Marvel Comics Presents #18 Galactus /She-Hulk Semi-Splash MOEBIUS HOMAGE (1st She-Hulk Breaking The 4th Wall & Byrne's Marvel Return Issue!) 1988

One month before John Byrne began his memorable run on Sensational She-Hulk began, the legendary artist illustrated a preview story featuring this page that was published in the anthology Marvel Comics Presents #18 (released 12/1988) titled "Xmas Tease". This 8 page story was a prologue to Sensational She-Hulk #1 by She-Hulk herself as "eight pages of hype for a new comic," but it will go down in history for something else. This 8 page story also marks the first time She-Hulk speaks to the reader or "Breaking the 4th Wall", a practice that becomes commonplace throughout her series and today as witnessed in 2022's Disney+ series. This also marks Byrne's first story art after his return to Marvel after his two year stint at DC working on Superman. Upon Byrne’s return he found himself teaming up with inker Bob Wiacek, which I should add is arguably one of the best pairings of the era. Now that we've discussed the importance of the issue, let's now discuss the art itself....On this dynamic 2/3 splash page She-Hulk witnesses none other than Galactus descending to Earth in his oversized rocket ship. Note the detailed cityscape background, down to the kitty cats in the lower left window sand even the window blinds, just love it! She-Hulk's 'Holy Moebius' reaction is a nod to the two-issue Silver Surfer mini-series the master French artist "MOEBIUS" illustrated working with Stan Lee as writer. Interestingly enough, the two-issue Silver Surfer mini-series came out just a couple months earlier, cover date #1 12/88 and #2 1/89, while the Byrne She-Hulk story issue hit newsstands the last week of 1988 for Christmas. Byrne presumably drew this story 1-2 months earlier, while the Moebius series was first getting released and receiving artistic praise. One can only think the newly launched miniseries by the French legend was immediately well received in the US with Byrne acknowledging the legend in his work at the same time. Little did Byrne know at that time, both artists work on their respective series, most notably Moebius Silver Surfer mini-series would go down in history as one of the greatest artistic comic achievements of that era. A truly remarkable semi-splash of both Galactus and She-Hulk by the master artist John Byrne considered his peak period while nodding Moebius' work of the same era, and also marking his return to Marvel, setting the bar for breaking the 4th wall in this very issue! "Marvel Comics Presents" Blog Art Review- "John Byrne handles art and pencils here with our first meta-fictional feature in MCP. She-Hulk bemoans holiday tedium only to recount a fantastical encounter with Doctor Doom, Magneto, and Galactus via phone to the Thing.... It s Byrne-ian goofiness punctuated by a stirring Galactus rendition loving punctuated with Walters uttering "Holy Moebius." And if you're still salty about the cover, Byrne does plug some nice work into this romp. The real narrative punchline here is the pointer towards She-Hulk's upcoming Byrne series that will dive deeper still into the meta-fictional line of comedic inquiry." Apparently the reviewer wasn't a fan of the cover, but sure liked the story art, especially this page! Personalized and signed by Bob Wiacek at bottom left. Just a great opportunity here to own a great splash from this GREAT title! Compare this great SEMI-Splash to the published comic book image in the red link above. ALL art on our website (including this one) are able to be purchased with VERY fair time payments, and trades are always considered towards "ANY" art on our website! Just send us an email to mikeburkey@aol.com and we can try to work something out.

$8,500.00