John Byrne’s run on She-Hulk continues to polarize readers for its foregrounding of the male gaze, but the series pushed 4th wall breaks in comics to new heights with a clear trajectory toward wildly popular modern characters such as Harley Quinn and Deadpool. #SheHulk 1/5
In an interview with Syfy, Byrne provides a full account of where this aspect of the character came from: 2/5
"When [Marvel editor] Mark Gruenwald was talking to me about doing a new She-Hulk book, he said, 'Find a way to make it different,'" recalled Byrne. "I took the subway home, and on the way I thought, 'She knows she's in a comic book.'" 3/5
Byrne was by no means the inventor of the 4th wall break in comics, a tradition whose history includes early comic strips by Winsor McCay, as well as breakout superhero characters like Mr. Mxyzptlk, Howard the Duck, and even Superman himself. 4/5
Never before, however, had a mainstream Marvel character had so much of their existence embroiled in self-awareness and in a direct address to both readers and creators. 5/5
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Superhero comics didn’t invent retroactive continuity but have become strongly associated with it. Some retcons shock readers or streamline stories. “Alias” offers a critical retcon that self-reflexively comments on its own history and context. 1/12 #JessicaJones #comicsstudies
Alias employs a variety of techniques to insert Jessica Jones into the existing fictional history of the Marvel comics universe. The character’s history is initially hinted at through photos of Jessica dressed as a superhero standing next to the Avengers. 2/12
Jessica locates the photos firmly in her past. They’re also located within the past of the superhero genre through the extreme contrast between their brightly coloured, smiling world and Jessica’s more grounded, noirish present, where she’d never wear white spandex. 3/12
Alias was created – quite specifically – to be something different from mainstream Marvel comics of the time, and those differences create a series of visual challenges for the artwork. #JessicaJones 1/7
Most notably, Jessica Jones is a noir detective story, not a punch-em-up superhero spectacle. The majority of scenes are constructed around tense, rapid-fire dialogue rather than action sequences. 2/7
It is this exact problem that inspired Wally Wood’s famous “22 Panels that Always Work: or some interesting ways to get some variety into those boring panels where some dumb writer has a bunch of lame characters sitting around and talking for page after page!” 3/7
Because Western culture has historically privileged the male gaze, the act of looking can be gendered. As John Berger famously said of Western art, “Men act and women appear.” But “Alias” deliberately—and self-reflexively—foregrounds a woman who looks. #JessicaJones 1/11
“Alias” emphasizes the gaze of Jessica Jones both narratively and stylistically. At a plot level, her job as a private investigator affords her an active, knowledgeable gaze. She uses experience, technology, and various special skills to see things others don’t. 2/11
Stylistically, too, Michael Gaydos’ page composition, framing, and panelling routinely emphasizes Jessica’s active, knowledgeable gaze. Her face and eyes are prioritized, and we often spend multiple panels watching her watch people as well as photos and videos she’s taken. 3/11
“Alias” by Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos with covers by David Mack ran for 28 issues from 2001-2004. It was the first title in Marvel’s MAX imprint for “mature” readers & puts its creative freedom to good use introducing a revolutionary female character—Jessica Jones. 1/9
Jessica is a former superhero & current private investigator who often finds herself embroiled in cases involving fellow supers. Jessica isn’t an antihero; she's committed to justice. But she is selfish, flawed, and unapologetically vulgar. Her comic's first word is “f*ck.” 2/9
In her baggy jeans, sneakers, and oversize leather jacket, Jessica defies the superhero genre’s historical hyper-objectification of female characters. Her revisionist narrative also interrogates sexist tropes. 3/9
Teen Titans #50 marks the end of the illustrious first Wolfman/Pérez run on the series and features a brilliant character scene between Nightwing and Batman that showcases the incredible talent that made the Wolfman/Pérez work so special in the first place. #TeenTitans 1/11
Robin’s transition to Nightwing is built up slowly throughout the course of the Titans franchise as the story of a young man seeking to escape the shadow of his beloved but emotionally distant father-figure, a perfect vehicle for exploring “Teen” self-discovery. 2/11
The simple one-page scene opens with a group of amorous on-lookers staring at the dynamic duo from afar, thus establishing the kind of panoptic pressures under which the Batman/Robin relationship is and has always been negotiated. These are public figures. 3/11
In just the second issue of The New Teen Titans, Wolfman and Pérez created what would become the defining antagonist for the series, as well as one of the most popular and boundary-pushing villains in DC history: Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke. #TeenTitans #Deathstroke. 1/10
At a time when the bronze age of comics was transitioning its depictions of villainy from a focus on mad scientists to personifications of free-market capitalism run amok, Deathstroke was, objectively and obviously, neither of those things. 2/10
Instead, Wolfman and Pérez portrayed the character as a highly capable, amoral mercenary built in the Miltonian hero mould, at the same time that Marvel’s Wolverine and Punisher were achieving new heights of popularity with a similar antiheroic portrayal. 3/10