So I did do better on Wednesday. Not great, two books from this week, plus one book from last week, but better. So let's start with two fifth issues. One book is nearing an end, the other may be nearing the end of my patience.
The person shouting for Jack is some very large, very strong guy. Strong enough to toss She-Hulk around, or take a punch from her. A lady rushes up to end the fight and claims the man is just confused and helps him leave. She-Hulk thinks this is all suspicious, but Jack mostly dismisses it. Rowell hasn't given any indication her version of She-Hulk is going to be 4th wall aware, so this is probably just experience talking.
She and Jack have a quiet, slightly awkward dinner where Jack expresses plans to return to a mansion he owns in Connecticut and live there. Quietly writing poetry and avoiding being discovered by anybody like Tony Stark. Jen still hasn't told him that his corpse shuffled up to Avengers Mansion and blew up Scott Lang. Just get on with it, it's not like either of them is dead these days. Although Lang is written as such a complete moron he might as well be. The one Ant-Man we had who wasn't either a creep or a walking mental breakdown and now he's an imbecile everyone in the Marvel Universe dislikes. Thanks, Paul Rudd!
I have to agree with others I've seen who feel this She-Hulk book feels more like a Jack of Hearts book. I think Rowell is trying to use the contrasts between Jen and Jack to illustrate her notion of what She-Hulk is as a character. How Jennifer is trying to get her life on track, but has set that aside to try and help Jack instead. How he's so hung up on that time he absorbed her gamma radiation he's afraid to help her up when she trips, while she doesn't seem to think much of it. That she wanted to get answers from that lady, but Jack wants to let it drop. Although the likelihood he was mentally conditioned somehow by the person who was experimenting on him - probably the lady - means that may not really reflect him.
The problem is, the book is still moving really slowly. Again, I think Rowell is trying to not rush through what is a pretty significant change for Jack. A guy who went into space for years because he didn't feel it was safe for him to be around people is now seemingly normal (mostly.) And he doesn't know how, but he doesn't want it to end. It's a lot to process. But again, it makes this feel like a book where the title character is almost a supporting character.
Valkira's inside Ed, but allowed herself to be tied up, and goads Stetson and Finch into entering Ed's dreams. Also, Valkira can sense Stetson's thoughts, which makes Stetson's extremely half-baked plan even more questionable. Once inside the hotel that represents Ed's dream, Finch quickly gets caught up fighting off lots of Eds while Stetson chases Valkira. meanwhile, Jiang is going to have to kill and/or eat the SWAT team that just busted in, with Finch's partner at the lead. At least, we can hope that's what he's going to do.
Smith's continuing to tease out what happened to Stetson's daughter, and how she ended up in this job. He's also revealing more about what Valkira's up to. Stetson seems certain the goal is to exit through the red door, entering the waking world as a real being (as opposed to puppeting someone's sleeping body), with full control of her powers. Valkira says in the first panel this wasn't what she's supposed to be, but 'she' made her this way. I think we're meant to assume "she" is Stetson, but I'm guessing taking over Stetson's daughter backfired somehow.
I think Valkira just wants to feel what people actually do. We see her imitate humans when she controls one. Dancing in a club or feeding pigeons, but she says she doesn't feel anything. Cardinali draws Valkira as not making contact with anyone, except when she's switching bodies. Even the killing we always see after it's done, so we don't know what she experiences during that. It's a hollow existence, just going through the motions.
I guess the comparison would be to Stetson, who doesn't seem able to connect with anyone, either. She's on her own wavelength, and doesn't get that other people don't follow it. She expects Finch to recognize her signal without telling him what it is. I don't know if she's been inside other people's dreams so much she just thinks in dream logic now or what. The way Cardinali draws Stetson's face in that upper left panel is very similar to how she draws the "Ed masks" Stetson and Finch wear inside Ed's dream to move undetected. The fact she makes an expression like that naturally, about bringing a flamethrower inside her friend's mind, is a little disturbing.
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