The ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT Sha-Shan
Hey folks, bottom line is that real life has taken over and I can’t write my new comic book reviews anymore for the time being [all I can say is you MUST get DOOMWAR #1 and RED HULK #2- still on newsstands- ed.] but thought I would discuss Sha-Shan’s new look since I was overcome by geek emotion.
Okay, who’s Sha-Shan, right? Well, if you’ve read every issue of Amazing Spider-Man like I did (or if you collected in the 1970′s and 1980′s) you should know that Sha-Shan was Flash Thompson’s Asian girlfriend. Truth be told, she only made under 40 appearances in Marvel Comics, but she’s always been memorable to me. You see, I hated the way the insensitive and bully Flash Thompson treated her; Flash committed criminal acts against her- I mean Flash was DONE in the 1980′s. I also had some problems with Spider-Man creative teams jobbing Sha-Shan out all the time, and making her submissive with stereotypical Vietnamese attributes.
Here's the real Sha-Shan
So lo and behold, Sha-Shan is BACK in Marvel continuity as of this week’s Amazing Spider-Man #622…and she’s at Flash Thompson’s birthday party…and she is his physical therapist (Flash had lost his legs in “the war” after Brand New Day).
Yeah, the one in the green
Okay, but that’s not all. The reason why I’m taking the time out of my busy schedule is to comment about Sha-Shan’s NEW MODERN LOOK. You see back in the 70′s and 80′s it seemed as if Spidey’s artists went OUT OF THEIR WAY to draw Sha-Shan less attractive than the other Spidey girls. In a comic book with Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane, and the Black Cat, Sha-Shan was drawn inferior and “normal”- not a sex symbol. (Granted, I liked her more than those girls because of her personality.)
As you can see, the old art wasn't flattering
So FAST FORWARD TO 2010, Tony Schiavone- ha- and what do you have? Sha-Shan totally looks different. It looks like she had a boob job, butt job, and face job, i.e. a different character. Ya gotta love artistic license, huh? Totally different Sha-Shan.
Welcome to 2010! Two more years until 2012
On one hand perhaps Marvel finally realized that an Asian woman can be drawn sexy in Spider-Man comics. Yet on the other hand (my first reaction) it’s pure commercialism and has no faith that younger readers of today could accept a “normal” looking woman. Once again, there’s no easy answer here.
Just sayin’.
After a few days of digesting this, I gotta say that once again I feel real old, because since Brand New Day, the Spider-Man universe just feels totally rebooted and like Smallville. I known JMS messed with continuity, but I always was under the impression the past happened, and the timeline wasn’t messed up. Sha-Shan seems to have more self-esteem this time around- I guess- but I doubt she’ll ever get a good push in Spider-Man comics, especially since Flash Thompson is pretty much backup story material now being in a wheelchair and all.
I should be happy that the Marvel artists gave her an upgrade, in fact I’m sure new fans are taking more of a notice of the character, because Sha-Shan really didn’t get a fair shake in the 1970′s and 1980′s, but I’m not.
Is Sha-Shan even Vietnamese anymore?
X-Men Anime, opening e immagini dal primo episodio –
LMFAO 1980??? TRY 1990's.
Because it's hard for the console-free to talk knowledgeably on the idea of video games qua art piece I will instead direct you to the new book by Douglas Wolk, Reading Comics, (which just won the Eisner) for a discussion on exactly the topic of your last sentence…but on comic books and how much of the drive to treat comic books as a big boy art is rooted in the low self-esteem of its fans when faced with critics from the rear garde.
Fanboys Unite!
come on everyone… it was a good movie… NOT BADASS AND EPIC but “good”, The only thing wrong with it is that it wasn't placed in Sam Raimi's hands and script writers of Spiderman…
its funny cause im also watching spiderman right now…
Well, some of the things that have happened, his bouncing between girls, has been vaguely amusing, and I actually LIKE Carlie, but when I got into comics, JMS was just getting the Parkers back together, and I always felt that the love they had made the stories stronger.
Rehab – 1980
The lyrics you want I think go like this:
Listen up, cause I love you, lady.
We go back, like, 1980.
Lord knows you're the one to change me,
You love me cause I'm so crazy.
You'll see, it'll be, you and me,
Always, always.