She-Hulk #7 & 8, by Charles Soule (writer), Javier Pulido (artist), Muntsa Vincente (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I get Jen looking like she's ready to fight, and maybe even Patsy seeming slightly disgusted or put off by life at an inch tall (I'm reminded of Ray Palmer's observation from the Dark Knight Strikes Back about how at a certain size, nothing a body does looks pretty). Not sure why Pym has such a slack-jawed look on his face. Surely the fact things are going wrong when he shrinks other people down with him cannot be a surprise.In issue 7, Jen is approached by a fellow renter at her office building about finding his partner. They've successfully devised a shrinking device other people can afford, but his partner doesn't wish to sell to the prospective buyer, and has used the Shrinko to shrink himself and hide somewhere in his backyard. Jen calls in Hank Pym, who mentions he's studied the Shrinko and it doesn't work properly on living things. The shrunken fellow will eventually start to grow again and when he does, he'll blow up like a small nuclear bomb. But before Hank can set any ants to finding him, he's grabbed by a sparrow, leaving Jen and Patsy alone with his helmet, which Patsy can not successfully control ants with. Jen disrespects Patsy a bit, but Patsy does save her from a pack of cats, and they find the guy they were looking for. And Pym got the bird under control. Turns out Pym is the prospective buyer, because he wants to iron out the kinks in it before it hits the open market.
In issue 8, Jen is approached by the now aged Steve Rogers. He has been accused of wrongful death by the family of a man who came out of a decades long coma just long enough to tell them something, then die. Jen agrees to defend him, but needs a firm licensed to practice in California to let her work under their umbrella. But Matt Murdock won't take her calls, so she turns to a duplicate of Jamie Madrox who works as an entertainment lawyer in L.A., and then when they get to court, she learns she'll be facing Murdock. Well, I think I know the pretext for Spider-Man beating up Daredevil in that story I'd never actually write. Helping to put Steve Rogers in court is un-American, I'm pretty sure.
I love that the dupe calls himself Matt Rocks. It's like a play on Madrox and Matlock. Maybe. Definitely on Madrox, but Matlock would fit, being a lawyer and all. Kind of surprised Steve Rogers still looks so good. Admittedly, I'm not clear on why he's old all of the sudden, but I figured it would be related to the Super-Soldier Serum wearing off or something, and he'd go back to being the scrawny asthmatic he was before. Although, the years of keeping himself in fighting trim could simply pay off, and maybe the serum permanently removed any ailments when he received it. When Peter Parker lost his powers for awhile, he was still a lot more agile and strong than he'd been back in high school, just from the years of exertion.
At any rate, Steve still prompting swooning among the ladies was impressive. And I like Soule's Steve. He's principled, polite, straightforward, but with a bit of a dry sense of humor. In other words, a perfectly pleasant person to be around, which seems about right for Steve. I imagine it's something he works at, because he knows people have a tendency to get stiff and formal around CAPTAIN AMERICA, and that's not something he enjoys, so he tries to get them to relax.
The brief blow-up between Jen and Patsy was interesting. I wonder if Jen's attitude isn't something similar to Superman's where, he feels compelled sometimes to try and do more in a team setting than he needs to, even though his teammates are also awesome heroes who can carry their weight. Jen's a Hulk, and maybe being that strong and tough makes you tend to underestimate the people who aren't Hulks. She may have taken the Shocker's spiel about the different levels of do-gooders too seriously.
Pulido's work is interesting in that it isn't a style I could really see myself trying to emulate, the way that I might want to draw like Alan Davis, but it works well. Vicente's colors help, everything is vivid and bright, and that helps it jump off the page, but Pulido does good work. I like the squiggly lines for the transmissions to and from the helmet, I like how Jen keeps her hair in a tight ponytail or bun when she's lawyering, but let's it hang loose when she's superheroing. Also, they're definitely having it work so Jen can Hulk up more when she feels like it. Pulido draws her as thicker, accentuates the muscles more when she's in that wrestling-style outfit, as opposed to when she's in business casual.
So on the whole, I really enjoy this book, and hope that it continues for some time (though judging by the sales figures I've seen, I may not get my wish).
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