B.B.U.D.G.E.R

HILDE TØRDAL | 2011 | PAINTMARKER, ASHES, ACRYLIC-, NEON- AND COPPER-PAINT ON CANVAS.

This painting has borrowed the title from Jean Paul’s book from 1796, “Biographische Belustigungen unter der Gehirnschale einer Riesin”, roughly translated: “The Biographical amusements under the brainpan of a giantess.” In the foreground Stan Lee’s fictional character Jennifer Walters, aka the savage She-Hulk edges away from an enormous, bronzed version of The Hulk, a seemingly naked girl clinging to his shoulder, radioactive yellow clouds of debris plummeting down in the distance on an ashen sky.

Jean Paul is an odd author, and this meeting between Stan Lee and Jean Paul might be justified in the way they portray the female character. Jean Paul’s novels were often loved by women who connected to his obvious empathy-driven drive to make complex and often strong female  characters, but (in typical style of eclecticism) he could at the same time fall to misogynistic quips.

Our She Hulk is based on her 1989-1994 solo series The Sensational She-Hulk, inked and penned by John Byrne. Our love for this series is mainly for the way Byrne lets She-Hulk become self aware in the series, drawing in the reader as an active character, and his numerous references and satirising of comic books and pop culture (Demi Moore – Vanity Fair cover).