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She-Hulk (2014-) #1 (2014)

by Charles Soule(Favorite Author)

4.09 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

publisher

Marvel

series

She-Hulk (Marvel Now)

review 1: She-hulk (Jennifer Walters) lies in a strange place of the Marvel Universe. She was the latest character of note created by Stan Lee (he came back to create new characters for Marvel with Ravage 2099, but that didn’t stick), and she is also a strong second tier character, having constant appearances through Marvel titles of different families such as Avengers, Fantastic Four and of course Hulk titles. But She-Hulk has never become a major solo character even if she has had a few chances so far, the most successful being the Sensational She-Hulk series that John Byrne started in the late 80s and survived into mid 90s (until number 60). That series set up for all their future solo series by being heavy on the satiric side of comic industry cliches and also showing a self a... morewareness about her status as a comic book character (like Deadpool, for instance). Further series like Dan Slott’s 2004 She-Hulk also took the comedic approach, which this title does also.So she’s a cult character that has a lot of awareness around due to her links with the Hulk, making her a sort of feminist icon in the Marvel Universe. To that point she also has a strange character if compared to DC, as she’s both Marvel’s Wonder Woman and Supergirl. As Wonder Woman she’s a strong female character, capable of defending herself, proud of her femininity, and that keeps the head level when the males cannot (namely her cousin Bruce Banner); and as Supergirl, she’s the cousin of a masculine character (Hulk/She-Hulk; Superman/Supergirl). But as opposed to those two, there is a strong difference in the character of She-Hulk: Her working life as an attorney is very important to her, and she tries to balance both a real life and a superhero one with equal intensity, and that reflects on the comic book stories as a central theme, often in a comedic tongue in cheek approach to being an attorney in a crazy fictional world full of deranged colourful characters (sort of like Harvey Birdman).Now that the musings about the nature of the character and how it got here are out of the way, how is this number 1?Pretty good I’ll dare to say, and this is extremely surprising, because Charles Soule is a crazy person who is writing 7 monthly series, managing the community aspects of his career and having a small law practice, so I wouldn’t imagine his output would be good. While I haven’t read any of his other collections yet, She-Hulk does a great job as an onboarding number #1 issue.Maybe his legal experience helped as this comic seems to be heavily focused on Jennifer Walters’ legal practice, but to be honest the legalese bits were not that important (nor did I expect them to be). The story follows Jen’s falling out with her legal firm (hint: they were sleazebags), and the bounceback case she took while getting over being unemployed once again. It pits her against Iron Man. That would normally get to misunderstandings between the parts, yelling, angst, fights, more yelling and an ultimate coming to terms and recognising both parts were wrong over the fuming remains of some poor guy’s home. Well, that’s not the case here…at least not exactly that way.The biggest confrontation here is with a lawyer out of some kafkaesque fantasy who does a bang up job summarizing the crazy-nuts legal history of Stark’s companies in just 2 panels. That was wonderful to see. There is an energy going through the comic that defines it as a feel-good comic, a fun romp with a more feminine appeal than the usual superhero fare.Javier Pulido’s artwork is also outstanding. He is like a mix of Mike Allred, the Hernandez Bros and Darwyn Cooke. It’s a very cartoony approach that works wonderfully, especially in the non-superhero material, like having She-Hulk getting drunk by herself in a bar. He has two double pages here that are a marvel of both art and panel design (I could go deeper analysing those two, but I think you are probably getting tired of my shit by now!). Pulido is a fellow Spaniard, and I’ve known his art for a long time, but this might be his finest work as far as I know (admittedly that’s not saying much as I never bought any of his titles consistently, just seen his art in some single issues or in old Spanish comics). There is not really a lot of superhero action here, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he deals with that, because I’m quite sure She-Hulk will have the chance to kick ass outside the court room.Soule’s writing has wit, is snappy and She-hulk is lovable while still able to show muscle around. There is a tender heart at the center of this collection; the guest starring of Tony Stark is not as important as the bonding between a suffering and faceless unknown widow and mother with She-Hulk, which is what makes this such a good read.If this collection keeps this level of quality, it’s definitely one to follow, as long as it don’t go the superhero Ally McBeal route (gawd, please no!). At the same time, this issue is self contained, so the story is far from complex, but that’s natural on number 1′s, so I imagine the cases will get more interesting later on with longer storylines.
review 2: Some superheroes have a tendency to wallow in angst in the midst of a problem or foe. She-Hulk prefers to just get shit done. But this comic isn't about She-Hulk, it's about Jennifer Walters' life outside of being a superhero. Jennifer is a damn good attorney, and when her employers reveal they only wanted her to bring in her rich superhero acquaintances as clients, not actually do her job, she quits. From there Jennifer takes on a case solo, even though the defendant is Tony Stark, and after a few robot pitfalls she settles the case with Tony himself. Issue #1 ends with Jennifer opening up her own law firm, and even though she's nervous, the readers know she'll be successful, because like I said, She-Hulk gets shit done. 4.5 out of 5. less

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