Thing & She-Hulk: The Long Night

 

Comic: Thing & She-Hulk: The Long Night

Where Purchased: Time Capsule in Seekonk, Massachusetts

When Purchased: June 21, 2023

When Read: November 10, 2024

I think I mentioned that I have always been a fan of She-Hulk.  She was a member of the Avengers when I started reading comics.  After the events of Secret Wars in 1984, she joined the Fantastic Four, taking over for The Thing, who stayed behind on Battleworld.  As I was collecting the Fantastic Four at the time, this just meant I got to see her written and drawn by my favorite creator, John Byrne.

I also collected She-Hulk's solo book in, a comedy series that broke the fourth wall, when it debuted.  

But, there came a time where I stopped collecting and when I returned, it took me quite awhile to start gathering things I missed.  As I made an effort to collect the original She-Hulk run, I also started hunting down the more recent relaunches.

At some point, I was made aware of this title and added it to my want list.  I couldn't recall many stories with these two together and I really like the artist so it was a no-brainer to pick this up.

It really is a fun romp.  It requires a little more knowledge of Marvel history than one would expect from a one-shot and I am not entirely sure how self-contained the story really is.  But all things being equal it is a solid 7 out of 10.

I had forgotten that artist Bryan Hitch took over on the Sensational She-Hulk series when John Byrne quit in the first year.  There had been a rumor that the art for this book was from unpublished issues of Bryan Hitch's earlier run on Sensational She-Hulk.  It seemed likely, as he only drew the fist 25 pages, with the final 14 drawn by Ivan Reis, with inks by Randy Emberlin.

However, Bryan Hitch himself explained that these pagers were originally intended to be part of a Thing/She-Hulk miniseries that had been announced in the late 1990s.  That project was canceled before it could be completed.

You can read all about the origins of this one-shot here: https://www.cbr.com/she-hulk-thing-bryan-hitch-mystery/

I bought this issue on my first work trip after we moved last year.  Time Capsule has two locations, one in Seekonk, MA and one in Cranston, RI.  I have been to both of them twice over the years.  They are great places to stop for back issues.