She Hulk

So today when I went to the comic book store on Main Street I don’t think I’d ever been in there before, but after my recent experience with the Marvel iPhone App and the Marvel Wikia I had a craving for some graphic novels. As fate would have it, they had some on sale used. I looked at many Marvel ones, but one that was right on top was She Hulk: Single Green Female.

It was only six or seven dollars so I bought it. I then ended up looking at some of the new books and asked for some concerning the Illuminati, a name Marvel has appropriated for a secret group of the world’s heroes. I haven’t read them all, but I just finished the She Hulk and was reminded why I liked the character.

She Hulk is cancelled again

She Hulk has now had three series, Savage, Sensational, and just She Hulk. Single Green Female I’ve learned compiled the first issues of the most recent She Hulk series. The one I’m most familiar with is the Sensational She Hulk which for a long time was done by John Byrne. Like Groo, She Hulk is humorous, it also is a super hero book so you get big fight scenes. And since She Hulk is six foot nine and over three hundred pounds you get your Amazon fix. She is Marvel’s answer to Wonder Woman apparently. According to the Wikipedia, Chris Griffin is a fan of She Hulk.

She’s no Wonder Woman

I’m no Wonder Woman expert, I’ve never been a fan of hers, but I know she long had a solo title. It is hard for a female solo title to sell well. Sensational She Hulk lasted the longest and despite being a fan favourite she appears to have been canceled again. She Hulk has appeared in the Fantastic Four and the Avengers and I guess will appear in those and other books, though she may be getting a mini-series and she’s been regularly featured in her cousin‘s book(s). The Illuminati apparently got rid of the Hulk and he came back pissed and looking for revenge, the other graphics novels I bought deal with that story line.

She shows up in crossovers

I want to learn more about the Intelligentsia which is a group of villains, but I couldn’t find much on Marvel’s site or the fan Wikia. I’ve also decided to buy at some point in the future the Secret Wars Omnibus and the Secret Wars II Omnibus. When I was a younger comic book fan I much preferred Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC’s first big crossover, now they’ve become regular summer events in both fictional universes. I own the collected Crisis 12 issue mini-series and possibly some of the cross overs, I think I collected most of Knightfall when I got back into comics in high school.

My Comic Book Collection is in Storage

My return to comics coincided with the first comic book store being opened in Duncan, though maybe I never stopped collecting. Back in the day I used to have mail order subscriptions and would spend birthday money and such at Island Fantasies in Nanaimo or sometimes even Victoria. I don’t know how many comics I have. I kinda liked volume, buying lots of cheap used comics, sometimes 100’s at a time through mail order. I think that is how I got Savage She Hulk number one. One day I hope to collect some old slightly cheesy and obscure Marvel titles, complete sets. But that is a project for long in the future.

I found a website to enter your comic collection in, I used to hand track and value my comics. As I got older I realized you can’t get list price for them or your hockey cards and I never sell anything anyway. I’ve given or traded some comics and cards away, but rarely for money. I should sell some of my comics as not all of them are that sentimental to me. But my dad supposedly had his comic book collection thrown out by my grandma, so mine remains in my mom’s storage room along with my card collection and other old stuff. I don’t know when I’ll ever have a place big enough for it all.

In addition to getting back into collecting comics in high school and the early 90’s. Eric Chang and I also tried drawing them. It never came effortlessly or easy to me and Eric, though Shawn another friend from middle school seemed to be able to draw straight to ink. I was always more comfortable in pencil where I could erase. I discovered I was no good at drawing feet. I used to read Wizard regularly and try to improve.

Scanned some old artwork

I found some scans from my sketchbook, including some of She Hulk. My even older sketchbook from when I was in grade school I wish I had because I swear I came up with a character that was later introduced… I was pretty good at coloring and maybe sketching She Hulk helped me learn to paint green well. I rarely draw now a days, I haven’t even painted in a month or two. These old sketches are followed by a couple fan art pics of She Hulk I turned up in Google’s Image search.

She Hulk is often drawn in risque or a bit naughty poses. At some point in 1992 apparently I took to trying to duplicate professional quality comic drawing, rather than create 100% unique pieces. I still did original work, even original characters, but I only scanned a few. I think Moon Knight came out looking the best. Comics have gotten grittier and the art work more detailed even than it was in the early 90’s which saw a resurgence in comic book sales. Just look at the Moon Knight on Marvel’s website.

Improving Blog Quality

I’ve been maintaining websites for too long, most give up if there isn’t any money in it or if it causes problems in their personal life, but not me, I persist in my folly, which is why instead of going out I am alone in my room editing webpages and drinking a beer. Don’t be like me, learn to monetize your website early or give up, don’t just keep running fan websites or a blog, get a real job, create an app, do your own startup or something. Some people can make social media or blogging pay, I am one of the people who is always not turning something into a career whether it is web design or video game design or painting or beer because I want a ‘real job’. Someday soon I may have to just pick a random idea I have for a business and go for it, because working for the man has not worked out for me.

Every couple years it seems I edit hundreds of old blog posts to try and improve the Quality. I’ve also deleted hundreds to start 2019. I’m once again looking for a ‘real job’. I should have started a business after my MBA or instead of going to China. I had ideas, I talked to people but I never had a partner and I never got much positive feedback even though other people have successfully started the exact businesses I proposed. Instead I studied for years for the CFA® exams passing them all, but it has not lead to a new job. If you have any leads on thoughts on drawing comic book characters or even painting miniatures you can leave a comment below.

This entry was originaly posted on May 26th, 2010, it was last edited on April 3rd, 2019 and is filed under: The Arts and tagged: Comics, She Hulk, 健美.