Saturday Splash Page #182

"Thinking Inside the Box," in Sensational She-Hulk (vol. 1) #14, by Steve Gerber (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Jim Sanders III (inker), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Jim Novak (letterer)

John Byrne was writer/artist for 27 issues of Sensational She-Hulk, but what about the other 33? The answer is, it's a real mess. The book had 10 different writer (or writer teams) over those issues, and 10 different pencilers. I don't know if nobody particularly wanted the job, Marvel couldn't find someone they liked or what. There's a lot of one-offs, although the writers seem to pay attention to what each other were doing. Scott Benson does a fill-in for #51, where She-Hulk is desperate for a story for the issue, and jumps into an inventory issue from her Savage She-Hulk days, and only makes it through with some help from Tommy, the lone Marvel intern at the office. Sholly Fisch brings back Tommy in issue 58, now trying to be Jen's costumed sidekick as she fights an Electro so drunk on power he thinks he's an "electrical elemental." 

Most attempts at stability didn't last. After Byrne left the book the second time, Marvel went with Michael Eury and Zach Britton as writer/artist team. Eury wrote a 6-issue story about an enemy trying to drain the gamma radiation from Jennifer's blood and nearly getting her killed, but Britton only drew the first issue (where she fights Titania in a lingerie store), then vanished, with most of the remaining issues being drawn by Pat Olliffe.

The only two who stick around for any length of time are Steve Gerber, who wrote a total of 16 issues (3 of those with Bruce Dixon), and Bryan Hitch, who drew 13 issues. The two mostly overlap, which is nice. Gerber maintains some of Byrne's status quo, Weezie Mason and the flying car Jennifer got after a trip to outer space. (Also the bit about Jen having sexy dreams about Hercules, though it's Simon Furman who writes an issue where Herc finally shows up.)

However, Gerber kicks her out of the District Attorney's office (though she's back at that job in the last few issues of the book) after a defendant argues her actions saving people from a falling communications tower unfairly prejudiced the jury. Dan Slott would also use this in She-Hulk volume 1, and Mark Waid did something similar in Daredevil. Gerber focuses more on his typical social commentary/satire stuff. His first arc involves Jennifer being enlisted by a shadowy figure Byrne hadn't fleshed out, who turns out to be "Lexington Looper." Lex is in danger from a former employee who stole a device that can project whatever images you wish to a person or persons and make them feel or believe whatever you want. Perception as reality, facts are irrelevant. So "Pseudoman" projects the image of a train bearing down, and Jennifer is terrified. Jennifer tries a flying tackle, but he projects himself as powerful and immovable, and she gets tossed blocks away.

After that, Dr. Angst (see Sunday Splash Page #343) reverses a black hole via giant, magical plunger, so that it starts spewing matter into the universe, essentially filling it with other universes until only the most dull, mundane places are left for he and his old associates to rule, everything else smushed together and out of existence. The only one aware of it is an offshoot of the Watchers, called the Critics. He ropes Howard the Duck in, because he can't get too involved and Howard's got experience with this sort of crap, then sits back and critiques how things are going.

With that approach, it's no wonder Gerber declines to have She-Hulk break the 4th wall. Any more broken walls, the entire book would collapse like an imploded sports arena.

Hitch is still in his Alan Davis-lite era, which, to be clear, I prefer to his style from Ultimates to the present. And it better suits stories like these, with their absurd or comic tones. He's got to draw a talking duck in a universe of nothing but cold cuts and tomatoes, that does not call for a photorealistic look.

I wouldn't say the non-Byrne creative teams do away with the fan service. Like I said, the lone Eury/Britton issue involves a fight in a lingerie store (complete with the Thing helping out while being embarrassed about being there and wondering how women fight in so little, which ignores that he fights in his underwear.)But they aren't devoting pages specifically to She-Hulk doing sexy poses or jumping rope, I guess.

Both Gerber and Eury do stories where she switches between different looks. Big and grey and monosyllabic, ala early Hulk, or her Savage persona, or back to mousy Jennifer Walters. I don't know what either writer was trying to say with that. Maybe they just wanted to shake things up. Byrne basically left her as is, minus the Christmas issue where she briefly transforms back into Jennifer as a gift to her dad (courtesy of her team-up with a lecherous Santa Claus in issue 8.) Man knew what he wanted to draw.

Saturday Splash Page #181

"Out of Bounds," in Sensational She-Hulk (vol. 1) #5, by John Byrne (writer/penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Jim Novak (letterer)

Having never read Savage She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters' first ongoing series, my impression is it was the classic Hulk formula, but Hulk was a girl. She-Hulk wears a ripped-up outfit, talks in simplified sentences, punches monsters, and gets chased by the authorities (in Jen's case, I think it was her dad, who was a sheriff.)

After that ended, she spent some time on the Avengers, then replaced the Thing on the FF post-Secret Wars, the latter when John Byrne was writing and drawing the book. Byrne turned down the savagery, with Jennifer Walters being in control as She-Hulk and generally loving being a big green lady. He also upped the sexy aspect of the character, which continued to an extent once Sensational She-Hulk started up (preceded a graphic novel of the same name.) Byrne gives She-Hulk a lot of different outfits to wear, for work and play and working out and whatever else, and spends more than few pages on her trying out different stuff or commenting on not wanting a good outfit to get wrecked in a fight. She-Hulk being fun-loving, confident clothes horse is probably what's stuck the most consistently in the 30+ years since this series.

The less consistently applied, but arguably more significant, change Byrne makes is Jennifer becomes aware she's in a comic book. She takes advantage of an issue actually starting to cycle through her wardrobe quickly by changing between panels, or yells at Byrne about using the Toad Men for alien invaders, or (in Byrne's second stint on the book), his propensity for having characters try to marry her. Byrne also adds Louise "Weezi" Mason, the Golden Age Blonde Phantom, to the cast. Weezi ends up being meta-aware as well, and admits she finagled Jennifer a job working in the District Attorney's office (Weezi's boss), because even being just a supporting cast member will get her enough page time to slow her aging any further.

Of course, Byrne later has her fall in a vat of stuff the Mole Man's got laying around, and Weezi gets de-aged (and slimmed down) back to her early 40s. Yes, not long after he de-aged Spitfire in the pages of Namor, and yes, Weezi comments on the fact Byrne's getting obsessed with aging and mortality since he hit 40. Then Weezi starts dating Jennifer's dad (no longer trying to arrest She-Hulk, but still not happy his daughter's 6'10" and bright green), gains a little weight, gets angry about how plump Byrne's drawing her, and goes on strike while Jennifer's in the middle of a fight with Xemnu the Titan in an outer space truck stop.

A fight which Byrne initially illustrates as a "fromage" (his word) of Siryn fighting Juggernaut in X-Force #3. I mean, he mimics the postures exactly (She-Hulk standing in for Siryn, Xemnu for Juggy) and shifts his art style to a more Liefeldian look for 4 pages, until his editor Renee Witterstaetter marches into the book (dressed like she stepped out of the night club from the opening scene of Temple of Doom) and tells him to knock it off and start over.

That's the kind of book it is under Byrne. Kind of goofy, full of jokes about issue 3 being the obligatory, sales-boosting Spider-Man guest appearance, or doing a cover referencing the magazine cover of pregnant Demi Moore (She-Hulk holding a beach ball in place of being pregnant.) Byrne was writer/artist for the first 8 issues, left for almost 2 years, then returned on issue 31, with a cover showing She-Hulk and Renee stopping him from renumbering the book back to #9. Even if he's stymied there, Byrne does treat everything in between his runs as a lengthy dream sequence for Jennifer.

Byrne sticks to stories that are 1-3 issues long, fitting with the book's policy of only using "lame" villains. Byrne includes Xemnu and the Headmen in that category, along with Gamecock, Stilt-Man, and Spragg, the Living Hill. I feel like not all those characters deserve being lumped under that umbrella, but so it goes. But all the weak villains and focus on jokes or on drawing She-Hulk in various sexy outfits, means it doesn't feel like Byrne's got an overarching story of theme he's working towards. Maybe "draw a giant sexy green lady" was the overarching theme.

I think Byrne's first 8 issue stretch is stronger, maybe because his second stint feels more gimmick based. The Liefeld homage, the "naked jump rope" bit (which I was afraid ran for the whole issue, but thankfully does not), everybody trying to marry She-Hulk. The artwork's very nice throughout; Byrne at least seems to be having fun drawing She-Hulk fighting goofy villains or spending a few pages letting her fall through a pitch-black tunnel. He's usually being inked by Bob Wiacek, though partway through the second stint She-Hulk gets Byrne to use the duotone paper he'd been using on Namor (until Wiacek starts inking him there) for her book instead. I'm not sure the rougher texture it gives his art works as well here, though Jennifer describes it as feeling like she's wearing corduroy.

Byrne's second run ends at #50, which is mostly an excuse to get other artists - Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller, and Walt Simonson among them - to do 2-page gags about their version of a She-Hulk book. But the book ran for 60 issues total, and Byrne was only responsible for 27 of those, so we'll look at the other half of the series next week.

Saturday Splash Page #163

"Appeal Denied," in She-Hulk (vol. 3) #3, by Charles Soule (writer), Javier Pulido (artist), Muntsa Vicente (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer)

As part of Marvel Now!, aka, "Marvel tries the novel notion of giving talented creative teams room to do their thing," She-Hulk got another ongoing series, this time written by Charles Soule, with Javier Pulido as lead artist.

Soule sends Jennifer Walters back to lawyering, after Peter David's curious decision to make her a bounty hunter. However, while Dan Slott had Walters working specifically in "superhuman law," Soule starts with Walters being denied a bonus by her current employers specifically because she's not bringing them any work from her pals in the costume set. Why aren't they handling Reed Richards' patent applications? That sort of thing.

So she breaks their expensive conference table with one finger and starts her own firm, setting up in a little commercial office space in Jersey, where all the other tenants are also variously super-powered or whatnot. The supporting cast boils down to Patsy Walker, who She-Hulk hires as an investigator after feeling Patsy's at a low point (Soule implies Patsy slept with Eric O'Grady, the shittiest Ant-Man, and I'm just going to say, "no," to that. Or maybe "NO!"), and also Angie, a mysterious woman who applies to be Jennifer's secretary even before Jennifer's thought of hiring anyone. Angie's very mysterious, and has a monkey named Hei Hei.

Most of the cases cover an issue or two, and start with some legal issue before punching is required. Kristoff seeks asylum in the U.S. to avoid being forced to take the Latverian throne if Doom is unavailable. Doom objects to this independent thinking and hauls Kristoff back home. Steve Rogers is accused of murdering someone, back before he got the super-soldier serum treatment. Hank Pym's trying to buy someone else's shrinking invention, but one of the two creators has gone missing. I think Soule has a law degree, though I heard mixed things about how accurate the courtroom proceedings he depicted were. They were interesting enough for me.

Javier Pulido is the artist for 10 of the 12 issues. Pulido tends towards simple character designs and layouts. He tends to draw scenes in profile, so we sit off to the side and watch Jennifer and Kristoff discuss his situation across her desk. He's also fond of having the story run across pages, only to switch to splitting up further down. So on the top half of the page, you finish the right-most panel on the left page then keep going onto the right page. Until you get to the bottom half of the page and now need to read vertically through 3 or 4 panels on the left page, and then switch to the right page.

It's frustrating and drags me out of the story, though I think Pulido tries to signal which you're supposed to do based on whether there's a panel gutter along the spine of the page. If there is, it's like a wall and you stay on the page you're on until it goes away or you reach the end of the page. Then you can jump to the next page. No panel gutter, no wall. It would be better to just pick one for a given pair of pages and stick with it. He could always do it the other way on the next pair of facing pages.

The big mystery of the series is a mysterious "blue file." A suit filed in South Dakota against Jennifer Walters, several other heroes, and a few villains. Jennifer has no memory of what it could be about, or when it came into her possession, and neither do the others.

Unfortunately, the first time it really becomes prominent in the story is during the two issues Ron Wimberley draws, and the shift in art to him from Pulido is staggering. Odd perspectives within panels, distorted proportions. Rico Renzi opts for colors that lean more towards the neon side of things than Muntsa Vicente. I think Mike Sterling noted those issues hurt the book's sales at his store, as people dropped it and wouldn't come back, even once Pulido returned.

I definitely didn't love Wimberley's art, though maybe I'd have dug it on a book that established a similar look to begin with, but I kept buying. It wasn't a deep book, but I enjoyed it. Soule doesn't bother with any real conflicts between Jennifer and She-Hulk. She's usually big and green, but she's smart and composed and professional, allowing for some ragged clothes when she has to trash a bunch of Doombots.

The book was canceled after a year in early 2015, in the run up to Hickman's Secret Wars. I'm getting tired of typing some variation of that, but there's still a couple more books where it'll apply.

Saturday Splash Page #162

"Green Journalism," in She-Hulk (vol. 1) #4, by Dan Slott (writer), Juan Bobillo (penciler), Marcelo Sosa (inker), Chris Chuckry (colorist), Dave Sharpe (letterer)

She-Hulk had a couple of ongoing series prior, but this was the first sans adjective in the title. Slott takes the idea that Jennifer Walters likes being the powerful, eye-catching She-Hulk versus her more nondescript, smaller self to the extent that Jennifer, in some sort of reaction to how quiet and focused she remained on her degree in college, is now going wild, throwing parties at Avengers Mansion every night, abusing her Avengers' parking privileges, and generally just relying on quick talk and her rep as a hero to win cases.

Having been booted from both her job with the D.A.'s office, and told she can't live at the Mansion any longer, she gets approached by a rep from a big law firm with a job offer. There are conditions, which are outlined on the splash page recap. Suffice it to say, while she's lawyering as Jennifer Walters, there's still a lot of aspects of the job that can use the She-Hulk personal touch. Such as when the Scorpion tries to crash Spider-Man's suit for libel against Jonah Jameson, looking to kill the two people he hates most. Or when she has to act as counsel for Adam Warlock on a planet where cases are decided by combat, and his opponent in The Champion.

Slott uses that as a chance to drastically increase Jennifer's strength. Bobillo uses it as a chance to draw her with even bigger biceps, which only makes how tiny he draws her hands more noticeable. Seriously, look at that splash page. It's like her hands are the only part of her that doesn't Hulk (well, except for maybe her mouth and nose.)

Slott adds workplace drama aspects to the book to add another angle beyond punching and legal wrangling. The firm's current hotshot attorney doesn't like or respect Jennifer, while one of the newer attorneys has a crush on her (although Slott starts up something here between Jennifer and John Jameson which nearly resulted in marriage in the second volume.) The guy who recruited Jennifer (with mysterious ulterior motives) has a rebellious teen granddaughter with a bionic arm he makes Jen babysit, to mixed results.

I think Slott used Southpaw in his Avengers: Initiative book, only to have the arm surgically (and painfully) removed by Hank Pym and the Nazi scientist he had on-staff.

Juan Bobillo draws half the series, Paul Pelletier the other half. It's not a perfect split, but Bobillo's issues seem more focused on courtroom aspects, even if the courtroom is a boxing ring on another planet. Pelletier gets two issues where She-Hulk has to contain a super-villain prison break, along with the last few issues, when Titania tries to kill She-Hulk (with an assist from the aggrieved Champion.) But Pelletier's much better at fight scenes, so that works to the book's advantage. Their two art styles are nothing alike, with Bobillo favoring a very thin line for his work, and a tendency to keep the characters at a bit of distance. Not many close-ups, or panels where the surroundings are entirely obscured.

The book ended after 12 issues, although Marvel being Marvel, volume 2 started within a year. I don't own any of that. Slott's run was too pricey by the time I thought about it, likely the result of the news She-Hulk was getting a Disney+ show. I know the book had to deal with Civil War, and Stark shooting Jennifer's cousin into space, and that Slott also went to some convoluted lengths to try and explain past stories about She-Hulk that seemed out of character (like sleeping with the Juggernaut, thanks, Chuck Austen!)

Then Peter David took over the book and made She-Hulk a bounty hunter. Yeah, I don't know.

Saturday Splash Page #161

"Gamma Roulette," in She-Hulks #1, by Ryan Wilcox (writer), Ryan Stegman (penciler), Michael Babinski (inker), Guru eFX (colorist), Ed Dukeshire (letterer)

At one point there was a Marvel Event based on a bunch of super-science villains teaming up to try and take over the, either the U.S. or the entire world, I don't know which. They targeted the various gamma-powered characters for. . .reasons I am unclear on. Look, Jeph Loeb was heavily involved with the Hulk books at this time and I wasn't going near his stuff with a 10-foot-pole and a hazmat suit.

Anyway, the "Intellegencia" lost, but escaped, and this book (which was originally an ongoing, but apparently pre-orders were so bad it got turned into a 4-issue mini-series by the time issue 2 shipped) was about two She-Hulks trying to track them down and probably illegally detain them (I know The Trapster asks for his lawyer, but we never see him get one.)

Betty Ross was Red She-Hulk by this point but, possibly to have the mentor/apprentice dynamic, Wilcox went with Jennifer Walters and Lyra, the teenaged She-Hulk from Thundra's timeline, that is a combination of Thundra and the Hulk's DNA. Wikipedia says Thundra was captured by scientists and impregnated by cells they swiped from the Hulk, but the Official Handbook-esque entry for Lyra in the back of the above issue says Thundra traveled back in time specifically to get the Hulk's DNA, which fits the vague recollection I have of the comic.

I am pretty sure the version of the Hulk Thundra encountered was not aware enough to consent to giving up any DNA, which is almost as much a yikes as the Handbook entry saying Lyra was sent to the present day to get pregnant from Norman Osborn. Didn't Marvel learn their lesson from Sins Past? Nobody wants to think about Norman Osborn procreating. Red flags all over the damn place.

Anyway, Wilcox uses Lyra growing up in a militaristic society as an excuse to send her to high school to learn to be human and interact with people. There's the clique of mean girls that target the naive newcomer, especially once she strikes up a friendship with a popular guy. There's some fish out of water stuff, where Lyra can't understand social norms, or she dismisses two jocks hitting on her by telling them they'll have to fight to the death to decide which one takes her to a party. Oh, and the winner needs to bring the loser's ears as proof.

Lyra mostly hates school and would rather be out punching villains. Mostly she just hates being in her human form. It makes a certain amount of sense, coming from a place where her power as a Hulk was probably praised and a real asset, although that Handbook entry says the green skin helped mark her as an outsider (because she had a father, or genetic donor at least, while all the other women didn't). So you'd think she might be glad to ditch the evidence of that heritage.

Either way, it's an interesting choice by Wilcox to have Jennifer Walters, who has mostly preferred being green to not, be the one trying to show Lyra the benefits of not being a Hulk all the time. But as Bruce Banner notes, Jennifer has been much more successful living among people as a Hulk than he has, so she's certainly a better option than him, and there aren't many others. Red Hulk? Fuck no. Doc Samson? Eh, kind of sketchy. Skaar? He's not even housebroken.

That the book was reduced to 4 issues meant Wilcox had to speed-run a friendship between Lyra and Amelia, the leader of the clique. And there's at least one super-villain fight every issue, which also cuts down the time to develop any of those subplots, but Wilcox and Stegman presumably knew what people wanted to see. Stegman's very good with fight scenes, kind of a slimmed down Ed McGuinness look to the art, and solid enough when the book requires a more humorous touch (mostly in the school scenes.) The book ends on a requisite super-villain disaster at prom, and I'm not sure Lyra's been in anything since. Maybe she popped up in Avengers Academy after I dropped that book. Another teen character that failed to carve out a niche.

Saturday Splash Page #86

"Anybody Lose a Dragon?" in Thing and She-Hulk: The Long Night, by Todd DeZago (writer), Bryan Hitch and Ivan Reis (pencilers), Paul Neary and Randy Emberlin (inkers), Paul Mounts (colorist), Randy Gentile (letterer)

A 40-page one-shot about a bunch of vampire bug-things planning a subway tunnel collapse in the vicinity of a Roxxon lab that's preparing to experiment on Dragon Man, while the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing and the Sensational She-Hulk just so happen to be on the two trains that get caught in the collapse.

Hitch and Neary draw the first 25 pages, which is mostly build-up. Why these two heroes are taking the subway, plus each of them dealing with their own brand of jerks, what Roxxon's doing, the vampire geeks, the leader of which looks like he raided Killraven's closet. Reis and Emberlin handle the fighting and whatnot that occurs over the remaining 14 pages. I don't really see a reason why they switch teams at the point they do (Hitch/Neary draw one page after the one above.) This hardly seems like a book where you bring in another team because Hitch couldn't finish the whole thing in time. So maybe they thought Reis was better for fight scenes and Hitch for building the setting?

For having two heroes ostensibly trying to get two trains full of civilians to safety when there are vampires, dragon androids and unscrupulous corporate scientists and goons running around, DeZago doesn't take hardly any of it seriously. Ben suggests that Sue has success calming Dragon Man down by being 'seductive' with him - which, what? - and She-Hulk suggests maybe he should try it and runs off to look for the civilians. The Thing proceeds to stand there and try and talk Dragon Man down while being repeatedly doused in flames. They seem more concerned about getting mobbed by the press after they rescue everyone than anything else.

I have no idea why this comic exists. It was released in 2002. Neither character had a series of their own in a while, so maybe it was a way to renew two trademarks in one go?

What I Bought 9/8/2022

There's supposed to be a baker's dozen worth of comics out this month I'd like to buy, but absolutely none of them are available this week. And only two from last week, both of which I've got here to discuss. Either the back half of this month is going to be crazy stuffed for me, or there's a lot of stuff running behind.

Bet on the latter.

She-Hulk #6, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Luca Maresca (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Appropriate for an issue which discusses Eat Cake in Fancy Dresses Wednesday.

She-Hulk meets Patsy Walker at a cake shop. Because it is Eat Cake in Fancy Dresses Wednesday. Patsy's also borrowed Tony's file on Jack of Hearts for Jen. Cannot believe they're having Patsy marry Tony Stark. Her taste in men is somehow getting worse than the Son of Satan. Back at the office, Nightcrawler is waiting with a request for She-Hulk to be the lawyer for every legal issue for the mutants who decided they didn't like shitty human countries and fucked off to their island paradise, but still want' to be able to vote and have driver's licenses. I would have thought "licenses" for "driving" would be considered inferior human concepts mutants wouldn't bother with.

Then Jen and Mallory have an argument where one page, Mallory is pissed Jen is taking superhuman clients after Mallory said not to do that. Two pages later, after Jen has pointed out Mallory was an expert in superhuman law and she hired She-Hulk (and pointed out she's on retainer with Krakoa now), Mallory is happy and like, "well maybe I do like superhuman law after all.)

This feels like such awkward pacing. Rowell's been trying to sell the notion Jen has no non-superhuman clients in the background, but the whole thing about why Mallory is so set against that comes up and gets resolved and/or shoved aside in one conversation that spans a couple of pages. Then she spends the last 11 pages on the Jack of Hearts plot, where Jack is thinking of moving home, but he cooked lasagna for Jen and then they make out and that's the issue.

The second-to-last panel is of Jen, as she's following Jack to the bedroom, pausing and looking at something in the living room quizzically. I have no idea what. I've been treating that page like one of those "spot the differences!" challenge puzzles, but I can't see that Maresca drew anything differently between any of the four panels. Nothing moved suddenly, nothing vanished. Is she just looking at the wine bottle, wondering about Jack being willing to touch her now (he is apparently not radioactive at all now)?

If you could say anything was resolved by the end of the sixth issue, I guess it's that Jen no longer has to hide the fact she's meeting superhuman clients from Mallory. Again, though, Rowell has put that so far on the back burner I can't reach it with the spoon to see if it's done yet.

Moon Knight #15, by Jed MacKay (writer), Alessandro Cappuccio (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer) - Moon Knight finds himself trapped in the horrifying world of high finance. Can he escape a banker's life?

Marc speaks with Dr. Sterman about Steven Grant and Jake Lockley. Sterman has not brought them up at all, and she explains to Marc that was because everything about Moon Knight that was a cause for concern circled around Marc Spector. I kind of wonder if that's always been macKay's plan, or if he shifted it when there was such a positive response to how Marc's D.I.D. was portrayed in the TV show. Granted, I'm basing "positive response" on what I see on the two or three tumblr blogs I read that discuss the show. 

Given how MacKay has shown that Marc looks like hell when he's running the show solo, and that he has been consistently behind his enemies through most of this book, I'm inclined to think that was all part of a plan.

Anyway, intercut with the therapy session are scenes of Steven and Jake out getting information. Jake hits up a bar about the vampires, which leads to a section of Chinatown where this Structure group doesn't go. Which suggests a pretty powerful vamp already lives there. Hunter's Moon is not thrilled at the idea of a parlay with said vampire, which will probably be an issue later. He is, however, entirely cool with Moon Knight have D.I.D., because it reflects the different phases of the moon. I'm not sure that's the best logic, but OK, fine.

Steven, meanwhile, hits up a guy with the notion that supervillain movies will be the next big thing, and maybe he could get some info on a couple of European killers as a rough draft? And that's how Calvin learns about pankration, an ancient Greek submission style. Who says comic books aren't educational? 

It's a contrast in settings. Steven sits in a comfortable chair in a high-rise lounge after going to his stylist to fix the disaster Marc made of their hair. Jake is literally drinking in an alley, wearing his fake mustache. Not sure where that leaves Marc, who spends most of the issue in Sterman's office, or standing on the rooftop of said building. That's up high, but it's also kind of on the street. It's also precarious, I suppose. One more step and he's over the edge. I would think that with no longer trying to suppress Steven and Jake, Marc would be at less risk of doing something stupid. But if it's going to bring out his insecurities about his value compared to the other two, maybe not.

What I Bought 7/20/2022 - Part 1

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.

She-Hulk #5, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Luca Maresca (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - It's definitely a picture of She-Hulk sitting and looking at the reader.

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.

Slumber #5, by Tyler Burton Smith (writer), Vanessa Cardinali (artist), Simon Robins (colorist), Steve Wands (letterer) - A lady realizing there's a big mess to clean up.

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.

What I Bought 7/8/2022 - Part 3

Lately, it seems like every week I get to Thursday and feel the week should be over. But there's always Friday to get through. That's probably not good. Today we have two fourth issues. One is the conclusion to a mini-series, the other is an ongoing series that is way behind schedule.

She-Hulk #4, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Luca Maresca (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Ben looks like he's taking this more seriously than Jen.

We get a little glimpse of Jen's fight club thing with Titania until the Thing shows up, still seeking legal advice on the ticket for not having Lockjaw on a leash. We'll see if we get any more scenes with the fight club before the book ends. 

Ben's also sent a few friends Jen's way as clients, which is a problem since her boss wants no superhuman clients. So she'll see them on the sly. She talks with Reed Richards long enough to confirm being around Jack of Hearts hasn't messed with her gamma levels (without mentioning Jack's alive again.) After that, she and Jack get back to trying to piece together what happened to him. Jack at least remembers one thing from his escape that leads them a different part of New York. Then they drink bubble tea and discuss power, lack thereof, having two faces, until someone with heavy footsteps shows up looking for Jack.

So, a lot of talking, but not much plot advancement. That seems like a familiar comment. Rowell seems to be trying to help the audience care about Jack by emphasizing the contrast between he and Jen. Becoming She-Hulk ultimately hasn't disrupted Jen's life too terribly, at least from her perspective. She likes the power, the confidence. Maresca doesn't draw Jen in her un-Hulked form as a diminutive, shy person, but she does draw her clothes as loose enough that you can see Jen dresses to be ready to shift if needed. It's something Jen's used to and has learned to plan for. 

Jack had a relatively normal life, apparently studying poetry in college, and his powers wrecked all that. He spent, as he puts it, his 20s flying through space because he was afraid of vaporizing his friends. For him, the novelty of his powers wore off long ago. They've left him isolated, with almost no one he feels can trust or call friend. The opportunity to leave that behind is tempting, even if he's smart enough to know someone siphoning off his power is dangerous. The t-shirt with the big heart looks silly on him, but Jack isn't uncomfortable wearing it.

Maresca's artwork is similar enough to Antonio's there's no real whiplash. Maresca's line is maybe a bit rougher, there's more of sketch quality to it, but I'm also wondering if Maresca was a replacement artist and this was on a rush schedule. Renzi's color work helps maintain a consistent feel, too. I especially like the bleakly grey color scheme for the law office. It's almost like one of those cartoons where the technicolor character finds themselves in an older, black-and-white cartoon world. All these super-characters in what's supposed to be a serious legal profession.

Step by Bloody Step #4, by Si Spurrier (writer), Matias Bergara (artist), Matheus Lopes (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Ended up with the variant cover because the place I bought from didn't have the Bergara cover.

The giant is destroyed save for one gauntlet. The girl, however, can't get to him. That would be a step backward, and the world won't allow it. The father they befriended in issue 1 brings that gauntlet to her, and she continues on the path, finally reaching a tree growing from what's left of some column. Just like where the story started. There's a circular disc with instructions, but the lock is broken. She has to go back, but she can't, or can she?

Well, not alone, but the gauntlet can cleave through the force in her way, and also sends her back in time? Was not expecting that. So she walks until she's back to the fortress, to before the battle, when she was about to accept the champagne, and recombines with her earlier self. Instead of having a fun time at the party, she drags the prince off to the garden and uses a bit of her blood to get the plant growing and pulls a Poison Ivy on him. Then she saves the kid used as a decoy to lure out the giant, and then the giant saves them both and lets the goblins or whatever breach the walls of the fortress, take everything, and send the people within out naked into the wilderness.

After that, and a farewell to the family, all that's left is to finish the journey. Back to the tree, this time with the giant intact. Turn the lock, and the roles are reversed. The giant becomes the infant, the girl becomes the giant. Which someone causes the tree to bloom for a brief moment before the petals disperse. And the giant walks away, carrying the baby.

So there are things I don't entirely understand. Why they do this, what the purpose of the tree is. But I wonder if either the giant or the child know either, only that they have to do it. Presumably this has been going on for a while, not the girl's first time as the one being guided, but she didn't show any signs of remembering or understanding. So it stands to reason all the giant knew was that the girl had been the giant once, been protector on this journey, and then the roles reversed. So it isn't likely they could really explain it to us, either, even if Spurrier was doing expository dialogue here.

I like the layout where the girl springs her trap on the prince. Four tall, narrow panels descending across the page, focused on her, but panning slowly so that while the prince is focused on her in panel 3, he's missing that she's let her blood contact the plants in panel 4. Then the bottom of the page is a shot of a couple of rockets or flares signaling the battle's beginning, but we can just see leaves starting to break through the glass of the greenhouse. It's a nice bit for how things are happening relative to each other.

That and all the panels of her pushing her way back to the giant. All those short widescreen panels, done where it looks like the force is trying to tear her apart. Like she's walking into a firestorm.

What I Bought 4/9/2022 - Part 1

Well, I almost got every comic I was looking for from last week. I knew the first issue of Lead City was going to be a longshot. I'll try again at the end of the month. In the meantime, here's the only two ongoing series I'm buying from Marvel right now.

Moon Knight #10, by Jed MacKay (writer), Alessandro Cappuccio (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer) - There's got to be a better place to grip the gun than around the trigger. That's just not safe if you're trying to pull someone out.

Moon Knight's confrontation with the escaped mental patient, Rutherford Winner, is related in flashback as Moonie talks with Dr. Sterman, who is also Winner's doctor. The doctor seems rather unconcerned with Winner, dismissing him as a hopelessly damaged individual who can only be contained. Unlike Marc, she says, who contains himself, but perhaps, shouldn't?

At first I thought this was her trying to do what Zodiac wanted, possibly in the most ham-fisted, obvious way possible. I guess I should have paid more attention to the disinterested posture and expressions Cappuccio gives her. She looks bored, talking about Winner, only leaning towards Marc when she encourages him to stop holding back.

As it turns out, this Dr. Sterman is actually Waxman, a Clayface-looking shapeshifting killer. Moon Knight busts out some liquid nitrogen canisters (where's he getting this stuff if he's broke and on the outs with the Avengers?) to freeze him, then seals Waxman inside a steel ball. Cappuccio does all those panels of Waxman as these tight, narrow boxes, where Rosenberg has colored almost everything black and Waxman's just outlined in the green glow of the walkie-talkie.

Moon Knight says he will bury the ball in the foundations of a condo ('execution by gentrification') unless Waxman tells him where to find the doctor. Waxman does, and Marc buries him anyway. OK, then. Glad to see therapy is helping. That would seem like an indication Marc is doing exactly what Zodiac wanted. Trapping a potentially immortal serial killer in a box and letting him go insane certainly seems like not holding back. Is MacKay going to have Moon Knight show Zodiac exactly why it's a bad idea to encourage him to cut loose, and if so, is that going to be one last trap Zodiac has for him? It's hard to see Moon Knight taking prisoners or showing restraint at this point.

She-Hulk #3, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Roge Antonio (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Last month I ended up with an X-Gwen variant, this month it's a Carnage variant. This is what happens when you wait until the weekend. You get stuck with whatever's left.

Jen gets to work trying to get some non-super-type clients. We don't see any progress on that front. She returns home with pizza for Jack and the two of them try to figure out what happened to him, and what about his origin can actually be proven. Which is apparently very little, since Jack has mostly relied on what other people told him. Hmm, I feel an "origin retcon" migraine coming on.

Jack still can't figure out where he was, what was happening, how he escaped or why he came to She-Hulk, though he thinks the last might be out of some guilt over that time he drained all her radiation. Everybody in the comic keeps saying that happened in Indiana, but I thought it was inside a secret biological weapons facility hidden in Mount Rushmore? It was Geoff Johns' Avengers run, the story where they figure out Red Skull made it to Secretary of Defense, right? I know, not critical, and I'm probably misremembering, but it keeps nagging at me.

They do figure out that Jack has barely any access to his powers. The way he describes it, the power is there, he just can get to it, but you have to wonder if it got drained out of him. The other thing I notice is Jack doesn't say what happened to his mother, only that she was an alien. So maybe Rowell is bringing her into the picture, trying to address her son's condition somehow. That wouldn't necessarily explain sending him to She-Hulk, though.

Rowell is still moving slowly, but she's taking pains to highlight different parts of Jennifer's past continuity that's been brought into play. For example, Mallory has apparently rebooted Andy, the Mad Thinker's Awesome Android as her assistant, the role he played in Slott's She-Hulk. Jennifer also calls Patsy Walker to see if she knows anything about Jack's history, so Rowell's also continuing that friendship, which I think Charles Soule established in his She-Hulk run. That could indicate Rowell's going for something more upbeat, or that She-Hulk's really going to need the support network. Or just that this is a version of She-Hulk willing to actually let other people help her.

I'm mostly just grateful Rowell writes She-Hulk as skeptical of Patsy dating Tony Stark as I am. Patsy Walker: Exhibiting terrible taste in men since, I dunno, 1952 or something!

Still, there probably needs to be more forward movement at some point. If only to give Roge Antonio something to draw other than people sitting and talking. Antonio is trying to keep it visually interesting by changing perspective or the characters' posture to reflect their emotional state. Jen spends most of her conversation with Jack resting comfortably back into the couch, leaning forward only when he's getting despondent, while Jack tends to hunch on himself.

What I Bought 3/4/2022 - Part 1

One thing I've never been any good at is getting over a mistake I make. Until I can see it's not going to cause more problems, it just lingers in my mind, sometimes even beyond. At this point, there's a particular mistake I'm going to be thinking about for at least another six weeks. Lovely. Here's some comics that were light on plot from two weeks ago.

Moon Knight #9, by Jed MacKay (writer), Alessandro Cappuccio (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer) - Ha, ha, now Moon Knight is trapped within my 6th grade Trapper Keeper! Fine, it's a knock-off Trapper Keeper.

In this issue, Moon Knight deals with a haunted apartment building. More specifically, with one particular floor, one the building is not supposed to have. One that doesn't let people leave once they arrive. It does, however, throw Moon Knight out. Because his brain is too crazy to absorb. Marc gets some intel from Wong and goes back to make the haunted floor an offer/threat. And Moon Knight gets his Midnight Mission back, although the idea of encouraging people to step inside and ask for help seems, well. . . Like something a crazy guy would do.

It's funny (or sad) this is set after Moon Knight escapes from prison in that Devil's Reign one-shot I didn't buy, but this shipped first. Great work, Marvel. Anyway, it's a decent enough one-off story. Cappuccio mostly draws the House of Shadows as long hallways with peeling wallpaper and deep shadows. Although Cappuccio is always adding deep shadows. There's also skeletons. Lots of skeletons. Those are new. Haven't been many of those in the book up to now.

The more interesting long-term development is Dr. Sterman questioning whether Marc can actually help people at all. She mostly couches it in the old question of whether superheroes only attract more violence. Which, with Zodiac specifically trying to target Marc, has some validity. Although Marc's presence also brought in Hunter's Moon, so that's an extra person to protect the innocent. However, the part of the session we see ends with her questioning whether it's a good idea for Marc to be a superhero.

This is probably her trying to give Zodiac what he wants, to make Marc violent. Abandon this notion of helping people. But it's not unfair to question whether this is the best thing for Marc's mental state. Being Moon Knight, remaining tied to Khonshu in a sense. Throwing himself into these situations, hurting and being hurt.

She-Hulk #2, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Roge Antonio (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - The store only had the "X-Gwen" variant, so I get to see Gwen Stacy, if she dressed like Wolverine. At least she doesn't have body hair like Wolverine. Or maybe she does. The costume covers almost everything.

Most of the issue is Jen trying to figure out what happened to Jack of Hearts and why he's there. It doesn't go well. Jack knows he was trapped in a tube somewhere after his death, his energy being siphoned off, and he eventually got away, determined to find her. Why? he doesn't know. Who had him? No clue. Why? No clue.

What Jack does figure out is, he's thirsty. For the first time in years. Hungry, too. So Jen gets him a lot of food, although Jack's apparently forgotten frozen food should be cooked first. Man's eating pizza rolls right out of the box. Also, Jen suggests they could get actual pizza, but there's a slice of it on a plate right in front of Jack. Also also, I think the turkey he ate part of was a tofurkey, because there's a hind quarter missing, but there's no bones visible.

Jack also doesn't want to contact the Avengers, because he's concerned Tony Stark will throw him back in an isolation chamber. Jen can't disagree with his assessment, so she lets him crash on her couch (he needs sleep now, too) and heads to work. Meanwhile, whoever Jack escaped from has a disturbing bulletin board full of stuff about She-Hulk. 

Darn, Jack comes back from the dead to be used as a patsy before Slott kills him off in that Reckoning War thing. Come on, we all know when they say someone's gonna die, and Jack's standing there with She-Hulk and 3/4 of the FF, whose number is up. Like I said, 75% of this comic was that one conversation between Jen and Jack. Rowell's not exactly setting a blistering pace here, though that's no surprise. 

I wouldn't say Antonio's doing a lot with all the space being afforded from the sparse dialogue. The body language on the characters is good, but the layouts are pretty straightforward and it's not as though the backgrounds are packed with details. It's mostly just two characters sitting on a couch talking. I can't remember whether Jack had the rat tail haircut Antonio gives him in the flashbacks or not. I mostly excised Geoff Johns' Avengers run from my collection. I mostly just remember Jack getting increasingly frustrated as his condition worsened and taking it out on Scott Lang.

What I Bought 1/20/2022 - Part 4

So when I put in an order at the online store I use for the stuff I missed this month, I forgot The Rush #3. I'd already checked two of the stores in the general area for it prior to that, so it might be a while before I get around to reviewing it. In the meantime, here's two more comics from two weeks ago.

Moon Knight #7, by Jed MacKay (writer), Federico Sabbatini (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer) - Even for Moon Knight, picking a fight with half the Wrecking Crew is crazy.

Moon Knight is trying to find Zodiac, without much success, but 8-Ball points him to Manslaughter Marsdale, who wittingly or not, points him to "the Clown". Which clown? Obnoxio, the one from Circus of Crime? Can't really tell, because Zodiac already cut his head off and took it with him to meet Marc's psychiatrist. Got green hair and a green star over one eye, which I don't remember the Clown from Circus of Crime having. Also, while Tigra is helping Marc out, she's also really there because Black Panther has asked her to keep an eye on Marc. Booo, fuck off T'Challa, go back to ruling your own country through some "divine right by combat" bullshit.

Sabbatini's doing a pretty good job of aping Cappuccio's art here. Linework's a little looser, more jagged, but overall, the book looks largely the same. Although I suspect Rosenberg's color work helps there, too. The one issue is some of the staging in the panels is wonky. There's one, when they've caught up to 8-Ball, where Reese points to something spraypainted on the wall behind her and asks Marc what it is. But I honestly can't tell what it is, because Marc's arm is covering part of it from out perspective. Maybe that's intentional, though I'm not sure why that would be.

Also, MacKay has Moonie do the "imperil a guy until he snitches" bit. Only, unlike Batman dangling people off rooftops, he dangles 8-Ball over a car shredder. And this works, of course. I'm not surprised Moon Knight would try that; he's a brutal vigilante on a good day. Little disappointed it works, though. Be nice if writers would stop acting like that crap gets results all the time.

She-Hulk #1, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Roge Antonio (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I think this cover is very plainly stating that all the Jason Aaron bullshit is off the board. Which is fine, since none of said bullshit seemed interesting to me. Guess it sucks if you were enjoying it.

Jennifer gets interrupted on her way to her new job by Titania, who just feels like fighting a bit. So they fight, but Jennifer lets a little too much slip about her current status, to the point Titania is confused and irritated about feeling bad for her. Jennifer gets the fight delayed for the time being so she can get to her new job, working for her old rival (from the Dan Slott run) Mallory Book. And the Wasp is going to let Jen live in the same apartment she loaned her in Sensational She-Hulk, which still has a bunch of her clothes.

Then Jack of Hearts shows up and passes out in her doorway.

So Rowell's trying to get back to excellent lawyer She-Hulk, and clothes horse She-Hulk, while not entirely discarding everything since, I guess when Thanos put her in a coma in Civil War II. She-Hulk's been away from this sort of life for a while, and she's trying to get back to it. How she plans to "reinvent" herself, I don't know. Reaching a sort of detente with Titania might be a start. Where they don't get along, but they aren't engaged in life-and-death fights all the time. Although that's more a sign of progress for Titania than She-Hulk.

In terms of Jennifer and She-Hulk, Antonio goes more towards her portrayal in the Dan Slott runs, with Rich Burchett or Juan Bobillo as artist, as opposed to John Byrne. Jennifer is portrayed in ways that make her look very small, even around Mallory. Heck, Janet van Dyne is only about 5-4, and she and Jennifer look to be the same height. And her body language shows her hunched over, arms pulled in close to her body. Antonio's She-Hulk is confident, unsurprisingly, and tall, but also more muscular than she was in Sensational She-Hulk, while not anywhere close to how she's looked in Avengers the last few years. Still emphasizes the idea that she's strong, that she's got a lot of power.

I do question Jennifer's feet not changing size when she's She-Hulk. She took her shoes off to fight (sensible), but was able to slip right into her heels without changing back to Jennifer.

Random Back Issues #56 - She-Hulk #1

Come on Jen, everyone knows Chilly Willy's a penguin. Just because Blizzard's frozen through and through, it doesn't make them the same.

The first issue of Dan Slott's run has Jen spending as much time as possible as She-Hulk, living a party girl lifestyle, in sharp contrast to the glimpse we see of her in law school. Where she was quiet, studious, and basically went unnoticed by everyone in her class. I don't know anything about law school, but it seems like it would be competitive enough the other students would notice someone doing well enough to finish summa cum laude. But maybe law school is so tough you don't have time to worry what anyone else is doing.

Anyway, in the present, she's dating an underwear model, abusing her Avengers Priority card to park illegally, stressing the mansion's security protocols with all her unannounced guests. Most unforgivable, she's making a ton of extra work for Jarvis with the messes and the parties.

During a trial for a company which stored Anarctic Vibranium (the kind that's unstable and melts all metal) improperly, she bails during her closing argument because of an Avengers emergency. MODOK is trying to use Blizzard to freeze the entire planet so AIM can have all the technology. All the technology that will now be buried under a shitload of glaciers? As you saw up above, Jen handles that and throws another big party at the Mansion. Big ups to Captain America for offering to help Jarvis with the mess. He's a solid dude, not like that lout Tony Stark, who just stands there silently.

 

Jen ends up winning her case, the jury returning the verdict in minutes, and that's the end of her good news. Her model boyfriend breaks up with her, citing a need to date someone with more 'depth.' Then Captain America and the Wasp swing by to tell Jen she's out. Not out of the Avengers, but out of the mansion. Presumably, Steve is worried living in the mansion is causing negative health benefits because look how tiny her hands are.

When she gets to work, her car gets booted because her Avengers Priority no longer works, and she finds out the guy with the Vibranium issues got a successful mistrial filed. His attorneys argued Jen helping to save the world unfairly prejudiced the jury. Then she finds out she's fired because she's been acting too unprofessionally.

 

So it's off to a bar, where several guys try unsuccessfully to hit on her, and then Blizzard hits her with an ice beam. From a gun. If all his power comes from a gun, why did MODOK even need him? Just kill him and take the freeze gun! Anyway, Blizzard's pissed she ruined his chance to be a big shot. When she busts loose, he figures she's about to ruin his face, but instead she offers to buy him a drink, and he eventually passes out.

At which point she's approached by Holden Holliway, one of the heads of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, and Holliway, the firm that defended Anarctic Vibranium guy. Holliway already mentioned that she's very important, for reasons I don't think we learn until the end of Slott's run on the next volume. Pretty sure he ends up being evil. I know, an evil lawyer? Ridiculous.

He starts off by making reference to her not really being drunk due to her metabolism and 'immense body weight'. Man likes to live dangerously. Or he figures whatever is left of him after she punches him can sue her. He offers her a job, but as Jennifer Walters, not She-Hulk. Jen reluctantly agrees, telling herself she can stand being 'her again.' Unfortunately, Jennifer doesn't have the unique metabolism or body size, so she is immediately completely wasted and pukes all over Holliway's shoes (and an unconscious Blizzard). Well, Holliway's a dick, so I'm gonna say he deserves it.

[9th longbox, 198th comic. She-Hulk (vol. 1) #1, by Dan Slott (writer), Juan Bobillo (penciler), Marcelo Sosa (inker), Chris Chuckry (colorist), Dave Sharpe (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #6

"The Eighties Are Out In Force" in The Aladdin Effect, by David Michelinie (writer), Jim Shooter (plot), Greg LaRocque (artist), Vince Colleta (inker), colorist and letterer unknown?

I picked up The Aladdin Effect GN last year on the cheap, on a whim. It was one in a series of graphic novels Marvel released back in the '80s, part of the same series as The Death of Captain Marvel (which is listed as the first one, Aladdin Effect is the 16th).

Set in a small town in Wyoming that's been entirely cut off from the world by AIM, which is searching for a strange power they've detected. A power within the mind of Holly-Ann, who dreams of some of her favorite superheroes teaming up with her, and they appear in town the next day.

Given Holly's position at the center of everything as a fan of superheroes whose dream of meeting them comes true, I'd have thought this was aimed towards younger readers. Maybe even young fans who are girls? I could have seen this being published 10 years ago and drawn by the Guruhiru team, like all those Power Pack mini-series. But there's a bit where the Wasp, confused as to who she is, is almost sexually assaulted by some random gang of thugs that finds her. Probably not aimed at younger readers, then.

What I Bought 8/9/2017 - Part 1

Bought a couple of comics this week I had not bought previously, and it turned into the ol' "Good Idea, Bad Idea" situation. Good Idea: Buying Giant Days #29. Bad Idea: Buying Hulk #9 because you think Hellcat's going to be in it a lot. If you care to know anything further about what I thought about either book, please continue reading. If not, um, there'll be more comics on Monday?

Hulk #9, by Mariko Tamaki (writer), Julian Lopez and Francesco Gaston (artists), Matt Milla (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer) - The scowly face drawn over Jennifer's picture is a pretty solid representation of me after I finished this comic.

Jennifer is looking for her favorite cooking show host, who has been turned into a big green monster by two guys because. . . I don't know. They were the producers of his show, did they think it would boost ratings? The cook is roaming the town, badly scared, and the medication he found that is supposed to reverse what happened, doesn't work, so he's losing it. Jen and the cook's boyfriend are trying to find him before it's too late. Hellcat shows up on two pages, they chat on the phone a bit, that's it. At least they're still friends.

I was really only buying it expecting a little more Patsy and Jennifer interaction, silly me. This bit where Jennifer is reluctant to change, because maybe she isn't sure she can trust herself. Or it? Is she thinking of this hulk form as something different from her? I'm not clear on that. It's kind of interesting in theory, but in practice, I don't care.

I think Lopez is drawing the first half of the book, and Gaston takes over about the time Jen has hulked out and surprises the two producers. Assuming I'm right, Lopez goes a lot heavier on inks, and his style seems going in a more photo-realistic direction than Gaston, who by comparison has a more simplified style. It works, but it does produce a different feel between the two halves. The first half, with all these shadows and people looking concerned and sad is morose, things are dire. The second half, the shadows decrease noticeably, the coloring seems brighter, which would imply things are on the upswing. Even though Jen has forced herself to change, is scaring the crap out of people, and Oliver is losing control of himself. Sounds like the situation is getting worse, but not really how the art paints it. Neither style is bad in a vacuum, but they're at cross-purposes here.

Let's chalk this up as me making a mistake, one I've made before and will undoubtedly make again.

Giant Days #29, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (penciler), Liz Fleming (inker), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - The university theater productions, skimping on the backgrounds for their fancy practical effects, like simulating flying, and arrows.

So, I am still about 12 issues behind, but Esther had been excelling in romantic literature courses, but is being surpassed by a student named Emilia, who seems great and wonderful and charming, and who Esther already hated because she's dating the guy Susan likes. I entirely sympathize with, "You hurt my friend, so I must kill you." Esther's attempts to out-do Emilia result in her giving her professor entirely bad ideas about trying to take advantage of her at some mixer (I doubt this is intentional, but the way Sarin draws Professor Lord, he looks like Jack Kirby, which was a strange coincidence). Emilia whisks her away, and they seem to have become best friends by the end of the issue, to the point Esther has adopted Emilia's style entirely, which is concerning.

And there's another plot with Daisy trying to get Ed to date a bit, and Ed being too hung up on that fiction trope of true love being some massive, perfect thing that hits you like a truck immediately. Again, I sympathize, or perhaps empathize.

One thing I've appreciated about this book reading through the trades is Allison keeps stuff moving. Situations progress rather than stagnate, new issues crop up constantly. Which may not sound like much, but if you've read some of the decompressed shit Marvel and DC put out - and I, unfortunately, have - it's sometimes novel to get back to something that gets the hell on with things.

The Esther vs. Emilia thing was already in full swing, but has pushed forward and into a different direction. Although at this point, I'm extremely suspicious of Emilia. She seems too perfect and uninterested in how many people imitate her and fawn over her, which makes me suspect she's reveling in it and hiding it extremely well.

And I like having those kinds of conflicted feelings. Should I be suspicious? Should Daisy be pushing Ed to pursue this relationship he isn't sure about, even though he's probably waiting for the absolutely perfect situation that will never occur? Yeah, probably, but as a person comfortable by himself, who nonetheless has to deal with both subtle and unsubtle pressure from family and occasionally friends about finding someone, I'm kind of inclined to side with Ed's right to live his life how he wants. But I don't think Ed is as naturally solitary as me, so he should listen to Esther and call Cathy back.

Sarin's able to exaggerate his art extremely well for comedic impact, or the dramatics of these college kids, freaking out over all sort of things. Esther's appearance in the "beasting the bones of my enemies" panel was outstanding. In other circumstances it would be scary, but here, when she's basically vowing to destroy someone who is (seemingly) unwittingly stealing her spotlight, it's a ridiculous response, and so it fits the scene perfectly. Also, I love the font Campbell used for that voice balloon. Likewise, Daisy's three-panel increasing freakout at Ed over not calling Cathy back, where Cogar keeps increasing the use of red, and making it a deeper red as well), as Daisy fills more and more of each successive panel, screaming at him about how perfect Cathy was for him. And then fourth panel below them, where she puts frozen yogurt to her forehead and there's steam the same shade of red rising from that one spot on her head.

So far, I feel very good about my decision to start buying this book regularly. I have to get one right sometimes.

What I Bought 3/24/2015 - Part 3

So let's look at a couple of books that only have one issue each. One of them is wrapping up, and I might be dropping the other one. It could go either way.

Secret Six #2, by Gail Simone (writer), Ken Lashley (penciller, inker), Drew Geraci (inker), Jason Wright (Colorist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer) - That's a really nice cover by Eaglesham and Wright. The design for the spears, the contrasting light and dark, and everything draws you to Catman, cornered and under fire.

So 18 months ago, someone captured Catman and locked him in a cell for a year. Someone with a very Joker-like smile, but it's hard to tell with the coloring what the guy's coloring is. He did let Catman out after a year, and Blake vowed to find and kill him. The guy said Blake owed a debt, and these people who locked our cast in a coffin at the bottom of the sea mentions a woman was killed 2 years ago, so is that the issue? Hard to say, but the old lady with the ventriloquist dummy is a telekinetic, so she raises the coffin to the surface, Porcelain weakens its walls, and Blake tears through, because he has cybernetic claw things, I think. Anyway, now the group seems to committed to finding the people who locked them up and killing them. We'll see how that goes, 'cause I have no clue who they should be looking for. Someone amoral with money, I guess.

The art on this shifts a lot depending on who inks it. With Geraci's inks, it's almost like he's doing a charcoal drawing. Much heavier on the black, deeper, thicker, wider shadows, and it seems to simplify the art considerably. It's an extremely notable transition for when Lashley inks his own stuff, is what I'm saying. Wright goes heavy on the blues in this issue, which does make the occasional red or green shaded panel more noticeable, but it's a murky feel most of the time. Appropriate considering both plot threads involve someone locked in a dank box.

At least we're starting to see the outlines of the character relationships. The big guy is going to be kind of paternal towards Alice, though I've got a hunch he won't last long. He seems a little out of his depth. The old lady is kind of Ragdoll, with a little of Jeanette in her, and I have a hunch Catman's going to form a friendship with this Strix person. Not sure why, I just have a hunch Blake will appreciate someone who doesn't talk, but prefers to just kill things. Still not sure whether I'll buy the next issue, but at least I have until June to decide. Maybe by then they can get the book back on schedule.

She-Hulk #12, by Charles Soule (writer), Javier Pulido (storyteller), Muntsa Vicente (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I went with one of the variant covers, since there wasn't a difference in price. I just like this one more than the main cover. It says "final issue" to me more than the other did.

So, Nighteater - when did he become Nighteater? - hired Dr. Druid, Vibro, and Shocker to help him cast this spell, which sacrificed every in Divide County, except George Saywitz (the source of the Blue File), because Jen got him out in time. The purpose of the spell was to make everyone remember Nighteater as Nightwatch, a now-retired hero. Not a great one, just an OK hero who would be respected and remembered well. Trench has Jen under his control because of a spell he set when he appeared back in issue 5 and 6, and he seems to be about to tie up all the loose ends, but Angie called Shocker and told him what happened, and Hermann isn't happy. Why didn't he get to be a hero too? That disrupts Trench's concentration long enough for Angie to dispel his control of Jen, and she whups his butt. After, Angie appears ready to move on, bu Patsy convinces her to stay by pointing out things will fall into total disarray without Angie. Because Patsy sure as heck isn't doing any filing. And we end with Jen preparing to defend The Inhumans against a case being prosecuted by the firm Jen left at the start of the series.

There's a recurring theme in this run of people trying to blame others for their mistakes, or wanting to be redeemed/forgiven without actually repenting. I think it's something to explore further later, because I'm not quite sure how it relates to Jennifer yet. Is Soule saying something about lawyers, that by representing the law, or taking part in the judicial process, they're helping to ensure power is used responsibly? Or is it something about Jen being a Hulk, having all that power, even if the source of it has caused a lot of destruction? I'm not at all sure.

I'm also not sure about Trench. So did Soule just rewrite Trench's entire history? Is he saying the guy was never a hero, he just cast a spell to make people think that? So he didn't actually try to help Spider-Man during Maximum Carnage? He might have been on Carnage's side, or more likely, wasn't within a 1000 miles of the thing at all? That's. . . I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's the sort of giant, retroactive thing I tend to hate. Like trying to make the Sentry the most important guy ever in the Marvel Universe, except this is the character trying to do it for themselves. It's not that I have any fondness for Nightwatch, but there might be someone who does, and who knows how they feel about it.

That aside, it's a good last issue. Wraps up the Blue File thread, leaves a useable status quo for future writers. I don't know what Pulido's moving on to next - I have a vague feeling he's lined up to do something for DC? - but hopefully it's something good. Soule's already writing like 15 books, he doesn't need anything else extra.