In If Her Hair Was Still Red, I take a look at all of Mary Jane Watson's comic book appearances in chronological order (by date of publication). Mary Jane's progression as a character fascinates me.

Okay, so last time, Gwen Stacy died and Mary Jane tried to comfort Peter Parker and he was a total jerk to her, basically calling her everything that Stan Lee seemed to think about Mary Jane over the years. Mary Jane was about to walk out on Peter in his time of sorrow, but, at the last moment, decided to stay with him and let him rip on her if that's what he needed to do. This was a sign by new writer Gerry Conway that Mary Jane was growing as a character.

This continued in the next few issues, although in a very, very slow fashion.

At Gwen's funeral in Amazing Spider-Man #123 (by Gerry Conway, Gil Kane, John Romita and John Mortellaro), Mary Jane is by Peter's side and comforting to him...

He acknowledges what she is trying to do later, when he is by himself, but he is just too messed up right now. This is probably the first sign we ever have of Peter doing the whole "I'd rather be a spider than a man" deal...

Spidey is then attacked by Luke Cage, who has been hired by J. Jonah Jameson to take down Spider-Man because Spidey allegedly killed Norman Osborn (Harry Osborn took Norman's Green Goblin costume off of him).

Because of the trauma of his dead dad, Harry is all unhinged. He won't even speak to Peter. Mary Jane, meanwhile, is probably playing things the wrong way. "Yes, your girlfriend's funeral was this morning, but let's go to a rock concert!"

Luke Cage shows up again, looking for Spider-Man and the two fight and eventually resolve their misunderstanding and just spend some time talking about life. Peter goes back to the concert and he realizes that he is not alone...

A couple of things. A. If you're Mary Jane, aren't you thinking, "Well, screw you, then, if it took some other person to make you feel not alone. I've only been a your beck and call during this whole time." B. Also, aren't you also thinking, "Wait, wha? There was this big fight at the concert, you disappear, show up later and talk about having some conversation you won't tell me anything more about?" Isn't that fishy as all heck?

Peter goes back to college in the next issue, but he sort of freaks out in class, thinking everyone is looking at him and thinking about how he's the guy with the dead girlfriend. He runs out of class and Mary Jane follows and Peter's de facto response these days is to be a jerk to her, also implying that she's just trying to get with him. She doesn't like the accusation (even if it is probably...if not true, at least it must be playing a role in her mind) and when Flash shows up, things go even worse...

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In the next issue, which features Ross Andru's debut as the new penciler on the series (inked by Johns Romita and Mortellaro), Flash talks about life with Mary Jane and she explains how she just wants to help while also trying her best to keep a smile on her face, but Peter and Harry make it so difficult...

The implication is that Gwen just died within the week, so doesn't Flash come off as the biggest jerk? "God, it's been a WEEK, Parker, if you're still upset about your dead girlfriend after a week, that's just self-pity. Same with you, Harry, dads die all the time! Get over it!" (granted, later, we would learn that Flash's dad was an abusive drunk, so it probably retroactively informed his opinion regarding Harry). However, Harry's jerky behavior led Mary Jane to finally say, "Forget these guys. I'm not going to make myself feel bad just to help them feel better."

Also, how great is Randy Robertson here? He's practically screaming, "I, too, am a supporting cast member. Honest."

Anyhow, Peter gets scratched by Man-Wolf and he is feeling bad, but Mary Jane is not having it when he comes to her seeking solace...

In the next issue (now Jim Mooney inking Andru), Peter comes by school, but blows up at Mary Jane and Flash when they try to get him to do some cocaine with them...

Such a bad influence, MJ! Seriously, though, Conway's go-to hang out activity is drinking Coca-Cola. It's very Archie Comics-esque.

Later, Mary Jane tries to deal with Harry again, but he's ALL the way around the other bend....

Man, how messed up are Spidey's suicidal thoughts? How has that not been a bigger deal? People should totally address that aspect of Peter in the future. Dude is all about wanting to die.

Peter and MJ then have a totally out of context date in Marvel Team-Up #15 (by Len Wein, Ross Andru and Don Perlin), where it really doesn't make sense with the current state of Peter and Mary Jane's relationship...

Luckily, MJ is entranced with the rest of the crowd, so Peter is able to sneak away easily and help Ghost Rider save the day...

I was going to cover the last story before the Clone Saga sort of begins with the introduction of the Jackal in Amazing Spider-Man #129, but we've already covered so much that I'll hold off on that two-parter in Amazing Spider-Man #127-128 that mostly involves Peter lecturing Mary Jane about civil responsibility. He's such a fun guy to be around.

If you have any thoughts about Mary Jane's comic book history or any of the issues that are coming up (we're up to the end of Amazing Spider-Man #121 now), feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com, I'll be sure to include your thoughts in my next column...well, "be sure" is a stretch. It depends on what your thoughts are!