I’ve known about it for a couple months but didn’t say anything because I’m not big on making with the bad news.
I have to admit, I’m shocked. Shocked. The market has always been so supportive of books with female leads, and She-Hulk has never had a title canceled out from under her before, so I could never have seen this coming.
PAD
• 
I’ve been dropping monthly books left & right with an eye towards making the “Trade Transition” She-Hulk was one of the few I was still buying monthly.
Then again, I’m 39, who cares what I think.
I’ve been dropping monthly books left & right with an eye towards making the “Trade Transition” She-Hulk was one of the few I was still buying monthly.
Then again, I’m 39, who cares what I think.
GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Bloody hëll! I was really enjoying that book!
Hi, by the way. I haven’t posted here before but I’ve been enjoying your stuff since…holy crap, the 7th grade or so, and I’m 33 now. Jeez, you’ve been at this a long time. Anyway, we’ve met at a couple of cons. Perhaps you remember me – I was the guy on the other side of the table with a line of people behind me carrying piles of Hulk comics.
-=ShoEboX=-
Well, it was worth a shot (working on She-Hulk). And I’m glad you took it.
Roots so successful that the book was canceled three times before I ever wrote a single word of it.
PAD
Actually didn’t you write one issue of Sen She Hulk back in the day?
Also New Exiles is being cancelled too.
“Roots so successful that the book was canceled three times before I ever wrote a single word of it.”
So you changed her profession, and it was still canceled. I think the low sales had/have more to do with the character (and, let’s face it, her gender) than with her profession, or the way Dan Slott handled it (which was often brilliant).
With She-Hulk, Birds of Prey, Manhunter, and Spider-Girl canceled, it’s not a good time to be a superheroine (yeah, like it ever was). Or a superheroine fan, like myself.
One day upon returning from the comic store I put them in a stack on my desk. My fiance started laughing and said, “She-Hulk?! Really?!” and I tried to explain what it was and who was writing it and what made it so good but she couldn’t get past the title. I’ll admit the title sounds cheesy at first (like Battlestar Galactica, to be honest). Anyway, the fans know what it’s really all about but the general public, I’m afraid, sees it and laughs, and have to believe that’s one of the reasons it went under.
This doesn’t help with She-Hulk, but the solicit for X-Factor #40 looks REALLY good. *is excited*
Seems like there’s been a lot of cancellations recently, and prices are increasing too. Maybe we can blame the economy on this one.
Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. I decided to drop the book after the Secret Invasion issues.
I have to admit, lately I’ve found the title kinda… boring.
I had high hopes, expecting the intelligence of PAD’s run on Hulk with the zaniness he poured into Captain Marvel. Instead we got a bitter She-Hulk in an RV. Gah!
Don’t worry, she’ll be back. She’s one of Marvel’s most recognizable characters.
DH the Lurker
She Hulk, Birds of Prey, Blue Beetle, Robin, Nightwing. Wow they are really clearing house.
I have been collecting comics since 1982 and I have to say I am sometimes glad when series get cancelled. The books are expensive and I already spend close to $200.00 a month on titles. Plus quality of art and story bounce around so much in a title.
I would rather have more of what we saw with Ultimates and Young Avengers (and Robin and Birds of Prey when they first started).
Lets have more maxi series where the writer and artist have 12 issues to tell a story, its a tight story and if that sells well then lets have another 12 issue series down the road. Keep people wanting more and build a fan base.
I think Peter is amazing the way he can keep going for millions of issues on a single comics (Supergirl and Young Justice) but I think he is the exception that makes the rule.
I think the low sales had/have more to do with the character (and, let’s face it, her gender) than with her profession, or the way Dan Slott handled it (which was often brilliant).
Yes. It was brilliant.
And then it was canceled for the third time in its history.
PAD
You know what, if we can’t change Marvel’s mind about cancelling She-Hulk, we can at LEAST let them know we exist, and that there are a lot more fans of this character than Marvel realizes. This may lead to if not a Liberators series (which I strongly suspect would be short-lived), at least more appearances in other books and maybe Jen will return to the Avengers again. (Notwithstanding her betrayal by Tony Stark, I think her character is better suited to Mighty rather than New Avengers.)
And while it won’t save the book, I want every She-Hulk fan who liked PAD’s run to write him a personal thank you note and let him know how much he is appreciated.
I’ll post the addresses later.
Well, it did a brilliant job of appealing to it’s small audience. 30 thousand enthusastic readers is brilliant. 200 thousand “just barely interested, but still buying it” readers is a different kind of brilliant.
Or maybe I just think it was brilliant because I liked it, which is the same way that I see Fallen Angel. Some books don’t have the biggest audience, but they’re still worth doing for the enjoyment they bring their small audience.
I’m really glad She-Hulk was around as long as it was. I would have liked it to go longer. Heck, I’m still bitter about Spidey 2099 getting canceled. But I’m grateful the things I liked lasted as long as they did.
She-Hulk will be back. A title can’t get cancelled so often without having a knack for coming back.
I just have to say—Savage She-Hulk was actually the very first comic series I ever collected. I had been buying comics all through the 70’s but never focused on any one particular book. I didn’t consciously decide to do that until She-Hulk. And suddenly it was like a bolt from the blue—I thought it was so cool to do that. In my young naievte I thought one day I would be buying Savage She-Hulk #500 and I would have every single issue.
It never occured to me back then that it could get canceled. So,ironically, the very first comic I ever collected was also the first to get canceled on me. And I remember feeling the blow of hearing that news like it was yesterday. To this day, a She-Hulk cancellation provides a bit more of a pang of disappointment than just about anything else.
PAD did a fantastic job—no doubt about it. My hopes now would be that either Marvel has a change of heart on the cancellation or She-Hulk gets a regular gig somewhere fast.
I LOVE the idea of a Lady Liberators ongoing. It could be kind of like Birds of Prey with She-Hulk as the central character and a wide range of other heroines could get involved as the cases warrant it. Also, with Dan Slott taking over Mighty Avengers, it would seem a natural fit for Shulkie to join the team again. Or maybe a Last Defenders series ?
SIGH—I am really going to miss this book. It was by far the best of all of She-Hulk’s series and I am still gonna hold out a little bit of hope that Marvel might reconsider.
“This doesn’t help with She-Hulk, but the solicit for X-Factor #40 looks REALLY good. *is excited*”
Word. The John Maddox issue was one of the best comics I read last year.
WHAT!? Noooo Your writing of She-hulk was the best writing of She-hulk EVER. Your writing was the only reason I picked that title back up! This is awful! It was awesome! Is X-factor doing good? This is awful.:(
Well that just sucks. I liked the book it was a fun ride with She-Hulk the Bounty Hunter.
Sorry. Guess my only getting the crossover issues killed it.
Ok, in all seriousness, I am sorry it didn’t work out. But to the various comments aimed at Marvel, I have to say one thing: If it was selling well, I really doubt they would have canceled it. I do think it is pathetic that there is such a lack of strong female lead comic books. I would think they would sell. Who knows why not. If someone did, they could make a bunch of money.
Iowa Jim
Folks, do you just want to complain and moan about She-Hulk getting cancelled or do you want to do something about it?
I mentioned before that I was going to post an address, and here’s more. This is veterans’ advice from people who have repeatedly saved their book from cancellation again and again:
http://www.comicboards.com/app/show.php?msg=spidergirl-2008101419431234
– First of all, write a real letter. Put a stamp on it and send it by snail mail. Real letters are taken seriously. E-mails aren’t.
– Second, be polite. No, we aren’t happy with another cancellation announcement, but we’ll lose the battle by insulting the decision makers who can save the book.
– Third, if you have or know any children who are [She-Hulk] fans, encourage them to write a letter. Do not write a letter for them! Let them express themselves. Marvel needs to know that real children love this book and this character, and that the potential exists that more children will fall in love with [She-Hulk].
[This advice doesn’t quite apply to She-Hulk, since her book isn’t really aimed at children. However, if any women or teenage girls do write Marvel about She-Hulk, I think it will be a big help—Eddie]
– Finally, send letters to as many as the following people as you can. Writing to the editorial directors isn’t enough. The board of directors has to hear from us, too.
Use this address:
Marvel Entertainment, Inc.
417 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016
And write to these people:
MARVEL COMICS
Dan Buckley, Publisher
Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief
Tom Brevoort, Executive Editor
David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Publishing Sales and Circulation
Michale Pasciullo, Vice President of Merchandising
CORPORATE
Isaac Perlmutter, Chief Executive Officer
David Maisel, Executive Vice President
John Turitzin, Executive Vice President
Alan Fine, Publishing Division CEO
Kenneth P. West, Chief Financial Officer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Morton E. Handel, Chairman of the Board
F. Peter Cuneo, Vice Chairman of the Board
James W. Breyer, Director
Laurence N. Charney, Director
Sid Ganis, Director
James F. Halpin, Director
Richard L. Solar, Director
I know that in this economy, budgets are very tight. (So are Marvel’s. Think it’s a coincidence that all these books are getting axed NOW?) But if fans want to save She-Hulk, they’ll have to do more than just write letters.
First, subscribe: (If you are already a subcriber and haven’t done so already—renew.)
http://subscriptions.marvel.com/title/SHE-HULK
If She-Hulk is still cancelled, you can transfer the subscription to another title—like X-Factor.
Second, I have not seen any solicitations for new She-Hulk trades, but I did see this at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/She-Hulk-7-Here-Today-TPB/dp/0785129669/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227179313&sr=1-1
If Marvel hears about a slew of pre-orders for this book, this may give them second thoughts about both the character and the title.
Got to go to work now. Bye!
I think you are strongly overestimating the effect dedicated fans have on companies. When it comes right down to it, a hundred dedicated fans can write a hundred gushing letters, but they can’t bring another twenty thousand readers to the book, which is what is needful in order for it to be kept.
They’re a company, a business. All that matters is the bottom line. Yeah, you know, fans of titles like Spider-Girl and Manhunter wrote enthusiastically and got their titles uncanceled, only for them to be canceled again not long after.
Maybe the readership just isn’t there. If there are a hundred thousand comics collectors who’ll buy anything with Batman or Wolverine in it, regardless of whether they read or enjoy it, there simply isn’t that kind of fandom for She-Hulk. It’s harder with female characters, yes, but that’s because they often have dubious pasts and almost all of them are spinoffs of male heroes.
Then again, female leads make consistently better and more interesting solo books, so maybe that’s the tradeoff.
Me, I’m more worried about the supporting cast. She-Hulk will eventually show up in the Avengers, or Fantastic Four, or the Hulk, or somewhere. Once the solo title gets canceled, though, Jazinda is probably gone for good. Which is a crying shame, because I loved her rapport with Jennifer.
I want to thank you Peter David and Dan Slott for your work on She-Hulk. I enjoyed both of your runs equally, I am saddened that the book is going to be canceled. It was the one book I enjoyed and looked forward to every month. Its a shame she couldn’t at least have a few more issues to tie up any loose ends.
As a fan of She-Hulk I know she’ll be fine. Marvel won’t get rid of her that easily (she deserves much more than that). She will probably join the Mighty Avengers or the FF. What’s going to happen to Jazinda? She will be missed. Here’s hoping to another one shot or mini down the line, where they meet up again.
So thank you Peter and Dan for the work and effort you put into the book. It was greatly appreciated.
What’s really disappointing to me, and that no one has touched on that I’ve seen, is that the canceling of this book means no more Jazinda. She-Hulk will eventually land somewhere because she always does, but Jazinda was a great character that was unique to your run on the book, Mr. David, and I’m worried she’ll just fall off the map now.
Tom Brevoort has written about this subject a few times. Apparently, letter writing campaigns aren’t what saved Spider-Girl all those times. In addition to writing letters, the fans also managed to do things that caused sales to spike. These spikes didn’t last long, but they were significant enough to give Marvel reason to postpone cancelation.
I am dropping 50% off my titles in the next couple of months (baby on the way) but She-Hulk was NOT going to be one of them.
PAD, are they moving you to another Marvel book? You would write a great Fantastic Four. You characterization of Kebron on Star Trek: New Frontier always make me think of Ben (The Thing). I think the whole crew of the Excalibur has a comic-superheroes-in-starfleet kind of feel.
You have done some work for Dynamite so how about a Battlestar Galactica series. There is nobody more qualified than you for that job.
Ðámņ. I feel pretty bad that the last thing I posted re. the book was pretty much confined to complaining about what a jerk Thundra seemed to be.
I was looking forward to the next thread here asking what people thought so I could say that other than Thundra, I did enjoy the most recent issue. If I had it in front of me now it would be easier to list what I thought of as the good points, but off the top of my head they would be…
-Valkyrie’s description of how the Skrull ship smelled and her attempts to persuade her horse to get on board
-The tension between Jen and Jaz due to the need for the latter to pose as a Shi’ar.
-The nature of the team’s mission, since you don’t see humanitarian-type stuff being done by super-teams as often as you see them engaging in slugfests. (And of course by the end this looked like it was about to turn into a slugfest, but that’s to be expected in the genre.)
-The meta commentary about the team’s name.
And more.
I’m glad that they’re apparently not just going to pull the plug and that there will be a next issue for me to buy. I’m gonna stick around until the end. I first picked up the title because I knew if you were writing it, then it would probably be pretty good and I wasn’t disappointed.
Obama wins=you lose work.
Coincidence????????
Both a cheap shot and an incredibly stupid one.
Actually, iirc, there are three: She-Hulk, Ms Marvel, and Amazing Spider-Girl (also ending soon).
Great, and of those three Ms. Marvel has got the least name recognition so the days of that title are probably numbered as well.
Sad state of affairs.
Well, PAD, it’s come to this. I am here to add my comments regarding the cancellation of one of my favorite titles. This would happen after I cover the PBA Tour in Taylor (You know what I mean).
First off, I want to thank you Peter and Dan Slott for your work hard work. I have enjoyed reading She Hulk since her Savage days. Words can not express my true feelings regarding this. But, as it was stated in earlier threads, She Hulk has been canceled three other times and has bounced back. I mean, let’s face facts, Marvel DOES NOT have a female lead character that could match up blow-for-blow with DC’s flagship female lead character Wonder Woman like She Hulk. Wonder Woman has a solo animated DVD slated for a 2009 release. Could that lead to Jennifer’s comeback? Can you say She Hulk full length animated DVD?
Only time will tell.
As a true fan of She-Hulk, I know she’ll be fine. She might end up with the Mighty Avengers or the FF again.
But, what’s going to happen to Jazinda? Will she be missed? Don’t know. She had more issues than Jennifer. The only reason that they had rapport is because they had to put up with each other. They both burned down so many bridges that they were dependant to each other. Nobody else would put up with either one of them.
BTW, it would have been interesting to see what kind of drama a bi-sexual female charater like Thundra would have caused. For those who don’t know this, in a one shot earlier this year, Thundra traveled to the past to get knocked up by The Hulk. Good for her. I’m not sure if you could call the Hulk the last american virgin after the explorts of Joe Fixit in Vegas. 🙂
Anyway, thank you Peter and Dan for the work and effort you put into the book. It was greatly appreciated.
I’m done.
Darrin
It just struck me that She-Hulk has been referred to being canceled 3 times before this—do people really consider the first season of this series to have been canceled ? I never looked at it that way. They told us right off the bat it was being treated as a first season and would relaunch so I consider those 12 issues all part of this same She-Hulk series. To me, this will be the 3rd cancelation. But oh well—no matter how you slice it, it sucks. This is the Marvel book I most look forward to reading every month.
If we can’t get She-Hulk back– I second the idea of some sort of PAD Fantastic Four project. I liked his Reed Richards mini a lot and his portrayal of Ben in his FF novel last year was spot on.
Though I think Peter could write a hëll of a Deadpool story. He might be able to make X-Force worth reading. Yes, we all know he could fix Hulk. (No pun intended.) That’s a no brainer. PAD is good at taking one-note characters (Hulk, Wolverine) and making them work. I wonder what PAD could do with somebody like Morbius.
If we can’t get She-Hulk back– I second the idea of some sort of PAD Fantastic Four project. I liked his Reed Richards mini a lot and his portrayal of Ben in his FF novel last year was spot on.
Though I think Peter could write a hëll of a Deadpool story. He might be able to make X-Force worth reading. Yes, we all know he could fix Hulk. (No pun intended.) That’s a no brainer. PAD is good at taking one-note characters (Hulk, Wolverine) and making them work. I wonder what PAD could do with somebody like Morbius.
Though I think Peter could write a hëll of a Deadpool story.
Me too! I’ve said before that PAD’s sense of humor and pop culture knowledge is just what you want in a Deadpool writer, or in a writer who pens a story that has Deadpool in it. And with Siryn in X-Factor right now, there’s already a reason for Wade Wilson to show up there.
Heh…now I’m thinking what it would be like if Madrox wasn’t able to get to the delivery room in time and Wade ended up filling in for him. Have we ever seen Deadpool participate in the delivery of a baby? This is something that needs to happen. Really.
You know, this not only sucks but truly surprises me. I would think the “Secret Invasion” tie-ins would have bought some books like “She-Hulk” and “New Warriors” some time.
Obviously not, which is a shame. And I don’t think we can just blame “the economy”, since, as others have said, “She-Hulk” sold better than other books that will be on the shelves after it’s gone.
As for the female characters being in short supply, especially with the cancellations of “She-Hulk”, “Manhunter”, “Amazing Spider-Girl”, “Catwoman” and (however temporary before an expected relaunch) “Birds of Prey”, well, these are all different kinds of books.
The problem is many females see these books, however well-written, as juvenile. Meanwhile, many of those addicted to comics would rather use their dollars to buy the latest Wolverine one-shot than ever give a book like “She-Hulk” a chance.
Comic retailers could help with this, but I have have yet to meet a comic shop owner I buy from that I can talk to about “Manhunter”, “She-Hulk”, “Buffy” or “Ms. Marvel”. Or “Anita Blake. Hëll, many retailers think so much with testosterone that I think if an opportunity like a “Twilight” comic came out, I feel they would succeed in spite of themselves, and have no idea how the hëll to promote it.
Very sorry this is being cancelled, PAD. And you can’t lay all the blame on Marvel or retailers. If the market can support literally 20+ books a month with Wolverine in them, but can’t support these “lower-tier” titles, it says something about readership preferences as well.
Roots so successful that the book was canceled three times before I ever wrote a single word of it.
My understanding of things was that the Slott iteration became successful enough for it to be quickly started up again after the third cancellation, it was successful enough for Marvel to keep it going beyond its standard twelve issues in that fourth volume, and it was successful enough that Marvel didn’t simply stop the title when the writer moved onto another title.
And what’s more, I remember you telling us how you’d decided to wrongfoot the readers and play against type – both in terms of the book’s format and what your own fans expected of you – by doing away with the self-referential humour aspects of the book (which you’d already developed a knack for in your first run on Captain Marvel – in fact, it reminded me why I hated the Captain Marvel relaunch). So, as a fan of the book, and a fan of Peter David’s humour-flavoured material, I felt thrown off.
And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why you did it – as you say yourself, repeatedly, it’s not like this character’s ever been an easy sell. It seemed to me that Dan Slott (who, unlike Byrne, didn’t come with a pre-established audience) had caught lightning in a bottle with his take on the character and, to be frank, you dropped the bottle and let it roll under the desk, never to be seen again. And I feel like it’s such a waste because you’ve proven before you’re entirely capable of writing a book in that sort of format. In fact I’ve little doubt that Slott took direct inspiration from you when he was writing it.
I did it that way because I felt I had no choice. She had been betrayed by everyone and everything she believed in. I felt that to have her proceed as if everything was status quo, with humor and hilarity resulting, it would be intellectually dishonest. Furthermore, considering that fans are always crying for actual character impact as a result of the events they experience, I believed that fans deserved to see her dealing with the consequences of what she had endured.
It never occurred to me that when she showed up in “Hulk” acting as if nothing had ever happened, fans would be perfectly okey-doke with that. Rest assured, I’m going to remember that next time fans complain about lack of follow-through.
PAD
Well, she didn’t feel betrayed by GLK&H – as she admitted in #18, she really belonged there all along (although admittedly I’m not sure how caught-up you were when you started writing the book, and I know Slott was very behind with his scripts by that point). And that’s the very fun-filled environment I was sorry to see go. And I felt like She-Hulk’s newfound opposition to the SHRA brought with it a natural avenue for fresh storylines in the courtroom.
“It never occurred to me that when she showed up in “Hulk” acting as if nothing had ever happened, fans would be perfectly okey-doke with that. Rest assured, I’m going to remember that next time fans complain about lack of follow-through.”
Remember a while back when you were asking for suggestions/questions to use in your next ‘Writing Comics’ book, Peter? Well, I think you just got handed a great chapter.
I’ve seen a lot of writers say that the best work that they’ve done has usually been stuff that they were basically writing for themselves and their worst work (in terms of satisfaction and/or sales) were the works they wrote based on what they thought others wanted. You’ve even referenced things like that in your BID column. It seems to me that you’ve got the workings of a great chapter to remind yourself of that and to help fledgling writers understand that writing what you think others want you to write isn’t always the best way to do things.
She had been betrayed by everyone and everything she believed in. I felt that to have her proceed as if everything was status quo, with humor and hilarity resulting, it would be intellectually dishonest.
I think this is part of what killed it for me. I hated the execution of Civil War, because the new “heroes turned agents of a police state” status quo made the MU a much more ugly, depressing, and hopeless place. I was looking for books that would do their best to minimize its impact on them. X-Factor didn’t really have to contend with this since, y’know, mutants have always been hated and feared, and because of that, you’re able to show them taking their plight with a degree of bemusement.
But She-Hulk got depressed, and it was sort of depressing and dull for me to read. I don’t want you to feel like you’re in a box and you have to only do slapstick hilarity, but She-Hulk is more of an upbeat character. I’d rather have seen her go completely rogue and flout Stark and the SHRA with abandon. I see her as the type to put a grin and carefree attitude on to mask her inner pain.
She goes completely rogue and flouts Stark.
Which conflicts with the events in “Hulk” even more than what I was doing, where she’s working hand-in-glove with the very people who screwed her over (and you would have her openly working against.)
See the problem?
PAD
Hmm, yeah. I wasn’t taking that into account since I’m not reading Hulk, but obviously you have to. If I’m understanding correctly, they didn’t even consult you on how they would be handling the title character of your book when she appeared in another, which really sucks.
It all goes to underscore the problem with the endgame of Civil War; how do you get past the fact that half the heroes in the MU have become agents of a quasi-fascistic regime? Any book that accepts it as the status quo (rather than actively working against it in a heroic crusade) necessarily takes on a bleak outlook; who wants to read about a hero who’s given up fighting injustice and is simply going with the system?
On the other hand, it sounds like the approach in Hulk is just to ignore it, which begs the question, what’s the point of the new status quo? It just seems like a degree of tinkering with the Marvel Universe’s foundations that winds up disrupting everyone’s stories and characters.
Another reader here who was buying Slott’s series, and stopped buying it after PAD took over (after giving PAD two or three trial issues). I don’t know from sales figures; I can only speak for myself. SHE-HULK was not a book where I cared a great deal about continuity issues or going back and rereading story-arcs. All I asked was that it be a fun read every month.
The thing I liked about Slott’s run wasn’t the law firm in itself. I also liked the “Agent of SHIELD” issues. What I liked was all the interesting supporting characters. I saw the book more as an ensemble cast in which Jennifer herself was the continuing thread that held it together. (Sort of like the old show Ally McBeal). I think what turned me off about PAD’s run was ultimately… too much She-Hulk! It turns out that the character on her own wasn’t interesting enough to keep me reading.
Rob Brown said
>Me too! I’ve said before that PAD’s sense of >humor and pop culture knowledge is just what you >want in a Deadpool writer, or in a writer who >pens a story that has Deadpool in it. And with >Siryn in X-Factor right now, there’s already a >reason for Wade Wilson to show up there.
At Baltimore Comicon in 2006- I performed an experiment on Dan Didio which lead to the Captain Carrot and Ambush Bug miniseries (which to this day he thinks were Jann Jones ideas thanks to my shiny donut). We have to find some one to do the same thing to Joe Quesada. This is a regular series so it could take more persuading. Hmm– I’ll find my hypno gear. You start placing subliminal messages in his Alphabits.
Rob Brown said
>Me too! I’ve said before that PAD’s sense of >humor and pop culture knowledge is just what you >want in a Deadpool writer, or in a writer who >pens a story that has Deadpool in it. And with >Siryn in X-Factor right now, there’s already a >reason for Wade Wilson to show up there.
At Baltimore Comicon in 2006- I performed an experiment on Dan Didio which lead to the Captain Carrot and Ambush Bug miniseries (which to this day he thinks were Jann Jones ideas thanks to my shiny donut). We have to find some one to do the same thing to Joe Quesada. This is a regular series so it could take more persuading. Hmm– I’ll find my hypno gear. You start placing subliminal messages in his Alphabits.
Hmm, yeah. I wasn’t taking that into account since I’m not reading Hulk, but obviously you have to. If I’m understanding correctly, they didn’t even consult you on how they would be handling the title character of your book when she appeared in another, which really sucks.
Nope, they didn’t. In fact, I didn’t even know she WAS going to be in Hulk. Had I known, I probably would have done things differently. As it was, there were thousands of readers who were not saying, “Gee, they’re portraying her wrong in “Hulk.” Instead they were saying, “Why should we care about her hero’s journey in her own title when she’s obviously gotten over her hostility toward Stark over in Hulk?”
It all goes to underscore the problem with the endgame of Civil War; how do you get past the fact that half the heroes in the MU have become agents of a quasi-fascistic regime?
Well, in my case, you have She-Hulk respond by souring on the very concept of heroism with the expectation that fans will follow her on her journey toward rediscovering the essence of what’s involved in being a hero. And then you discover that they won’t, because it’s apparently too deep for what they want from a She-Hulk book.
PAD
Nope, they didn’t. In fact, I didn’t even know she WAS going to be in Hulk.
That’s…insane.
Obviously this isn’t a deliberate slap–if they hated you they just wouldn’t hire you–but it seems to indicate that Marvel is something of a rudderless ship. One gets the feeling that Jim Shooter, for all his negative qualities, wouldn’t have allowed that to happen. (Or maybe it’s just that I have a soft spot for the Shooter Era, since it coincided with my own Golden Age of comics reading).
At any rate, this is no way to run a comics company.
Well, in my case, you have She-Hulk respond by souring on the very concept of heroism with the expectation that fans will follow her on her journey toward rediscovering the essence of what’s involved in being a hero. And then you discover that they won’t, because it’s apparently too deep for what they want from a She-Hulk book.
Ok, now I’m getting a clearer picture of where you were headed. Hindsight is 20/20, but maybe it would have been better to have a counterpoint character with a different view, to make that sort of journey more engaging. Jazinda often seemed as depressed as Jen.
I loved the idea of Jen souring on being a hero due to what happened to her and then finding her way back. It felt like a totally natural, organic part of the story not like a sudden new direction. I never doubted for a second that Jen would find her way back—she is a hero, even if she momentarily forgets that or wants to walk away from that—-but her doing just that is what made it so interesting.
I hope that maybe since this series has been so critically well received through out it’s run, Marvel won’t wait another 10 years to try She-Hulk out in her own series again.
One thing I am wondering—if it is really ending (providing we can’t change Marvel’s mind)what about that plot thread with the Man-Elephant ? Will we see something happen with that before the end ?
From the looks of the solicitations, the Man-Elephant story is the focus of the final issue.
Oh good–I am glad it will get addressed as I really liked that one of She-Hulk’s most lame villains from her very first series was brought back into this with potential to be a real threat.
sorry to hear the news. I quit all comics last year. I tuned in hear periodically to get in touch, but no more comics. The problem again is price. They become too expensive. And there are too many titles. You are competing with Johns, Morrison, Rucka, Tomasi, JMS, Bendis, Millar, Brubaker, Reed, Fraction, Waid, Slott and too many others and dollars are limited. you alone have at least 5 titles. That’s $22 a month for just you. Most new books are now $4 You just can’t buy that much now. DC has Final Crisis, Batman RIP, and Green Lantern events, plus now a Flash event coming up. Marvel just keeps going with more events. 3 Spidey’s a month. It’s just too much. At these prices it’s hard to get new readers interested.
Joe V.