Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Sensational She-Hulk 5: Even The Advertisements Get The Fourth Wall Broken

In this issue, John Byrne has She-Hulk escape a villain's trap by cutting through some fake advertising pages, specifically a sale for comic book back issues complete with caustic and amusing commentary.  The more I read these She-Hulks, the more I'm beginning to think that She-Hulk might just be Byrne's unheralded career high point.  Forget The X-Men and The Fantastic Four!  This was another fun issue!

Here are some random thoughts on the issue.

*It features the return of Dr. Bong, the great Howard The Duck villain.  Steve Gerber, creator of HTD would take over She-Hulk after Byrne's departure, which makes a lot of sense since Byrne seemed to delight in using many of Gerber's silly villains.

*The issue features many disturbing parodies of Saturday morning cartoons.  For example, the Mighty Mouse standin gets eaten by a cat when he becomes just a mouse with a cape tied around the neck.  The Yogi Bear parody featuring a grizzly wearing a tie attacking picnickers was particularly vivid.

*Byrne goofs on many fellow comics creators including Gerber and Frank Miller.  Most likely, these were good-natured swipes, but with Byrne it's hard to tell. 

*The comic has an ad for a Morning Funnies breakfast cereal which featured comics on the box.  Apparently, it didn't last long.  Neither would Byrne on this title.  It's easy to see why.  This is like Marvel publishing an underground comic.

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