What's Wrong With She-Hulk?

 

NOTHING!!!

Disney and Marvel TV have come up with a winner this time out. As a long-time fan of the Stan Lee and John Busema creative collaboration “The Savage She-Hulk” I am thoroughly enjoying this recent incarnation. I was on-board beginning with issue #1 in 1980.The series couldn’t be more faithful to the character of the transformed Jennifer Walters. Nor could it be more entertaining and at times in it’s unique way provocative.  

Lee’s idea in creating She-Hulk was to avoid what could have been, potentially a loss and overall problem for the Marvel franchise. The identifying name and image of “She-Hulk” had not been copyrighted and was open to anyone that wanted to do so. Lee wisely obtained the copyright and his choice was timely. The creators of this new TV series; “She Hulk: Attorney at Law” even made copyright infringement the subject of an episode in this, the first season.

As written and along with the portrayal by Tatiana Maslany of the title character on the current program the production is very much a satirical take on comic book themes and the genre itself. The fourth wall is routinely broken, the villains are absurd clichés and the laughs are perfectly timed often subtle mind games. This TV incarnation is an almost literal version of what writer/artist John Byrne did following the Lee/Busema run on the Savage She-Hulk book. The satire, the breaking of the fourth wall, the leaping in and out from the mediums physical boundaries is pure Byrne; the character was also known to have conversations with Byrne himself (often complaining to him) as the stories were unfolding. The TV production has followed the Byrne tenure to perfection. The subsequent artistic teams following Byrne have stayed with his take and followed him in turn.  

At this point to address the issue alluded to in the blog title; “What’s Wrong With She-Hulk?” there have been criticisms with many detractors falling into the disgruntled line of complaints and derision.  The malcontent many fans find have broad and personal dis-satisfactions. Many on-line critics give voice to their perceived disdain for the writer’s skills, catering to the “Woke” audience and the emasculation of male characters. This is something that I don’t necessarily find to any real degree within the show myself but it is something of a problem on many other franchises today. These problems do have their merit. It will always be true that beauty and wit are in the eyes, ears and tastes of the beholders. These folks essentially have different ideas of what the program should be, they haven’t read the comics and their expectations or far different than what they are receiving as content. They don’t seem to realize they have every right to stop watching at any time, during any broadcast and find something closer to their personal likings and fancies.    

Ironically the disillusioned continue to watch “She-Hulk” and seem to relish their mal-content. I think it’s fantastic! The show remains captivating, engaging and a controversial vision. It is the best of all worlds. One of the truest measures of the content and worth of a thing is the ire that it arises in the audience of the unannointed the “Unbelievers.” Stan Lee spoke often of the “True Believers.” Which one do we choose to be, which one do we want to be?

For those that are among the undecided or the unviewed, take a-look-see.  I think there is a good chance for you to enjoy She-Hulk. Join the mirth and the mayhem. Remember; don’t worry, be happy! 

Good Golly Miss Molly!

 

 She is a force unto herself. She is also, like the second side of a rare coin a force that is selfless, giving and dedicated to humanity. Her actions are especially dedicated to the oppressed of humanity; many times outcasts and the victims of the world’s multitude of oppressors. This; as a focus meaning, the rich, the one percenters. She is also an artist, illustrator, writer and film maker.  Her work is sought-out and included in the collections of institutions such as MoMa and The New-York Historical Society. She is successful at what she does. This wondrously industrious young woman, Jennifer Caban is better known by another name. Her nom de plume by the way is Molly Crabapple.

Molly Crabapple in her time has gone far beyond lip service to her causes. Including such as the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, the many times illegally held and abused detainees of Guantanamo Bay, The Syrian ISIS Resistance Radicals and other disenfranchised Americans of all stripes. She’s a radical. It is more than evident in much of her art and in her approach as well. She is at heart springing for the counter-culture and fast becoming a just outside the edge main-streamer.

Molly Crabapple is a second generation artist; growing up her mother was a commercial artist. As a result she say first hand that there was money to be made using art or one’s talents for profit. Molly; never short of creative ideas, sold drawings and illustrations for profit regularly and in tough times posed unabashedly for nude photographs, pretty much for anyone (artist or not) that could come up with $100 and a camera; this was Molly the entrepreneur/ business woman.  Molly worked for several years as the House Artist at “The Box” an avant-garde Manhattan night club. She remembers that fondly as being “The Box’s Toulouse-Lautrec.”    She was also one of the original “Suicide Girls” and worked in Burlesque. You will find with Molly Crabapple there is a definite burlesque sensuality and a kind of  French/Rococo influence  tinged with her own wit and humor. These qualities are implicit within many of her most successful pieces. And sometimes; on occasion, they are simply magnificent cartoons.

Molly Crabapple is one of the most successful, engaging and productive artist in today’s art world. I highly recommend her memoir “Drawing for Blood.” It is completed with illustrations, well written, beautifully packaged and provocative.

What remains here is a continuation of “Miss Molly’s” drawings, posters, videos etc. Hopefully yours’ to Enlighten, Embrace & Enjoy!

       "A History of the War on Drugs"  

         Molly Crabapple  & Jay Z   

 

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                              

                        

       

                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                         

                           

I think that school just isn't for everyone. A lot of people don't learn well when they have to sit in a place for eight hours. A lot of people learn best lying in their own bed, teaching themselves from books.

…and I was a bad student. I was a brat. If I was a teacher, I would not have liked myself.

"I Have Your Heart" 

by

Molly Crabapple

                                                          

Picasso; Wives & Lovers

 

                    

                                        Picasso & Olga

For over a century now the name, art and legend of artist Pablo Picasso has graced the world with his skill, innovation, persistence and singular accomplishments. He is an artist seemingly without peer but he too was certainly graced by peers and they were great ones.  Chiefly among his fellows would be Henri Matisse, Salvador Dali and to a somewhat lesser degree George Braque.  Their works and honors have stood and stand the test of time as well. Arguably; Picasso does better his peers on some counts. Among these to  consideration are  the sheer numbers of his lifetime creative out-put, his mastery of multiple genre’s including ceramics, sculpture, the  poster, the collage and chiefly the thousands of paintings he produced (primarily oil and gouache.) One other thing of excellence and note for the immaculate Picasso was his acquisition of his many wives, mistresses, and lovers. And not to forget the mistresses and lovers that became wives. In ways he stands alone among his peers in this; his trysts, affairs, seduction and sometimes marriages and divorces with women and not always as a master of chivalry or particular honor.

The women of Picasso include most notably Marie-Thérèse, Françoise Gilot, Jacqueline Roque, Olga Khokhlova and Dora Maar. He loved these women, married, competed with and often controlled them. He painted them as models and adored them. Often the works reflected his emotions and love that sometimes grew into scorn. The subsequent paints becoming monstrous often painful images. The massively-egotistical Picasso even included his own penis in a portrait of Marie-Thérèse. His art, especially his paintings were a diary for Picasso. He has been quoted to have said: “Painting is a way of keeping a diary…” His thoughts, emotions, politics and different life phases are vividly portrayed in his art and artistry as record.

Gertrude Stein was another important woman in the life and fortunes of Picasso. The wealthy writer and early patron of Modernism promoted and wrote about him, always praising his talents and was an integral cog to his acceptance among other art patrons while assisted his personal growth as an artist.

Dora Maar

                                                       

                                                              Marie-Thérèse

Françoise Gilot

                                                                                           

                                         Gertrude Stein

                                                        Olga Khokhlova

                   

          

                                 

Jacqueline Roque

Picasso also chose to depict women other than the fore-mentioned (wives and Lovers) as different inspirations and subjects in his works. Random runners racing on beaches, mothers and their children, various nudes, dispossessed women along with acrobats and circus performers. Women were as inspiring to Picasso as a favorite subject along with his Minotaur’s, musicians and the frequent still life. 

                              

                    "Mass in morning, Bull Fight in the afternoon...Brothel at night."

                                                                                                                      Pablo Picasso

A woman once asked Picasso as they looked at one of his paintings “What does it mean?” He responded “Madam; if I could have expressed it with words there would have been no need to have painted it.”

An artist’s voice as expressed in the tone and content of his work is the only true measure of the legacy and value of any said art. It is ultimately the varied expressions and study of the works that have merit. Is the work beautiful, meaningful, colorful, vibrant, moving, masterful or all of the above? We make these assessments sometimes collectively but is only truly important as we are affected individually and most importantly silently.