The best thing is that JMS totally gets it -- that Spider-Man isn't about Spider-Man, it's about Peter Parker. (I always call the book "Peter Parker, High School Science Teacher" to myself.)

YES. That's exactly it. And I don't know MJ well enough to like her yet. At the moment she's being Lobster-Man's love interest. I do like MJ from the movies, though, so I can feel the love.