then rushing into an ending.

Overall, a lot of people are going to take issues and be pissed off about my reviews and think I'm "toxic" and "uneducated". And its totally fine if people like this event more than me. I'm glad people are enjoying this event.

It's just for me, I didnt enjoy this event. I'm glad I took a break from Zeb Wells Spider-Man, and I'm not going to be reading Zeb Wells Spidey run anymore. This run is not for me, I'm not going to be reading this event if it somehow devolves into me hate-reading this event, and I dont want to be toxic. Overall, this event had bland art, action, dialogue, a wonky pacing, and Spider-Man really doesnt get much to do here, and when it comes to the climax of the story, it fell flat. more

Oh boy. My whole idea for going into this was "I hate the idea, but this might work", since that has happened before. But gotta say, I hated this issue. Might be one of the worst issues I've read in a while. I have so many problems here. The opening pages do not convey at all that they are here because of their dead adopted children. They might've progressed through it, who knows. The last time we saw them going to therapy was almost 6 months ago.

And MJ just feels off. Like she doesn't feel like MJ at all. The dialogue is so aggressively mediocre and Paul is still a nothing-character, that this didn't change at all. The fact this does not take accord any superhero stuff MJ has experienced before or even the identity of Jackpot just feels wrong. This feels like we are supposed to just accept this without any setup or anything really. MJ is a superhero now. And it's a direction I strongly dislike, because it's another part of Peter's life that is now Spider-centric. Like if you didn't know any better, this felt like an alternate universe story, because this just doesn't work.

MJ's powers don't make any sense. When Zeb or Jed were writing them, there was a sense of randomness and danger because of it. Now MJ can do whatever the plot needs and is somehow so experienced using them? And she can fly now? Because of the suit? That Paul made I guess? And when she can do whatever she needs whenever she needs, it's hard to be interested in anything. The small part that I was intrigued about her new powers is now gone.

The placement of this is just so off. Everyone acts like MJ has been doing this for a long time (even Peter which is odd) except we have no clue about this. There has been zero mention of Jackpot since #31, so it's hard to follow where we are with this. Even Peter and MJ interaction just feels so off.

The art is nice. It's charming. But when the writing and setup fails so miserably, it's hard to enjoy even the art.

I was a bit interested on the next MJ and Felicia book. But if this is the direction they are going, can't say the interest stays. more

Character assassination in action. Or what I like to call "How to Turn Mary Jane into Mary Sue in just one issue."

There is no functional story here and Jackpot is literally a character that has all their flaws fixed instantly, and Mary Jane who has no combat experience suddenly gets perfect hand to hand combat. This isnt Mary Jane, this is some random BS.

Paul is still around for some reason just being a simp... I guess?

This book is just filled with ever negative modern Marvel Tropes. This is what you get when you get a My Little Pony author writing spider man. Note to author, you are not writing to Bronies, you actually need to write a story.

1.5 is for the art which is decent. I suppose you can give it a higher rating if you are that thirsty for girls in tights or to see She-Hulk in a tight outfit. But that would just be sad. more

I just don’t get what Marvel is doing with Mary Jane’s new “powers” and Jackpot persona. They are literally the embodiment of a deus ex machina plot device that allows writers the ability to pull things out of thin air. Even aside from the randomness of her powers, how/where/when did MJ become trained in hand-to-hand combat or superhero agility?? There are a few scenes where she doesn’t use her powers but still manages to perform some Spider-Man ask moves that a normal person would never be able to do.

For being a Gang War tie-in, there is hardly any connective thread aside from MJ’s battle with Francine Frye’s Electro. It doesn’t even make sense how these two come to blows. This felt like Marvel’s attempt to remind us that MJ now has powers ahead of her upcoming series with Felicia/Hardy Black Cat. Given how this played out, I have no interest in continuing to follow along on her adventures until Marvel can explain her powers more and shows us there’s a deeper reason for it all. more

This book was awful and a horrible debut with some of saddest, unfunny dad jokes it’s been my misfortune to read. The art was also choppy, pointing to Nick Lowe’s office being yet again highly unorganized and not knowing what it is doing with a second artist needing to finish the issue. Mary Jane’s powers were nonsensical and were just whatever writer Celeste Bronfman needed them to be - and since Bronfman apparently thinks having the power of vines makes one fly like Superman, the idiocy is flamingly bright. And Bronfman apparently can’t do even the most basic research because she turned MJ into a bad actress who couldn’t fool Francine Frye even though MJ easily took down Francine during the Nick Spencer run with only her acting skills. Bronfman would also have you believe this is some sort of parable about empowerment when Bronfman makes MJ dependent on wet blanket Paul and gives him power over whether MJ's gauntlet can be turned to 11 or not. That's the opposite of empowering, Celeste.

Jackpot? More like Hackpot. Or Jacksh!t. Take your pick. They are both perfect desciptors. more

I almost cried when I read this issue. It's been so long since I've read an ongoing comic book featuring Peter Parker that actually starred Peter, not a juvenile manchild rubber action figure cartoon written by juvenile menchildren who have no idea how to write a literary story, just hollow cacaphonous spectacle. I'd forgotten what it was like to pick up a Spider-Man book and not immediately have my intelligence insulted as a reader. In fact, I might get misty-eyed just thinking about what an absolute treat it was to read this book.

Welcome back, Peter Parker.

Please stay as long as you want, Jonathan Hickman. more