Sensational She-Hulk #50
He's Dead?!
She-Hulk arrives at the offices of Marvel Comics and learns some startling news from editor Renee Witterstaetter, John Byrne has died and She-Hulk needs to choose a new creative team to take over her comic book series. Renee has already gone ahead and gotten some samples from some writers and artists so She-Hulk can pick the new direction her series will be going in. The first is a sample from a British creative team that places She-Hulk in London where she stops a bank robber while a punk rocker learns who she is from a police officer. The story ends with the punk relating She-Hulk to a former British Prime Minister who happens to show up in the last panel to tell everyone she is very angry. She-Hulk isn't a fan of the style and before she can look at the next sampling she hears a strange thumping noise. When she asks Renee what that is, Renee tells her it's nothing and hands her the next sample pages.
The next one is a dark and gritty crime noir style where She-Hulk is out looking for John Bryne's killer determined to get bloody revenge. She-Hulk rejects this format as well, not liking how hard-boiled it is. She-Hulk confides that all of the male writers and artists haven't really gotten a feel for her. Renee then offers her some work from a female writer. This sets She-Hulk in a mystical world of elves and trolls. In this tale, She-Hulk has just killed a wolf and she and her partner Smeg go into a mystical cave. She-Hulk rejects this as well, wanting something bigger than life, in the super-hero genre and massively cosmic. The next sample depicts She-Hulk as the Asgardian "Babe of Thunder", however, she rejects this idea as well after reading a page that features She-Hulk thunderously walking. When she asks for something with more originality, she is shown a page of a black and white story that primarily features She-Hulk's answering machine message. But she finds the "talking head" book too dull and reminds Renee that she her book has to remain approved by the Comic Code Authority. She is next shown a story that frames She-Hulk as a Popeye-esque character beating up a bunch of heroes and villains before facing off against Galactapus. She-Hulk thinks its a step in the right direction but still not right.
They are then visited by Marvel editors Tom DeFalco and Mark Gruenwald who recommend that She-Hulk appeal to her target audience: adolescent boys. They show her a few pages of a story that features her and the Wasp shopping for bikinis. Their shopping expedition is interrupted by invading Atlantean warriors. However, when they see She-Hulk arrive on the beach in her bikini, they cower and retreat back into the ocean. She-Hulk flatly rejects this idea, kicking DeFalco and Gruenwald out. She points out to Renee that she has female readers who look up to her as a role model and they need to appeal to them as well. The next sample she is shown reframes She-Hulk as a gun-toting spirit of vengeance that defends Cypress Hill. She-Hulk also rejects this idea. She then hears the strange banging noise again, but Renee distracts her from investigating with the next sample.
This story features She-Hulk lamenting over trying to move on with her life after John Byrne. As she laments over the creative change to her friend Louise Mason. Louise points out that the new creative team of Todd Britton and Michael Eury may be small names in the industry but so was Byrne when he first started. She also points out that the plot for their next issue looks really good. She-Hulk resigns to the conversation and decides to go out and sunbathe on her patio. As she complains about not having any compelling villains she is suddenly attacked by an armored maniac calling himself Warzone. The two fight it out the rooftops. She-Hulk suddenly learns she is fighting a robot when she hits Warzone in the face with a chunk of concrete that shatters his phony human face. The villain then sprays She-Hulk in the face with gas and tries to escape. She leaps up after him and is taken high in the air. As they fight in the air the battle is witnessed by the Thing who is hanging out in the Four Freedoms Plaza. The She-Hulk trashes Warzone's propulsion units sending him falling into an abandoned building. She-Hulk is saved from the deadly fall by the Thing who comes to her rescue. With the robot destroyed, She-Hulk turns it over to the Thing to take back to the Four Freedoms Plaza. In the aftermath of the battle, She-Hulk decides that perhaps her new creative team isn't so bad and looks forward to the future.
She-Hulk finishes reading this plot and likes it over all the others. Finally, she gets fed up of hearing the thumping and discovers its source, the closet. Opening it, she finds John Byrne alive, but tied up and gagged. Bryne refuses to give up the title, but Renee says that John is burnt out and needs a break. When he refuses, she shows John's recent work to She-Hulk. It's a story titled Lil' She-Hulk where she and her supporting cast are all children. She-Hulk is unimpressed with this story as well and tosses John out a window and he falls to his death. Renee is shocked by this sudden murder, but She-Hulk reminds her that death always sells and walks out.
Recurring Characters
She-Hulk, Renee Witterstaetter, John Byrne, Louise Mason, Thing, Dead Zone, Tom DeFalco, Mark Gruenwald,
Continuity Notes
Although Renee Witterstaetter, John Byrne, Tom DeFalco and Mark Gruenwald are real-life people, they are exempt from the topical reference rules of the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Marvel Comics appearing in stories are considered factual as they exist in the Modern Age, although in their physical prime.
She-Hulk mocks the Walt Simonson pages saying "I read the Spider-Man comic where he swiped the 'Doom Doom Doom' bit from." She is referring to Spider-Man #1.
