This Week I am taking you back in the BCP time machine to the 90’s, Which is apt since time travelling parallel universe hopping shenanigans were all the rage.

Sure it has always been a trope within comics but after the success of characters like Cable and Bishop there was a proliferation of time displaced characters showing up, Some were reasonably successful like Impulse, Waverider or even X-Man however others did not quite capture the imagination.

Week 5: Janis Jones, The other Hulk sidekick called Jones?

Who were they?: Janis Jones was a character who was very briefly part of the Hulk titles during the 90’s, The name itself is a giveaway as she was Rick Jones and  Marlo Chandlers time displaced granddaughter (ah that old chestnut). Debuting in the Future Imperfect miniseries in which she helped the time travelling Hulk defeat his Tyrannical and psychopathic future self ‘The Maestro’. The two part series was definitely a highlight of Hulk titles from the time which were rather hit and miss (brown leisure suit anyone?) and foreshadowed many beats that would later show up in Old Man Logan only less incesty.

But back to Janis, After Future Imperfect she came back in time to our time after the society she had thought for was conquered by Abomination. And she started showing up in issues of The Incredible Hulk fairly frequently as a recurring character. Out of this time in the pages of The Incredible Hulk in sidekick mode the most noteworthy story she appeared in was during Hulks tenure as a horseman of Apocalypse as War which lasted for all of 1 maybe 1 and a half issues. A brief synopsis of that story line that went down in Incredible Hulk 456-457 for those that didn’t catch it is that The Hulk is captured by Apocalypse and turned into the latest horseman, War. At the same time Absorbing Man, Juggernaut, Rick and Janis Jones are tasked with heading to Egypt taking him down. After a protracted fight across issue 457 with Juggernaut, Absorbing Man and Janis each futilely fighting the enhanced Hulk. This ended with Rick Jones trying to talk sense to the Hulk and getting pimp slapped into a wall.

What have they done recently?: Nothing, Nadda, nout, there have been no hints nor reference made to the character whatsoever. Her final appearance was the issue after the Hulk crippling her Grandfather (which hinted that the Future Imperfect timeline could be the legit 616 future) in issue 658 where she is seen hanging around Ricks hospital, After this she is never used again in any way shape or form. She could have simply returned to her own time but in the midst of being a regular recurring character at least showing where she went wouldn’t have went amiss.

What can we expect next?: I do not expect Janis to return at all, given she just fell of the face of the planet with no explanation. In the middle of a story line that set up her timeline. But knowing Marvel, if a She-Bomb were to show up tomorrow she would be my first bet since seemingly everyone has to be a Hulk these days.

The writer of this piece was: Gary Kane aka (GK)
Article: Where are They Now (Prev: Under The Influence)
GK tweets from @Kanoclassic