The Sensational She-Hulk, Vol. 1 by John Byrne

In an effort to cut down stress from (yet another) lockdown, I’m rereading my old favorite comics. He must've been a completely shatter-prone snowflake.

These are definitely some of the (self-acknowledged) goofiest villains - Headmen, Stilt-Man, Doctor Bong? (That last one would work so much better these days).īut to suddenly be disappeared off this series without any hint that he was stepping away? I so wish I had a time machine so I could hear some of the phone calls that led up to this. Space truckers? And Xemnu? Gotta hand it to Byrne - this takes effort, coming up with a plot this weird. He also does enjoy the hell out of silly, which is redeeming of sorts

Boy did he get bitter incel around this time, and it never really wore off did it?īyrne sure doesn’t skimp on any opportunity to draw heavy bosoms with deep shadows. Byrne was already deeply angry and aggrieved by this point in his career, almost like he wanted to test his reputation and fuck with his editors so he'd have a good goddamned reason to be angry at anyone except himself. Holy shit, what a giant waste of my time that was. Yep, it's a no holds barred extravaganza of non-stop fun-filled hilarity as only John Byrne and She-Hulk can deliver. And villains like Ringmaster & the Circus of Crime, the Headmen (again: you've got to see these old Defenders villains to believe just how absurd they are), Mysterio, Stilt-Man and Xemnu. Guest appearances by Spider-Man, Mister Fantastic, Razorback (yeah, you've got to see this guy to believe him - and Byrne didn't create him either), the golden-age Blonde Phantom and (I'm not kidding here) the world's greatest detective ('cuz he knows who's been naughty & nice) Nicholas St. From the first panel to the very last, Byrne fills the pages with non-stop hilarity without losing a quantum of exciting super-hero action.

This is only beginning to scratch the surface of how She-Hulk breaks the fourth wall and every rule of the industry, all while tearing down every cliche imaginable. Imagine a character who knows she's in a comic book, talks to the reader and uses the fact that she's in a comic book to help solve the situations she's in. This comic is filled to bursting with hysterical dialogue and meta-humor that it is nearly impossible to describe. Where do I begin? This has got to be, at least for me, the most outrageously funny and entertaining comic ever written.

The Sensational She-Hulk, Vol. 1 by John Byrne