The Sensational She-Hulk #2 (June 1989)

Since March is Women's History Month, I wanted to look at a comic focused on a superheroine. Now there's no shortage of lady superheroes out there, so it was quite a decision. I've shouted out quite a few lady heroes on this blog before, but my love of the 1980s drove me to take another look at the Marvel Universe's resident glamorous green Amazon lawyer: Jennifer Walters, the original She-Hulk.

Ol' Jenny has been featured on this blog before. Both in solo adventures and as a member of the Avengers. In fact, back in June of 2022, I took a look at the first issue of her second solo series. I enjoyed the issue, so where did our heroine go from here? And what have the Headmen planned next for her? Let's find out in Sensational She-Hulk #2!

The cover is a John Byrne and Jack Kirby piece. Now there's a collaboration right there. Well, the Kirby co-credit is because Shulkie is shown enjoying a copy of Incredible Hulk #2 (July 1962), which Kirby drew the interior art and cover of. The cover really fits the tone Byrne is going for, She-Hulk enjoying a comic, while lightly poking a bit of fun at some of the earlier wackiness of the Marvel Universe...as a group of seemingly actual Toad Men get ready to fill her with hot lasers. It's a good cover. 

"Attack of the Terrible Toad Men (or Froggy Came Cavortin')"
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with Jennifer being shown a nice new NYC apartment by her fellow femme fatale Avenger Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp. She's been spending more time in California with Hank Pym with the West Coast Avengers, and she's all too happy to let Jennifer have the place. However, as the tradition in a superhero comic book, there are some vile villains plotting against our lovely green heroine in the background.

"It's good to appear in a story."

Yes, the Headmen from the last issue. You may also remember Ruby Thursday from her cameo in my review of Deathlok #2 (August 1991) from a couple weeks earlier in honor of Black History Month. They've found someone new to test out Shulkie for an unknown purpose. But enough of that, back to the apartment! 

Jan shows Jen around. And when Jenny asks if the neighbors will complain to the landlord about a former Avenger being around (after all, there are plenty of villains who'd want a piece of Shulkie), Jan says not to worry. After all, she is the landlord. 

That night, Jenny decides to enjoy some popcorn and catch up on some TV. In the morning, she'll look for some work. Suddenly, the Plot Convenience News Network cuts in, announcing that flying saucers have appeared over Manhattan. Oh no, they're here to kidnap the yuppies! Not the yuppies!

Jennifer notes there is something familiar about these ships. One of the ships blasts at her, and some of a ship's occupants come down.

"I don't even get to fight good-looking evil aliens!"

Meet the Tribbitites, aka the Toad Men. They first debuted in Incredible Hulk #2 (July 1962), the comic She-Hulk was reading on the cover. Their names tend to be frog/toad-themed. Elsewhere, we're introduced to a lady who be one of She-Hulk's best friends during this run: a Louise "Weezy" Mason. She shows Jennifer's qualifications to Manhattan DA Blake Tower. And she is exactly what he's looking for... 

Meanwhile, Jennifer and the Toad Men are...

"Too bad it's 1989. A smartphone or Nintendo Switch would have been really handy right now."

Oh. They were waiting to be the focus again. Since we're back, they go back to fighting. She-Hulk notices that something is very odd about this invasion, and it's not just that the other heroes of New York are not springing into action. The ships seem to be just...floating around. No movement, no firing on people and/or buildings. The Toad Men Jennifer is fighting seem to be the only ground troopers. There should be tons of them in the city. During the battle, Jennifer's sweater gets shot to pieces, giving us a bit of fanservice. She angrily grabs one of the Toad Men's guns and crushes it, realizing that it's a regular assault rifle dolled up to look like a ray gun. Yeah, this invasion's a fake!

The Toad Men also are speaking English, making Jennifer realize they're just dwarves (very short people, not the fantasy creatures) in costumes. One of the men seemingly jumps to his death, but that's a trick, too. The backdrop is nothing more than a gigantic matte painting...hanging from a dirigible.

Selling their stuff in the multiverse has been a big boon for Acme.

All of this points to one villain: the malevolent Mysterio. Which makes sense. This stuff is right up Quentin Beck's alley. The fake invasion, the use of matte paintings, people in costumes, special effects, this is all the kind of Hollywood movie magic that is his modus operandi. He uses his tech to try and disorient our heroine, but our dear Jenny got brains to match that green bod of hers. She knows his style, so she ignores the illusions, digs into the solid ground under her feet (Well, the floor of the dirigible under her feet at the very least), and uses it to flip Mysterio off his feet. 

She goes to send him to dreamland with a Mighty Punch, but he has one last trick up his sleeve, a bit of sleeping gas, and our heroine is down for the count.

Now that Shulkie is taking an unintentional nap, Mysterio takes her to the Headmen's hideout. Gorilla-Man offers Mysterio membership in the Headmen, but he's not interested. He just enjoyed the challenge of faking an alien invasion...and he wants the money. He gets his money and leaves.

Shrunken Bones remarks that ol' Quentin is not going to be a very happy supervillain when he realizes that the money is fake. But that's another matter. So, why are the Headmen after Shulkie? Well, it's because of one of their comrades.

Meet Chondu the Mystic. After the events of Defenders Annual #1 (1976), ol' Chondu's mind hasn't been, well, in the best of shape. The other Headmen figure that maybe putting him on top of a more humanoid body would help him get back to sanity. Now you may be thinking, "wait, why not put him on Hulk's body"? Well, I figured it like this. Yes, Jennifer is not as physically powerful as her cousin (especially since he has that whole 'angrier he gets, the stronger he gets' thing and our Green Gal Jenny generally doesn't), but she is hardly a 90-pound weakling by human standards. She is a powerhouse in her own right. Not to mention that her gamma mutation (remember, this is decades before The Immortal Hulk introduced the Green Door concept) tends to be more stable than Bruce's. She's essentially a compromise. 

The story ends with Gorilla-Man intending to make the cruelest cut. He starts bringing down a circular saw on our heroine's neck...

I admit, I enjoyed this issue. One thing I liked was showing that Shulkie was able to peg the "invasion" as being a fake pretty quickly. I also liked the usage of lesser-known characters like the Headmen. I know that Mysterio's plan does raise a lot of questions about its execution. How did Mysterio learn of the Toad Men? Where did he get the equipment and resources to pull this fake invasion off? Thing is, you're not supposed to think about that kind of stuff in a story like this, as this comic is playing it all for laughs. It's John Byrne using some of the wackier parts of Marvel's mythos to poke a bit of light-hearted fun at it. I got a good chuckle out of the panels of the complaints of the editors of the book at the time. 

If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2011 trade paperback The Sensational She-Hulk by John Byrne Vol. 1. It also can be found in the 2022 trade paperback She-Hulk Epic Collection Vol. 3: Breaking the Fourth Wall. Thanks for reading this blog entry! 

Pi Day

 Happy Pi Day, everyone! 

This day is called Pi Day because March 14 can be written out as 3/14, and the first three digits in the mathematical constant known as pi (𝝅) is 3.14. What is pi, you may ask? Well, pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference (the distance around a circle) to its diameter (the distance between two edges of a circle going through the center). It's been found by measuring circles that the circumference is always a little more than 3 times its diameter. No matter how big the circle is, this ratio applies.

For example, if a circle is 3 inches in diameter, then the circumference will be a bit more than 9 inches. This ratio applies to any circle of any size. Also, the symbol for pi is a lowercase Greek letter that is the first letter in the Greek word "perimetros", which loosely translates to "circumference".

The first Pi Day was celebrated in 1988. It was created by the late physicist Larry Shaw, who was working at the Exploratorium in San Francisco at the time. He was inspired by conversations he had with his co-workers about mathematical constants. In 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution recognizing March 14 as Pi Day. And in November 2019, UNESCO designated Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics. 

Eating pie is considered part of the tradition of celebrating Pi Day. Get it? 

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful Pi Day! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is a day that is associated with bad luck. The idea of it being bad luck can be traced back to the Middle Ages, tying back to the tale of the Last Supper. There were thirteen people at it (Jesus and his Twelve Apostles) and he was crucified on Good Friday. You can read more about it here.

Generally, Friday the 13ths tend to come once a year, but it is possible for one year to have as many as three of them. For a month to have this day, the first day of the month must land on a Sunday. While Fridays and the number 13 have been considered unlucky separately in the past, it's only been around since the 19th century that this day is considered unlucky. It's not known exactly how this came to be. One possible way this myth got popularized was thanks to the publishing of the 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth by Boston novelist/businessman T.W. Lawson. In the book, an unscrupulous broker used the superstition to create a panic on Wall Street.

Other countries have similar superstitions. In Hispanic countries (Countries in which Spanish is the main language), Tuesday 13th is considered unlucky. This is also true in Greece. In fact, in Greece, Tuesday in general is considered an unlucky day due to the Greek word for Tuesday meaning "third day of the week", and Greek superstition states that bad luck comes in threes. In Italy, Friday the 17th is considered an unlucky day. This is believed to be the Roman numeral rendition of 17 (XVII) being able to spell the word "Vixi" (I lived), which is seen as an omen of death. In fact, Italians consider 13 a lucky number, but some have adopted the "13 is unlucky" myth thanks to the influence of American culture.

In more modern popular culture, it's associated with this guy.

Hope you all managed to avoid him, as he tends to...not be a friendly dude. Got some weird thing about machetes and his mother and going all Mortal Kombat on people, yada yada yada. The last one was back in February. There will be another one coming this November. So, if you're a bit superstitious, I'd not make plans on that day.

Friday the 13th has a fascinating history. I suggest you look more into it. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

Mario Day

 Happy Mario Day, everyone!

Why is March 10 Mario Day? Well, it's a bit of a pun. You see, when March 10th is written as "Mar10", it looks like "Mario", hence March 10 being Mario Day. 

The day was an unofficial day of celebration for fans of the Super Mario franchise for years. In 2016, Nintendo officially recognized Mario Day, by creating special events around the day every year. Usually, these events revolved around sales of Mario games.

2021's Mario Day was a very special one as it was also the 35th Anniversary of the Super Mario series, with the original Super Mario Bros. game being released in 1985. That event triggered a massive celebration. And last year saw the 40th anniversary of that game's release.  

So fire up the Nintendo handheld of your choice, and enjoy a Mario game today! I hope your Mario Day was a good one! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! See you next time!

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day!

This is a day to celebrate women's fight for equality and liberation. This day's roots can be traced back to February 28, 1909. This was the day of a "Woman's Day", which was organized by the Socialist Party of America under the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel. On March 1911, the first International Women's Day was marked in certain countries in Europe (Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Switzerland) by over a million people. Initially, this day had no set date, generally celebrated in late February or early March. It would spread over the world since then, with Russia starting to celebrate this day in 1913, and Germany following in 1914, Australia in 1928. 

International Women's Day was mainly associated with socialist and communist movements in those early years. In the USA of the 1960s, the day would also be embraced by the second wave of the feminist movement. At that point, it had become an obscure holiday, until the activist Laura X organized an International Women's Day march in 1969. She also called for an entire month to celebrate women. 

The United Nations started celebrating this day in 1975, proclaiming it the International Women's Year. And since then, this day has seen many protests and marches in favor of women's rights. After all, we still got a ways to go. If you want to learn more about this day, you can do so here and here. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

Marvel: The Lost Generation #10 (May 2000)

It's that time again! It's time to look back into the past of the Marvel Universe and its lost generation of superheroes: The First Line! Last time, we saw the Line engage in what was their seemingly last battle against the vampiric Nocturne, and a seemingly ordinary man made a shocking discovery...with a twist. So, where do things go from here? We're going backwards from the death to the birth of the Line, so what key moment in their history do we see here? Let's find out in Marvel: The Lost Generation #11!

The cover is a John Byrne and Al Milgrom piece. It certainly is an attention-grabber, I'll grant it that. It centers around what looks like some kind of mutated fetus, with members of the First Line in bubbles, showing it's suspended in some liquid. You get the impression the Line has no idea who this guy even is.

"Secrets: Great and Small"
Writers: Roger Stern and John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Al Milgrom
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editors: Ralph Macchio, Matt Hicks
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

The story begins in Maine, at the Carmody Institute. Well, the Institute in the process of being built. Yes, we are going backwards. Remember, this miniseries is going backwards from the fall of the First Line to the origins of the team. 

Anyway, there has been a lot of tight security around the complex. But no security is perfect. There's always a hole, and one man is taking advantage of this fact to slip into the complex. However, he manages to get caught by what looks like an incomplete version of the Walkabout robot.

"My God! David Hasselhoff!"

Yes, it's a pre-SHIELD Nick Fury Senior. In case you're wondering why he's not wearing an eyepatch, it's because he has a bionic eye. Effigy greets him. This place is meant to be a new headquarters for the Line, which is now more of a loose alliance of heroes than a formal team. The shapeshifting Skrull reveals that he is also Undersecretary Jake Scott. And Fury is, well...furious.

Fury mentions a scheme concocted by Scott that led to a lot of good men dying. Scott mentions that it was an unfortunate necessity, as there was more to an 'Operation: Clean Sweep' than meets the eye. My guess is that's something that will be discussed in future issues. The discussion is tabled by a call from a William Carmody, the owner of the Institute. Unknown to the Line and Fury, another unwanted guest is making their way in.

"Man, I cannot wait to shoe the First Line my stylin' new shades!"

It's Warlord Kro and the Deviants! You may know them from my reviews of the 1985 Eternals miniseries. This was long before that little event. He's learned that one of the Eternals (Pixie) is encouraging the humans to engage in superheroics, and he is intent on...discouraging that. And they're going to use a device called the Gouger in order to do it. They use the device to blow a hole in the headquarters. 

And with that, it's the First Line vs. the Deviants!

It's during the fight that Cassandra Locke appears, journeying backwards in time. She sees the Yeti run by, seeking Deviant blood. She notes that this confirms a legend about the line, that the Yeti was a member of the Line before something called "The Rapunzel Tragedy". She watches the Line battle the Deviants.

One of the Deviants under Kro's command suggests they retreat, but Kro refuses. He's faced superhumans before. This is a reference to . We then go back some hours earlier to Chicago. There, a teenaged girl named Truth MacRae (although she prefers to go by Ruth) is heading home from school. She finds her parents Fred and Autumn MacRae, aka the retired heroes Cap'n Hip and Sunshine, in her room.

"Honey, you have some weird magazines!" 

They've found her collection of photos of the Black Fox. Hip ain't too fond of the Fox, as he thinks he's a fascist. I think the idea is that Hip is well, an old hippie who thinks the Fox represents "The Man". Fred, you may need to examine that weed you've been using. 

Truth argues with her parents about keeping secrets. After all, they preach being open with others, yet they've kept quiet about being superheroes in the past. She leaps out the window, only to be okay.

Evidently she's inherited some kind of superpower from her parents. Fred tries to pursue her, but she manages to escape him. In an alley, Ruth's body is erupting in pain, while she laments that her parents now know she has powers like them. She feels numb as her skin turns a pale purplish white. Ladies, gentlemen, whatever you choose to identify as...you just witnessed the birth of Gadfly from issue #12. 

Back to the Carmody Institute in Maine. Cassandra Locke is there, and she witnesses the robotic Walkabout pick up something and integrate it into its body.

"Finally, I can go out to get pizza again!"

She realizes that it's William Carmody, who was one of the great scientific minds of the late 20th century. He was supposedly fatally shot, but it turns out reports of his death was greatly exaggerated. Carmody lives, but he is now a sort of fetal-looking clone. As she watches the Line fight the Deviant invaders, she notes that the belt keeps taking her back to moments of conflict: the final battle of the First Line in issue #12 for example. It leads her to wonder if there's something else at work here...

Effigy notices that the Deviants seem to be after Pixie specifically. He wonders why that is. She claims to have never seen them before, and Oxbow angrily shoves the Skrull agent-turned-superhero away. Cassandra reveals herself to them, telling them she's from the future. Pixie compares her to Kang the Conqueror, hinting the Line faced him at some point. I'd love to read that story. Of course, the group has another problem. The Yeti has gone...a bit bananas. A bit out of control. A bit around the bend. A bit insane.

Right, right, sorry. The reason why they're concerned is because the Line wants to question the Deviants. And they can't do that if the Yeti tears them into little pieces. Thankfully, the trichokinetic power of the Line's resident soul sister Rapunzel are able to calm the savage beast that is the Yeti.

"Yeti...must...know...shampoo brand..."

Trichokinesis is basically the power to control hair. Arguably, the most famous owner of a superpower like this is Medusa from the Inhumans.

The battle forces the Deviants to flee.

However, Oxbow manages to seal the Deviants' exit with a special arrow. Seeing these troopers as failures, Kro evidently remotely triggers hidden explosives on them, blowing them up.

Pixie investigates the hole and discovers a tunnel, joking that Effigy has wanted to add a submarine pen to the place, and now they can use this for it. Hey, look on the bright side of life, that's what I always say.

Oxbow suggests that she tell the others the truth about the Eternals and the Deviants. He's kept it mum for a long time himself. Pixie is reluctant to say anything as she fears how the rest of the Line will react. To be fair to them, I can imagine at this point, the Line has seen a lot of crazy stuff. I think this revelation would rank rather low on the weird scale for them. 

The Line then interrogate Cassandra. She tells them that she's here to warn them about the Skrulls. This sets Effigy off (remember he's a Skrull himself). Cassie realizes that none of the Line are aware that he's a Skrull himself. Yes, one that has become loyal to Earth, but a Skrull none the less. She wonders what Effigy is up to, and decides to travel further back and find out. Nick Fury has also vanished in the fracas. 

The story ends in Langley, Virginia. Fury is reporting about the battle to his own superiors. He recommends that the Line be allowed to do their thing for now, as they seem to be genuine. The superiors all consider a more important assignment for Colonel Fury...

"I'm just grateful that we overrode Johnson's suggestion..."

Yes, we're also witnessing the birth of SHIELD...

I did find this issue rather enjoyable. It was neat seeing Ruth become Gadfly (it's pretty clear by issue #12 that she figured out how to control her appearance despite her short life), as well as the union of Professor Carmody and Walkabout. I also liked that we got to see some of the dynamics of the First Line at this point, with Effigy being the leader with his secrets to keep, and I also liked Rapunzel. 

Cassandra brings up the "Rapunzel Tragedy" in this issue, and it's a pretty intriguing mystery. Not much is revealed here about it, and since Rapunzel is not seen in the previous two issues, it can be presumed that something bad happened to her. Not necessarily a fatal thing. After all, Rapunzel could have been just comatose or unable to help fight for whatever reason. The Marvel Appendix's entry on Rapunzel theorizes that she was attacked by the Yeti thanks to Korya manipulating him. Would make sense considering their appearances together in #11 and #12. That same entry also stated that Roger Stern himself declined to give any further details, wanting to leave it to future writers to expand on. Sadly, due to the obscurity of this maxiseries, that may never happen. 

As I have said before, this maxiseries has never been collected as a stand-alone trade. It was included in a 2018 Omnibus: The Marvel Universe by John Byrne Vol. 2. However, if don't want that Omnibus, you'll have to look in the back issue section of your local comic shop or find it online. I found all twelve issues on eBay for 50 dollars myself.

National Cereal Day

 Happy National Cereal Day, everyone!