So! It's YOU, Louise!

Let's get back to the Blonde Phantom...

Blonde Phantom Comics ran for only 11 issues between 1946 and 1949. But she got around during that time. Not only did she have her own book, she had strips in Sub-Mariner Comics, Namora, Sun Girl, Marvel Mystery Comics and Blackstone The Magician, whose splash panels we see here -

These were typically short (four page) tales. For examples of the stories, here are her two appearances from Sun Girl #s 2 & 3 -

When she showed up in Marvel Mystery Comics, she was the big star up front on a cover the heroes later made famous as The Invaders - Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner -

She showed up on two more covers.* Once damsel in distressing for the Human Torch...

...and once more to party with Torch, Subby and Sun Girl...

Louise had seven adventures in MMC, the splash for one of which is featured at the top of this post. Here are the other six -

After 1949, it was off to comics limbo for her, as we saw in Sensational She-Hulk.

But - she did escape limbo once in the '70s, a dozen years before she managed to become a supporting character for Jennifer...

story art by Bill Black

We can see how desperate she was to leave limbo if she showed up for just those two pages, eh?

Some may wonder at why we didn't see the Blonde Phantom in the sequence that closed out the Sensational She-Hulk comic, which we saw at the end of our first post on Deadpool's Big Green Mama.

The thing is - we did! In perhaps the sneakiest way possible.

As you might recall (or can follow that link above to go back and look), Millie The Model was introduced as the hidden 'villain' in those pages.

So, so sneaky...

Story art by Ken Bald

art from Blackstone The Magician #s 2, 3, & 4, Submariner # 27, Sun Girl #s 2 & 3, Marvel Mystery Comics #s 84-91, Bizarre Tales #1, Millie The Model #2 (1946-1949, 1977)

*(Oops.
I just noticed that she appeared on one more cover for Marvel Mystery Comics - #86. Sorry, it's not scanned & prepped. It's a split focus cover, with her hanging out with a couple of pirates on the bottom right. That means there were 8 stories, also.

That help?)

Who's That Mucking About Down Below?

As we noted yesterday, She-Hulk was well aware of her status as a comic book character (long before ol' Deadpool figured it out).

As long as you're in comics, might as well parody other comics, right? And so they did...

...and those bits are all from just one single issue!

Of course, she wasn't limited to just parodying comics...

page art by John Byrne, Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller, Walt Simonson, Terry Austin, Howard Chaykin, Adam Hughes, and Howard Mackie for Sensational She-Hulk #50 (1993)

Deadpool's Big Green Mama

Deadpool has a formidable power set. But, arguably his greatest power is Awareness. He knows he's a character in a comicbook (or movie), and that grants him knowledge and power as well as great snark. But someone else at Marvel paved the way for him. Right from the cover of her first issue (of her second run)...

And,no - it's not just a cover bit.
Let's look at She-Hulk's comments as she's wrapping up her first adventure (vs. the Circus Of Crime, following in her cousin's massive footsteps)...

(Yeah, we did)

The cover of the second issue continued to reference Bruce's old adventures, not only comics-aware but also comics-in-hand...

...unfortunately for Jennifer, it wasn't just the cover...

She not only knew she was in a comic book, but also was quite aware of the conventions of the form and of Marvel publishing history...

Knowing that she's in a comic also means knowing that entertaining the audience is primary. She'll even pause the story during a slow point to help keep the readers amused...

Okay. That might leave you a bit confused to the extreme definition of 'talking head panels' but there's a good reason. They've gone all Spock's Brain on her...

DeFalco was Head Honcho at the time, so you'd think his word would carry more weight, huh? Don't worry - they did make good sense of it all by the end.

Oh - "LOOK! The Blonde Phantom is here tonight!"

As you may remember from yesterday's post, Louise Grant's primary concern, even in her heroic identity of Blonde Phantom, was usually getting together with her boss, Mark Mason. Did she succeed and finally become Mrs. Mason?

Oh, yes...

Note that Louise mentions that she was the one who contacted Jennifer. That's because she was tired of existing in comics limbo. She managed to escape by becoming a supporting character in another book.

Yes, Louise is aware, too. And more experienced than Jennifer. After Jen starts to become infatuated with the D.A., Louise lets her in on some important information. Then she shows her how to use her awareness of their reality...

It being a comic, of course their lunch gets interrupted - by Stilt Man (a part of the book's declared policy of using only lame villains, y'know). She-Hulk ditches most of her expensive outfit to keep it from being ruined, and after the fight...

No, of course it wasn't Victor Von Doom when The Doctor arrived(nor was it The Doctor, for that matter) ...

Instead of Doctor Doom, Jen got Doctor Bong - an old Howard The Duck villain. She-Hulk is drawn (really, i didn't do that) into a television reality where she and the others are trapped at the channel changing control of Bong...

The bad Doctor has always been deranged, and Saturday morning cartoons have really set him off this time. Fortunately, Jen eventually realizes that they aren't really on tv...

(I did mention that he was a Howard The Duck villain, right?)

The appearance of an old Howard The Duck villain also teases the future here. Before too long, Steve Gerber would wind up writing the book - including the next (un)appearance of Dr. Doom ... Victor's 5th cousin, Dr. Bob Doom, D.D.S. And he's got an evil implant plot to rival his cousin. Yeah, it's the next worse thing to sibling rivalry. Vic gets all the acclaim.

So, by her 5th issue she was mastering the manipulation of her reality as a comic character.

55 issues later...

And so it went...


Before we go -
Some may be wondering yet about the title from a couple days ago teasing today's post. It comes from a bit later in the run...

...there. All makes sense now, right?

page art by John Byrne & Bob Wiacek, Brian Hitch & Jim Sanders III from Sensational She-Hulk #s 1-5 & 19 (1989, 1990)