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Sunday, November 17, 2013
1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Alien Legion #9
By Chris Warner and Frank Cirocco
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1989: Jade Jaunting Part VI: Saying Sayonara by way of Star Truck 'n Santa
By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)
In the final part of Jade Jaunting, the 80s come to a close and so does John Byrne's stint as chronicler of She-Hulk's ground & fourth wall breaking series. But not before Shulkie went to outerspace to check in on that equally sensational character find of 1983: US Archer.
She-Hulk in outerspace? Sure, why not...
Issue #6 opened with Jennifer Walters as a special guest at NASA during the launch of the first space shuttle built with a faster than light (FTL) drive, allowing it to travel across the stars. Cheekily admitting her reason for being there was a bit of a stretch, she proceeded to fill the readers in on what was going down. And speaking of stretches...
That, plus a souped up, semi-sentient truck, was all he needed to become a superhero of sorts. His 1983 soloseries lasted twelve issues and ended with aliens taking US and most of his supporting cast into space because what the cosmos needed most was good ol' American truckers hauling freight.
Taryn elected to stay behind, but as time went on, she found she missed her lover and wanted to join him in space. She figured Razorback would be the perfect hero to help her, not only because he was a fellow trucker, his newly discovered mutant ability to drive anything would allow him to pilot the shuttle.
Having Razorback be a mutant with the most mundane power imaginable was a decidedly tongue in cheek wink at Marvel's late 80s attempt to capitalize on the X-men's popularity by revealing lots of established characters as children of the atom. Having already activated the FTL engines, Razorback and Taryn pretty much forced She-Hulk to come along for the ride... and before long they hit up on the truckstop US used as his base of operations that had been taken into space as well. Run by Poppa Wheelie and rebranded the Star Stop, the place had become a popular pitstop. populated by a variety of interesting aliens...
She-Hulk's presence in D.C. felt natural and she was more than happy to be there after learning what the crossover was about. After all, with the villains playing musical chairs, she just finally might get to fight some bad guys worthy of the name. Hey, it could happen... right?
Wrong.
But his editor, Bobbie Chase, also wasn't a fan. Not just of Santa, but of Byrne on the book in general. After several months of growing frustrations, John Byrne simply decided to leave. And even though #9 was still promoted as 'just a fill in issue', people who could read between the lines already saw what was coming down the line. Also: people who read the obvious word pun in the following promo blurb:
Yup, a few months before that, Renée Witterstaetter had succeeded Bobbie Chase as editor. After realising she had a better working relationship with Byrne, she managed to bring him back to the book he had started. The cover to #31 showed just how eager Byrne was to continue where he'd left off.
Maybe a bit too eager...
For the next 19 issues, Byrne continued his meta-joking shtick, exploring the boundaries of the genre while having embarassing baddies like Spragg the Living Hill, the Living Eraser and the Carbon Copy Men show up. Not to mention a band of zombified minor X-men characters called the X-Humed.
Another continued trend: having She-Hulk's enemies fall for her left and right. Xemnu was the first, but the Mole Man and Mahkizmo were also ready to make an honest woman out of the emerald giantess.
One could hardly blame the villains, after all Byrne made sure the stories were rife with blatant cheesecake shots of She-Hulk running around in the skimpiest of outfits... In one issue he even forced her to jump rope naked on the cover. All in a shameless attempt to both mock and cash in on the early 90s panting fanboy craze that warranted the publication of several high selling Marvel swimsuit specials...
Byrne left with #50, feeling he had told all the stories he had in him. The book continued under a new creative team who went for a slightly more serious tone. Sensational She-Hulk was cancelled within ten months after Byrne's departure. However, the legacy of this fourth wall breaking series was that the character would forever more be considered fun. Without Byrne's influence, the book would never have spawned Shulkie's critically acclaimed 2004 soloseries by Dan Slott...
And as for She-Hulk's new series launching in February 2014, it's pretty much a given it will be fun. But let's hope she gets to fight some decent baddies this time, eh?
In the final part of Jade Jaunting, the 80s come to a close and so does John Byrne's stint as chronicler of She-Hulk's ground & fourth wall breaking series. But not before Shulkie went to outerspace to check in on that equally sensational character find of 1983: US Archer.
She-Hulk in outerspace? Sure, why not...
Issue #6 opened with Jennifer Walters as a special guest at NASA during the launch of the first space shuttle built with a faster than light (FTL) drive, allowing it to travel across the stars. Cheekily admitting her reason for being there was a bit of a stretch, she proceeded to fill the readers in on what was going down. And speaking of stretches...
"Reed! It's been forever!"
Having two superheroes on hand was fortunate, because the giant rig Big Pig II came out of nowhere to cause trouble. While Mr. Fantastic got the civilians to safety, Shulkie tried to stop whoever was behind the wheel only to discover it was being piloted by remote control. Before she could properly process this twist, the FTL shuttle launched and it became clear the Big Pig had been little more than a diversion.
Using Reed's elastic body as a giant trampoline, She-Hulk jumped after the shuttle and managed to grab hold of the tailend of the booster rocket, barely managing to resist the harsh conditions as she climbed up towards the shuttle itself. Eventually, she found an airlock but Jennifer's time and oxygen were running low...
"Looks like my book turns out to be a mini-series after all"
After coming to, she found who her rescuers and the shuttle hijackers were: the trucker turned superhero Razorback and Taryn O'Connell, a lady trucker with an interesting past. Taryn had been the love interest of Ulysses Archer. Better known as US Archer, he was a trucker who, after getting hurt in an accident, received a metal plate in his head that allowed him to pick up C.B (Citizen's Band) radio transmissions...
That, plus a souped up, semi-sentient truck, was all he needed to become a superhero of sorts. His 1983 soloseries lasted twelve issues and ended with aliens taking US and most of his supporting cast into space because what the cosmos needed most was good ol' American truckers hauling freight.
Having Razorback be a mutant with the most mundane power imaginable was a decidedly tongue in cheek wink at Marvel's late 80s attempt to capitalize on the X-men's popularity by revealing lots of established characters as children of the atom. Having already activated the FTL engines, Razorback and Taryn pretty much forced She-Hulk to come along for the ride... and before long they hit up on the truckstop US used as his base of operations that had been taken into space as well. Run by Poppa Wheelie and rebranded the Star Stop, the place had become a popular pitstop. populated by a variety of interesting aliens...
"... and you're sure that's the... off-ramp we need?"
The Star Stop's Marvunapp entry contains a detailed list of the 'easter eggs' Byrne put into this scene. It's just a lot of goofy fun, even when Taryn realises U.S. had moved on, marrying her old rival Mary McGill who also happened to be having his baby. Speaking of US, people were getting a little worried because he was late returning from a delivery with Mary mere days from giving birth In the closing pages of #6, US and his space rig returned to the Star Stop, along with a most unwanted hitchhiker...
"I have no mouth and I am mean!*
(*with sincerest apologies to Harlan Ellison)
(*with sincerest apologies to Harlan Ellison)
Continuing the tradition of pitting Shulkie against the lamest of the lame, Xemnu the Titan had come to kidnap US' unborn baby. Byrne played up Xemnu's original scheme: he was out to kidnap children to repopulate his own planet. But even infants proved too resistent to his indoctrination, that's why he decided to start his recruitment drive while they were still in the womb.
It goes without saying Shulkie wasn't that big a fan of Xemnu's prenatal promo talk.
"We haven't had any good, senseless violence since I took on the Stilt-Man...
And that was three issues ago!"
And that was three issues ago!"
However, She-Hulk fell prey to Xemnu's powerful hypnotic mind. Unconscious, she woke up to find that Xemnu's plan to turn the child in utero had failed. Instead, he had already moved on to plan B: if you can't steal a baby, why not go and make your own? Guess who was the lucky gal:
"Now YOU will become the bride of Xemnu!'
Poor She-Hulk... defeated not once but twice by a big teddybear who also tried to turn her into his equally furry bride. And to add to her woes: in the end she didn't even get to defeat the Titan herself. Shulkie was saved by a whole armada, all customers of the Star Stop who agreed to come to her aid. With a little help from Al the Alien and his wife, the She-Hulk received one heck of a Brazilian wax. Once rid of her excess fur, Al made sure she got home safely inher new flying car.
In between issues # 7 and #8, the 1989 crossover Acts Of Vengeance kicked off. During this company wide event, a cabal of supervillains decided the best way to finally defeat their enemies would be to simply switch opponents. She-Hulk participated too, showing up in the second issue of the Damage Control limited series.
"C'mon guys! Hurry up! We're on page seven and we haven't even had a fight scene yet!"
When John Byrne started Sensational She-Hulk he expressly requested she only broke the fourth wall in her own book. Byrne reasoned that this would give the title a unique hook and the added exclusivity helped keep the gimmick fresh. Contrary to Byrne's request, the late great Dwayne McDuffie had her talk to the audience anyway... and with great success, after all Damage Control had always been a title that lent itself to inside jokes.
She-Hulk's presence in D.C. felt natural and she was more than happy to be there after learning what the crossover was about. After all, with the villains playing musical chairs, she just finally might get to fight some bad guys worthy of the name. Hey, it could happen... right?
Wrong.
"DeFalco!"
Hoping for Doctor Doom, Magneto or Hobgoblin she instead got stuck with disgruntled DC-employee Eugene and his partner Washington who couldn't decide what to call themselves. Switching fromSimon & Garfunkel, Hammer & Sickle, Cloak & Dagger or New & Improved, often changing their minds per panel, they actually managed to throw Shulkie for a bit of a loop.
In the end, She-Hulk begged Marvel editor in chief Tom DeFalco to treat her with a bit more respect, leading to a great one liner by Damage Control's cigar chompin' foreman Lenny.
In the end, She-Hulk begged Marvel editor in chief Tom DeFalco to treat her with a bit more respect, leading to a great one liner by Damage Control's cigar chompin' foreman Lenny.
"I wonder why She-Hulk keeps talking about DeFalco cigars?"
Still, She-Hulk's pleas to get her old writer back would prove prophetic, because issue
8 of her solo book proved to be John Byrne's last. Released in December 1989, Shulkie closed out the decade by teaming up with the world's greatest detective. Greatest detective? You mean? No, not the Batman: *this* guy...
"You're kidding, right?"
Yeah, the She-Hulk got help from a womanizing, naughty, butt pinching Santa Clause to prove a crazed criminal was responsible for an unresolved murder. Shoving She-Hulk through chimneys, claiming he knew who was naughty and who was nice, Nick St. Christopher was utterly ridiculous and fun... But he got things done, charming the pants off Jennifer. That is, until his wife showed up to slap some sense into him.
In an interview for Modern Masters, Byrne revealed his love for having Santa show up. He even got a kick out of the fact the fans got mad when he wrote him in, saying it only served as further incentive to include Clause as often as possible.
But his editor, Bobbie Chase, also wasn't a fan. Not just of Santa, but of Byrne on the book in general. After several months of growing frustrations, John Byrne simply decided to leave. And even though #9 was still promoted as 'just a fill in issue', people who could read between the lines already saw what was coming down the line. Also: people who read the obvious word pun in the following promo blurb:
And with that, She-Hulk's 80s adventures came to an end. Starting in 1990, Steve Gerber took over as regular writer, with a young Bryan Hitch on art. While certainly not the worst of Marvel's early 90s comics, Sensational She-Hulk lost its trademark fourth wall breaking charm and good natured ribbing of the genre. Gerber wrote 16 wacky, but hardly world shattering issues. When he bowed out in September of 1991, his replacement was... John Byrne?
Maybe a bit too eager...
Another continued trend: having She-Hulk's enemies fall for her left and right. Xemnu was the first, but the Mole Man and Mahkizmo were also ready to make an honest woman out of the emerald giantess.
"What a revoling development this is!"
One could hardly blame the villains, after all Byrne made sure the stories were rife with blatant cheesecake shots of She-Hulk running around in the skimpiest of outfits... In one issue he even forced her to jump rope naked on the cover. All in a shameless attempt to both mock and cash in on the early 90s panting fanboy craze that warranted the publication of several high selling Marvel swimsuit specials...
Byrne left with #50, feeling he had told all the stories he had in him. The book continued under a new creative team who went for a slightly more serious tone. Sensational She-Hulk was cancelled within ten months after Byrne's departure. However, the legacy of this fourth wall breaking series was that the character would forever more be considered fun. Without Byrne's influence, the book would never have spawned Shulkie's critically acclaimed 2004 soloseries by Dan Slott...
And as for She-Hulk's new series launching in February 2014, it's pretty much a given it will be fun. But let's hope she gets to fight some decent baddies this time, eh?
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
1989: Jade Jaunting part V: Sensationally Shattering The Fourth Wall
By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)
She-Hulk started life in the 1980s with her own book and she closed the decade a solo star as well. In the fifth part of Jade Jaunting, the year is 1989 and John Byrne is about to turn Shulkie sensational by breaking all the rules.
In May of 1989, Sensational She-Hulk #1 hit the stands, a new ongoing monthly She-Hulk solo title that sported this modern classic of a cover. Newly returned to Marvel after a stint at DC where he spearheaded the reinvention of Superman, artist John Byrne was asked by the late great Mark Gruenwald to come up with a new take on She-Hulk.
As Byrne told Jon B. Cooke in Modern Masters Volume Seven, his hook for the book would be the running gag that She-Hulk was aware she was in a comic book, continuously breaking the proverbial fourth wall in the process.
Incidentally, this 'fourth wall breaking' doesn't mean Shulkie spent most ot of her time demolishing walls. It's actually a theatre term originating in ancient Greece, where actors openly acknowledged the crowd, regularly sharing private thoughts or insights the other cast members were apparently oblivous to.
"Say g'night Gracie..."
In fairly more recent times, this technique became known as the 'vaudeville aside'. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby couldn't film one of their road movies without letting the audience know they were well aware this was just a movie... The equally legendary George Burns often broke the fourth wall as well, in his classic radio turned television show with Gracie Allen...
She-Hulk pretty much did the same thing, starting on the cover when she openly threatened the fans to buy her book... or else.
Gruenwald figured the idea had great comedic potential, but Byrne was quick to stress he didn't write it as a humor book. "I didn't really think of it like that. That was part of the trick, I think. I didn't set out to be funny ha-ha, I set out to be weird and strange and wonky and try to keep it light-hearted. And that, of course, manifested itself as my own twisted sense of humor."
While the book didn't intentionally set out to be Justice League level 'bwa-ha-ha' funny, Byrne did use She-Hulk's newfound awareness to poke fun at the conventions of the genre. That makes summarizing her stories a little difficult, however. Usually, yours truly would spend an absurd amount of time detailling the myriad intricacies of the storylines, but to be perfectly frank: Byrne's Sensational She-Hulk was lovingly light on plot and just seemed out to have a good time, goofing off along the way.
For instance, issue #2 opened with six pages of the Wasp giving She-Hulk a tour of one of her appartments she wanted Jennifer to move in to. This continued a long running thread from Shulkie's time on Roger Stern's Avengers, when she was also trying to get settled in the Big Apple.
The big joke here was that Marvel editor in chief Tom DeFalco got a little antsy after three thirds of the issue read like an excerpt from Modern Living. That's why he started sending notes, demanding more action, thereby poking fun at the editorial edict every single Marvel comic should contain at least one fight scene with some explosions. Byrne was happy to oblige on the 'splosion part at least:
Still, Byrne didn't break with all the established traditions regarding She-Hulk. For instance: she still had lousy luck with villains. As a member of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, she had faced some of the biggest baddies the Marvel universe had to offer...however, as soon as she went solo, the evildoers she oppossed seemed to stem from the shallowest part of the villainy pool.
For instance, the villain to beat in her premiere issue was the Ringmaster, who mind controlled her and forced her to join his Circus of Crime... The hypnotic carnival barker had the dazed Shulkie dressed up as Glamazonia the strong lady who robbed the audience by picking up the stands and shaking it until their wallets and jewels fell out... Talk about pitiable petty theft.
Eventually shaking off the effects of Ringmaster's hypnosis, She-Hulk realised a bigger baddie was behind the carnie criminals. But it would take her until # 3 to learn it was the Headmen pulling the strings. Incidentally, they were also behind the villains that showed up in #2...
During the battle, Byrne cut away from the fighting to set up an important subplot featuring New York's district attorney Blake Towers. His assistant Louise Mason showed up to tell him something he already knew. But, while she explained, Louise seemed to be in on the fact she was appearing in a comic...
Here, Byrne really played with the medium's conventions, admitting that sometimes cutscenes were actually little more than necessary, but contrived info dumps. As an added bonus, he humorously showed the effect of cutting away has on the people involved when 'the camera' returned to She-Hulk and her fight...
She-Hulk realised she'd been decapitated by the Headmen, who had finally succeeded in grafting Chondu's bald, unicorn sporting head on to the emerald amazon's form. Spider-Man helped out to set things right, discovering that Chondu had merely been outfitted with a clone body grown from Jennifer's own gamma irradiated cells. All's well that ends well...
Observant readers by then noticed that while She-Hulk got the crummiest baddies, her series seemed to follow the established pattern of Marvel's more succesful series. For instance, in Avengers I#1, the Hulk was dressed up as a clown in a circus...Issue two of the green giant's own book featured the Toad Men, who also showed up for Shulkie's second and the Avengers book had Namor the Sub-Mariner show up as a popular guest star in issue #3.
Continuing that trend, Byre teased that Sensational She-Hulk # 4 featured the triumphant return of a beloved golden age hero, just like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brought back Namor the Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four # 4 and did the same fr Captain America in Avengers I#4. Shulkie, however, didn't get quite so memorable a hero for her fourth...
Ignoring the lady in the background who looks like she's enjoying whatever nature or her plastic surgeon gave her... She-Hulk used the 80s guide to all things geek, the Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe, to beat a villain... by simply looking up his stats.
In the end, Stiltman was defeated by Louise who had the chef of the bistro pour his cooking oil over the sidewalk, causing the villain to slip and fall. Ironically while fighting the one superhero who was also a laywer. In the aftermath (and the closing pages of #4), Shulkie and Weezi got even more meta when they discussed just who the villain for issue #5 might be.
She-Hulk started life in the 1980s with her own book and she closed the decade a solo star as well. In the fifth part of Jade Jaunting, the year is 1989 and John Byrne is about to turn Shulkie sensational by breaking all the rules.
In May of 1989, Sensational She-Hulk #1 hit the stands, a new ongoing monthly She-Hulk solo title that sported this modern classic of a cover. Newly returned to Marvel after a stint at DC where he spearheaded the reinvention of Superman, artist John Byrne was asked by the late great Mark Gruenwald to come up with a new take on She-Hulk.
As Byrne told Jon B. Cooke in Modern Masters Volume Seven, his hook for the book would be the running gag that She-Hulk was aware she was in a comic book, continuously breaking the proverbial fourth wall in the process.
Incidentally, this 'fourth wall breaking' doesn't mean Shulkie spent most ot of her time demolishing walls. It's actually a theatre term originating in ancient Greece, where actors openly acknowledged the crowd, regularly sharing private thoughts or insights the other cast members were apparently oblivous to.
"Say g'night Gracie..."
In fairly more recent times, this technique became known as the 'vaudeville aside'. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby couldn't film one of their road movies without letting the audience know they were well aware this was just a movie... The equally legendary George Burns often broke the fourth wall as well, in his classic radio turned television show with Gracie Allen...
She-Hulk pretty much did the same thing, starting on the cover when she openly threatened the fans to buy her book... or else.
Gruenwald figured the idea had great comedic potential, but Byrne was quick to stress he didn't write it as a humor book. "I didn't really think of it like that. That was part of the trick, I think. I didn't set out to be funny ha-ha, I set out to be weird and strange and wonky and try to keep it light-hearted. And that, of course, manifested itself as my own twisted sense of humor."
While the book didn't intentionally set out to be Justice League level 'bwa-ha-ha' funny, Byrne did use She-Hulk's newfound awareness to poke fun at the conventions of the genre. That makes summarizing her stories a little difficult, however. Usually, yours truly would spend an absurd amount of time detailling the myriad intricacies of the storylines, but to be perfectly frank: Byrne's Sensational She-Hulk was lovingly light on plot and just seemed out to have a good time, goofing off along the way.
For instance, issue #2 opened with six pages of the Wasp giving She-Hulk a tour of one of her appartments she wanted Jennifer to move in to. This continued a long running thread from Shulkie's time on Roger Stern's Avengers, when she was also trying to get settled in the Big Apple.
The big joke here was that Marvel editor in chief Tom DeFalco got a little antsy after three thirds of the issue read like an excerpt from Modern Living. That's why he started sending notes, demanding more action, thereby poking fun at the editorial edict every single Marvel comic should contain at least one fight scene with some explosions. Byrne was happy to oblige on the 'splosion part at least:
"Popcorn? Lee and Kirby would have given us an exploding galaxy by now!'
Still, Byrne didn't break with all the established traditions regarding She-Hulk. For instance: she still had lousy luck with villains. As a member of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, she had faced some of the biggest baddies the Marvel universe had to offer...however, as soon as she went solo, the evildoers she oppossed seemed to stem from the shallowest part of the villainy pool.
For instance, the villain to beat in her premiere issue was the Ringmaster, who mind controlled her and forced her to join his Circus of Crime... The hypnotic carnival barker had the dazed Shulkie dressed up as Glamazonia the strong lady who robbed the audience by picking up the stands and shaking it until their wallets and jewels fell out... Talk about pitiable petty theft.
Eventually shaking off the effects of Ringmaster's hypnosis, She-Hulk realised a bigger baddie was behind the carnie criminals. But it would take her until # 3 to learn it was the Headmen pulling the strings. Incidentally, they were also behind the villains that showed up in #2...
"I was all set for the Kree or the Skrulls... or even the crummy Kryloreans..."
During the battle, Byrne cut away from the fighting to set up an important subplot featuring New York's district attorney Blake Towers. His assistant Louise Mason showed up to tell him something he already knew. But, while she explained, Louise seemed to be in on the fact she was appearing in a comic...
"Oh, don't worry about. It's just a setup for next issue."
Here, Byrne really played with the medium's conventions, admitting that sometimes cutscenes were actually little more than necessary, but contrived info dumps. As an added bonus, he humorously showed the effect of cutting away has on the people involved when 'the camera' returned to She-Hulk and her fight...
"Oh... you're back..."
The Toad Men didn't turn out to be sentient froglike aliens from outerspace, but rather midget actors dressed for the part by Mysterio, who was also hired by the Headmen in their continued attempts to capture the She-Hulk. Which led to #3 and another particularly tongue-in-cheek cover...
"It's my third issue: time for an obligatory guest star!"
That one liner always made me chuckle... A year or two before the go-go 90s would see Marvel shamelessly trying to increase sales through forced crossovers with their most popular characters like Spider-Man, the Punisher and Wolverine, here was the wall-crawler helping out Shulkie in her final fight against the Headmen. Unfortunately, she found she had sort of lost her own head, during the recap page that proved to be a unique spin on the ol' talking heads exposition anyway...
"So... three part story... couple of days is all it takes...
So this probably isn't much later than the morning after last issue"
So this probably isn't much later than the morning after last issue"
Observant readers by then noticed that while She-Hulk got the crummiest baddies, her series seemed to follow the established pattern of Marvel's more succesful series. For instance, in Avengers I#1, the Hulk was dressed up as a clown in a circus...Issue two of the green giant's own book featured the Toad Men, who also showed up for Shulkie's second and the Avengers book had Namor the Sub-Mariner show up as a popular guest star in issue #3.
Continuing that trend, Byre teased that Sensational She-Hulk # 4 featured the triumphant return of a beloved golden age hero, just like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brought back Namor the Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four # 4 and did the same fr Captain America in Avengers I#4. Shulkie, however, didn't get quite so memorable a hero for her fourth...
"Byrne! What kind of game are you playing?!?"
The 'game' Jennifer refers to is the sudden revelation that her dreamy new boss Blake Towers is a happily married man, effectively putting the kibosh on any potential romance between the She-Hulk and the D.A. Rightfully blaming her writer for this latest curveball, Shulkie is then shocked when she realises just who the Golden Age character billed for this issue really is...
Yup, the tiny, frumpy assistant to D.A. Towers that Byrne had paraded around since the start of the title was actually Louise Mason, better known in the 1940s as the Blonde Phantom. After several decades of not appearing in any current comics, Louise noticed she started ageing. Once she lost her husband, famed Golden Age detective Mark Mason, to old age she figured she needed to get into a comic again to prevent a similar fate.
That's why she lobbied her boss to give She-Hulk a job, hoping to land herself a supporting role on Sensational She-Hulk, which would also prove her ticket to immortality. A startled Shulkie agreed, but got distracted when the issue's villain, the appropriately lame Stilt-Man, made his move against Jennifer's future boss D.A. Towers. Of course, Byrne relied on some more tongue in cheek fourth wall breaking antics to liven up the inevitable fight.
"Okay now... According to Marvel Universe...
Ol' S.M's got a maximum extension of about 290 feet."
Ol' S.M's got a maximum extension of about 290 feet."
In the end, Stiltman was defeated by Louise who had the chef of the bistro pour his cooking oil over the sidewalk, causing the villain to slip and fall. Ironically while fighting the one superhero who was also a laywer. In the aftermath (and the closing pages of #4), Shulkie and Weezi got even more meta when they discussed just who the villain for issue #5 might be.
"The Doctor Is In!"
Could it be Doom? No, of course not... issue 5 saw the She-Hulk trapped in the nightmarish world of Saturday morning cartoons, suddenly turned hauntingly lifelike in a tale called Saturdaze. But the villain responsible wasn't exactly that terrifying or imposing...
"Doctor Bong?! Is this some kind of joke??"
In order to escape, She-Hulk had to resort to the ultimate in fourth wall breaking: ripping her way through the pages and using the ads to get to safety. Remember when comic book stores used to run ads that listed what back issues they had in stock? Here's Byrne's take on it and be sure to read the copy, it's full of vitriol against anything X-related, while also correctly predicting the 'comics as investment' craze of the early 1990s.
Eventually, Bong's plans were undone by Fifi, a giant, seductive French female duck who acted as his maid. She accidentally pressed a rather convenient giant red button labelled 'plot device'. With that, the issue was over and done with, clearing the way for # 6, which followed up on yet another subplot started a month or two earlier...
"Road word is you're lookin' f'r me..."
More on that in part VI of Jade Jaunting: Saying Sayonara by way of Star Truck 'n Santa
1984 - Shadowcat Sketches by Art Adams
Shadowcat sketches by Art Adams, 1984 + Gumby!
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=530848&GSub=8131
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=530848&GSub=8131
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