THE UNBOXING - JULY 2020

After a couple months off, The Unboxing returns with two books and a few digital items. First, from Marvel, it's the SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS. I own this run in four formats now -- original comic books, two trade paperbacks, digital versions of those trades, and now this Omnibus. I can't help it; I love Byrne's She-Hulk! Heck, if IDW was ever to offer an Artist's Edition of pages from this run, I'd buy that, too!

Which turns out to be a nice segue to our next book, from IDW: DAVE COCKRUM'S X-MEN ARTIFACT EDITION. Prior to buying this, I owned exactly one Artist/Artifact Edition, which hit The Unboxing just about two years ago, and that was the JOHN BYRNE'S X-MEN ARTIFACT EDITION... so you can see where my tastes lie. Further, since I don't buy these things very often, I went ahead and splurged on the signed and numbered limited edition, which has a "virgin" wraparound cover, as well as a Chris Claremont autograph. I did the same thing with the Byrne book a couple years ago -- it was a Comic-Con exclusive, signed and numbered by Byrne.

THE UNBOXING - SEPTEMBER 2019

We're gonna keep things short and sweet this month, with an all-Digital, all-Marvel Unboxing. I have to admit that I think I actually bought a few of these during some sale or another last month, but for the most part, these are all September purchases as part of Marvel's 80th anniversary BOGO sale at Comixology/Amazon. Thus, the latest additions to my digital lineup are:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EPIC COLLECTION: ASSASSIN NATION
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EPIC COLLECTION: GREAT POWER
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EPIC COLLECTION: THE GOBLIN LIVES
AVENGERS EPIC COLLECTION: FEAR THE REAPER
AVENGERS MASTERWORKS vol. 19
CAPTAIN AMERICA EPIC COLLECTION: THE SUPERIA STRATAGEM
FANTASTIC FOUR: HEROES REBORN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION vol. 1
FANTASTIC FOUR: THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMICS MAGAZINE!
IRON MAN: HEROES REBORN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION vol. 1
LUKE CAGE, POWER MAN MASTERWORKS vol. 3
MASTER OF KUNG FU EPIC COLLECTION: FIGHT WITHOUT PITY
SAVAGE SHE-HULK MASTERWORKS vol. 2
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN MASTERWORKS vol. 2
THING: THE SERPENT CROWN AFFAIR
X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT
X-MEN EPIC COLLECTION: DISSOLUTION AND REBIRTH
X-MEN: GAMBIT: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION vol. 2
X-MEN> ONSLAUGHT AFTERMATH

And that's it for September, True Believers! Catch you back here next month (or not, if I don't wind up getting anything new)!

THE UNBOXING - DECEMBER 2016

The final unboxing of the year is an all-Marvel extravaganza. First up is LUKE CAGE, IRON FIST, AND THE HEROES FOR HIRE volume 1. This mouthful of a title reprints the first half of the late nineties series that was originally called simply HEROES FOR HIRE. I seem to recall this series was advertised as being written by Roger Stern, but John Ostrander eventually stepped in instead and, with Pascual Ferry on art chores, provided a very fun, often funny eighteen-issue series spotlighting several of Marvel's B- and C-list stars. This was one of my favorite Marvel series as it was coming out and it's great to have it collected (in full as of next month, as the second volume was fast-tracked for release in January).

MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #18

Written and Penciled by: John Byrne
Inked by: Kim DeMulder | Colored by: Petra Scotese | Lettered by: Janice Chiang
Editors: Michael Carlin & Michael Higgins | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Nick Fury is instructed by his superiors to bring She-Hulk in for study. Fury takes a leave of absence to protest the order. Later, as She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot are out on a date, a pair of SHIELD Mandroids arrives to arrest her. Following a brief skirmish, the Mandroids, She-Hulk, Wyatt, and a group of bystanders are beamed up to the SHIELD Helicarrier. Aboard, She-Hulk is humiliated by an agent named Dooley before acting director Dum Dum Dugan arrives to confine him to quarters.

Later, as Dum Dum speaks with She-Hulk and Wyatt in his office, he receives a call summoning him to Washington and placing Dooley in charge. With Dum Dum gone, Dooley immediately locks up Wyatt and subjects She-Hulk to a battery of tests. Eventually, after being returned to her cell with Wyatt, She-Hulk changes to Jennifer Walters and slips free.

As Jen explores the helicarrier, Dooley is accosted by a decaying vagrant who wandered away from the teleported bystanders. Soon, the helicarrier begins listing. She-Hulk learns that Dooley cleared the bridge and took control of the craft, so she makes her way into the bridge from outside the ship, where she defeats Dooley. SHIELD agents attempt to retake control of the helicarrier but it crashes. With the vessel’s atomic pile in meltdown, She-Hulk heads inside and disables it.

Later, Mister Fantastic runs tests on She-Hulk and determines that, due to the additional radiation exposure from the pile, she can never again change back into Jennifer Walters.

DOODLES

I like to draw; I've done it forever. It relaxes me. Lately I do it in the Sketchbook app on my iPad, courtesy of Autodesk. Well, I opened the app this morning and found it advertising something called a "Draw Your Favorite Superhero" challenge. There was one for a male hero and one for a female hero, as well as one for a villain.

On a whim, I drew three pictures, created a DeviantArt gallery, and uploaded them for the event. I'm not sure what compelled me to do it, but this is pretty much the very first time I have ever shared my work with the world. Please be gentle.

WHY ISN'T THERE A SHE-HULK TV SERIES?

As the new television season gears up, I find myself wondering about this. It's a weirdly specific question, maybe, but I think it's a reasonable thing to consider. Most iterations of SHE-HULK are tailor-made for TV.

First off, I should say that NetFlix's DAREDEVIL proved to me something I had long suspected: Unencumbered by dumb network "input", a television series really is the best way to do superheroes. I love Marvel's movies, but they're really just snapshots in the characters' lives once every few years. A serialized, episodic TV series is much more in keeping with the nature of superhero comics as they have existed for decades, and that concept really serves the characters best.

But we live in a world where the A-list Marvel heroes will always be on the big screen, leaving TV for the lesser known or more obscure characters -- and I submit that, perhaps after the already announced stable of NetFlix characters -- Daredevil, Power Man, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones -- no Marvel character is a better fit for TV than She-Hulk. I'll even take that a step further and declare that no Marvel character is a better fit specifically for network TV than She-Hulk.

Yes, I just noted above that networks are dumb, and I believe that they frequently devolve TV series far below their potential with stupid, borderline insulting pandering to the broadest possible audience. But -- She-Hulk's premise is practically cast from the network mold: Jennifer Walters is a prosecuting attorney by day, party girl by night, involved in all manner of interpersonal conflicts both in and out of her workplace. The only thing that separates this from a dozen other legal "dramedies" is that the protagonist in this case happens to be six feet tall and green. She's not a superhero by trade, but of course does occasionally get into situations where she must exercise her strength. But at its core, this should be a funny, sexy, primetime TV soap opera which takes place in the Marvel Universe.