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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In the 1940s comics by William Moulton Marston & Harry Peter, #WonderWoman is an intentional (if complicated) feminist character. Post-WWII & in the wake of the 1954 Comics Code, her world changed, becoming more domestic & romantic. But there are still subversions to be had 1/9
The ways Wonder Woman changed post-WWII partly extend from the emphasis on domesticity & traditional gender roles in Cold War America. Wartime justified WW’s heroism, just like it justified real women working in munitions factories. Postwar, that justification evaporated. 2/9
Wonder Woman also changed because her implied gender & sexual deviance were attacked by Fredric Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent, which influenced the 1954 Comics Code. “For boys,” wrote Wertham, “Wonder Woman is a frightening image. For girls, she is a morbid ideal.” 3/9
In the 3x Harvey Award Winning graphic novel “Louis Riel,” Chester Brown’s perspective creates a depiction of the historical Métis leader that drives the resolution of the autobiography, defining the main subject’s relationship to both the reader & history itself. 1/8 #LouisRiel
Throughout the first three sections of the book, chronicling Riel’s unlikely rise to power and doomed efforts to lead the Métis people against the Canadian government in a war of independence that led, ultimately, to massacre, Brown uses a wide variety of perspectives. 2/8
In his final chapter, the trial of Louis Riel, Brown seemingly fixes his perspective, presenting a view of Riel that consistently frames Riel in profile in a medium long shot. The repetition of the perspective helps establish the banality of due process. 3/8
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