Sensational She-Hulk: Ceremony was supposed to be a romantic comedy and ended up being one of Marvel's most misguided attempts at feminism.

In 1989, Marvel Comics published a two-issue, prestige format mini-series called Sensational She-Hulk: Ceremony, which was supposed to be a romantic comedy and ended up being one of Marvel's most misguided attempts at feminism. However, there is a lot more than it looks behind this She-Hulk story, including conflicts among creators and editors.

The story of Ceremony began with the young writers Dwayne McDuffie and Robin Chaplik selling to Marvel a pitch for a She-Hulk ongoing series inspired by romantic comedies. However, at the same time, acclaimed creator John Byrne came back from his legendary run on DC's Superman, and Marvel asked him to pick any one of their characters to write: he chose She-Hulk. Marvel did not have to think much between two young upstarts and the hottest artist in the comic book industry, so Byrne got the job, and McDuffie's pitch was adapted into Sensational She-Hulk: Ceremony, written by McDuffie and Chaplik with art by June Brigman and Paul Mounts. Before that, however, Byrne was asked to have a look at the pitch and give notes to keep it in line with the story he was going to tell in the main series. His judgment, shared in an interview a decade later, was not flattering.

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Byrne believed that the graphic novel had the faults of a first-time writing effort, plus some serious continuity errors. The story begins with She-Hulk feeling the call for maternity while watching a soap opera on TV. She "feels empty" and decides to find out what can "fill the hole she has discovered in her life." Jen realizes that there is only one man who can help her, her on-and-off boyfriend Wyatt Wingfoot, who she bluntly asks to be the father of her children. The couple travels to the Apache reserve (where Wingfoot was born) to get married. Then, they get involved with some magic shenanigans that require superhero action. In the end, Jen and Wyatt realize that they were not actually in love with each other, and She-Hulk comes to the conclusion that her brief attraction towards maternity was also a fluke and she says: "Changing the world for the better is a pretty good legacy all by itself."

It is hard to not share John Byrne's harsh comments on the story. It's not really a romantic comedy as there are not that many jokes. The series attempts to tackle women's issues, however, the delivery and the conclusion fall flat. First, Jen feels the “need” to have children and, in the end, this desire just goes away. The message being transmitted here is that either a woman needs to have children to feel complete or that a genuine desire for maternity can be overcome by focusing on one's job. Both of these messages are harmful. Additionally, John Byrne found out at a later moment that, not only his notes for Ceremony had been dismissed, but that his editor on Sensational She-Hulk was actually changing his scripts to bring them in line with the graphic novel, which led him to leave the series.

Luckily, Jen evolved to be a Marvel feminist icon, but it is surprising to see that this story was even reprinted as part of 2010's Women of Marvel anthology. McDuffie and Chaplik tried to tackle some serious issues, such as maternity and abortion, and they did it in the best way they could, but the result is rather lackluster by today's standards. Sensational She-Hulk: Ceremony is remembered today mostly as the reason why John Byrne's first run on She-Hulk was so short, but it also stands out as one of Marvel's most misguided attempts at addressing feminism.

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Senior Comics Writer @screenrant. History PhD in my spare time. You can find me on Twitter @FrancCacc