Trouble (comic)

Trouble
Photo cover of Trouble #1
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel's Epic imprint
Schedule	Monthly
Format	limited series
Publication date	September 2003 – January 2004
No. of issues	5
Creative team
Written by	Mark Millar
Penciller(s)	Terry Dodson
Inker(s)	Rachel Dodson

Trouble is a five-issue romance comic book limited series published in 2003 by Marvel Comics as a part of its mature Epic Comics imprint. Written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson, the series deals with teen pregnancy. The basic concept was created by Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada.

Trouble was considered by Marvel's editorial group as the possible origin of Spider-Man. It was also meant to re-popularize romance comics (which were very popular in the 1950s, selling millions of copies), but failed.

A trade paperback collecting the five issues was originally scheduled to be published on 18 February 2004, but canceled when Epic was shut down after Bill Jemas, who had been a driving force behind the imprint, resigned as president of Marvel Comics. A hardcover collection was published by Marvel on June 1, 2011.

May and her best friend Mary work in a resort in the Hamptons during their summer vacation, looking for some fun away from home. Soon they make friends with fellow service staff members Richard and his brother Ben, and the four of them. After a couple of days of hard work and being bossed about by the guests, May and Mary go to a dance together. After the dance and a round of night swimming, they head back to their rooms; May takes Ben to her room and sleeps with him, while Mary tells Richie it is too fast for her, and she wants to wait before having sex with him. She later reveals to him it is because a palm-reader told her she would become a mom before she was twenty if she had sex in her teens. The same fortune-teller also told May nobody was ever going to call her "mom", which explains why May is so open in her relationships. Richie is not very understanding of her reasons for not sleeping with him, and starts an affair with May. May tells Mary she is cheating on Ben, but not with whom. A while later, she finds out that she is pregnant. Upon realizing the fortune-teller must have been wrong, Mary now finally sleeps with Richie, who then ends the affair with May. When May reveals her pregnancy to Ben, it turns out he's sterile and her affair with Richie, who must be the father, is uncovered. May is thinking about having an abortion, but decides against it. Afraid of going home and facing her dad with an unwanted child, May runs away.