The Sensational She Hulk
I Have always love what I term, "bargain bind" comics. This goes back to when I would go with my dad to passport comics in Van Nuys, I'd always look through the ten cent, later quarter, bind of comics and find some book that was great to me. And when i was going to buy it Earl the owner usually gave it to me. One of these classics where the various She-Hulk series' my favorite of which was John Byrne's "Sensational She-Hulk". This Book (Byrne's runs only) was my introduction to meta fictional humor. The Sensational She-Hulk was the second series to feature the character. She had appeared in the early eighties in a series known as the "Savage She-Hulk", which was created as a stop gap so that marvel would own the rights to a female analogue to the Hulk. And the first series read like just that. It was melodramatic and unengaging, and I could only recommend it to She-Hulk compleatists. However Marvel's various writers saw potential in the Jade Giantess, and she began to become one of Marvel's biggest guest stars. Then John Byrne happened. As a result of the company wide crossover Secret Wars, Byrne, who was then writing the Fantastic Four, decided that he was going to make the Thing leave the group, and then decided to replace him with She-Hulk. under his pen She-Hulk began to get a distinct character and personality. And she eventually got her own series. And boy what a series. Taking a comical approach Byrne decided that She Hulk would know that she was in a comic. This lead to the aforementioned meta fictional humor. For those that are unfamiliar with the term, Meta fictional narrative is aspects of a narrative that keep the reader aware that they are reading a work of fiction. In the case of "Sensational She-Hulk" the fun loving main character would often talk to friends about being in a comic, yell at her writer for constantly pitting her against B list supervillans, and in one amazingly mind bending break of the fourth wall in issue five (pictured) she decides to take a short cut through the pages of the book ripping the page apart and walking through. many good jokes came from this. One issue During a fight with stilt man her clothing gets shredded up all except her slip, when asked how it survived she points to a tag that says "protected by the comics code authority." But probably the most important thing for me is that it showed me that there where people behind these comics. Since the comic was all metafictioney, as well as reading a story about Jen, Weezie, Wyatt etc. I was also reading a story about this guy named John Byrne, who was writing and drawing this series about a difficult main character, and having to deal with editors not liking his jokes. Every time an inker change occurred (a trade I never knew of until I read this comic), He'd Get told just what his main character thought of them. When his other series "Namor" got some new production technique, She wondered where it was in "her" book. I think that if I had never read this book, I may have never become interested in making comics. Well John Byrne is famous for being a little difficult with editors and at Issue eight left the book. He was replaced by Steve Gerber famous for "Howard The Duck" and a rotating group of artists, a proper comedy writer, Gerber kept up the comedy angle started by Byrne, but it was a wackier humor that was not as good as the original run. Then at issue thirty-one Byrne came and continued in the style of the original run, there was a bit more of a focus on B list villains including the return of a one of "Tales of Suspense" monster Spragg the living hill. There was also riffs on the current trends of comics like countless pinups (which he actually but into the bulk of the story pages). Never a big seller Byrne poked fun at the low sales by a a series of satirical "sexy covers" where she would mention that she had to do something to drum up sales. The most notorious is the one in which "they" tell her that she has to live up to her threat of Jump roping naked (issue 40). It all came to an end though when Byrne left again at Issue fifty. But not without a final Metafictional Hurrah, issue fifty was a guest artist fest where She-Hulk was told by her editor that John Byrne was dead, and she then read the submissions by potential replacement (the guest artists) going through pages by Dave Gibbons, Wendi Pini, Frank Miller, Adam Hughes and more, until finally she picks the new team. We find out that the editor has byrne tied up in the closet and after finding out the horrendous direction he was "planning" to take the book in She-Hulk throws him out the window to his death. Unlike the first time Byrne left however, the book never hit a stride again. it limped along for another ten issues and was then cancelled. She-Hulk is a mainstay of Marvel again but no longer on the fringes of popularity, I don't think she'll ever be in a series as individual as this.
Update John Byrne's first run on Sensational She-Hulk is now available as a trade paperback :)
Art by John Byrne She-Hulk (C) & TM Marvel Comics.
Hi, David. I was listening to Rob Liefeld's podcast, and he mentioned Passport Comics as a store he visited in the 1980s. Can you please tell me where it was in Van Nuys and when it closed? I used to live in the Valley but don't recall it. Thank you!
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