By John Byrne, Kim DeMulder, Petra Scotese, Janice Chiang & various (Marvel)
ISBN10: 0-87135-084-X (Album TPB/Digital edition)
A persistent story goes that in the faraway days when trademarks and copyrights were really, really important, comic publishers worried that rivals would be able to impinge on their sales an so produced distaff versions of their characters. Thus the House of Ideas launched Ms. Marvel, so that nobody else could.
Redundant bit player Carol Danvers was retooled as a superhero (now called Captain Marvel whilst Pakistani-American teen Kamala Khan has inherited her first codename). The Captain debuted in her own title (cover-dated January 1977) and was soon joined by rush-released Spider-Woman (in Marvel Spotlight #32 ,February 1977 – before securing her own title 15 months later) and She-Hulk. There was apparently a second and most specific reason…
At this time both the male Hulk and Spider-Man had successfully made the jump to live-action television, and the publishing powers were terrified because their licensing contracts had a potentially disastrous loophole: there was nothing to prevent those scurrilous TV types spinning off their own (sexy, televisual, not-owned-by-Marvel) characters, as had almost happened with Batgirl in the 1960s “Batmania” era…
To be fair, Marvel had been constantly seeking to expand their female character pool for years before intellectual property necessity forged a path for them. They found the right mix as the Seventies closed, and even added new concept stars at the right time. The music-biz-inspired and sponsored Dazzler premiered in February 1980’s Uncanny X-Men #130 – before getting her own title: the same month copyright-shielding Savage She-Hulk #1 came out…
Whereas that seems a bit convoluted and may be rather hard to believe, I must admit that the original 25-issue run of Bruce Banner’s tragedy-magnet cousin Jennifer Walters was by no means the company’s finest moment. Creators struggled for quite a while to get a handle on the Girly Green Goliath. After her series was cancelled, She-Hulk did the guest-star thing and served with distinction in both The Avengers and Fantastic Four, before John Byrne finally developed a suitably original niche and spin for her in the Marvel Universe.
Since then, constant experimentation and deft handling has made her one of Marvel’s most readable properties – and most entertaining screen stars – but that revolution all started with this thoroughly enjoyable, if clearly transitional tome…
At the time of its creation, the lady lawyer had replaced The Thing in the Fantastic Four and could change between her human and Gamma-enhanced forms at will, whilst retaining her intellect in both forms. All the fourth-world hi-jinks of her second comics series and television incarnation was yet to come…
Against the slow-building, horror-story backdrop of a sentient cockroach invasion and infiltration, the story involves the shady higher-ups who oversee high-tech espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. ordering the rendition of She-Hulk for unspecified “National Security” purposes. When tough but fair Nick Fury refuses to comply, the mission goes ahead without him, leading to a major battle in the streets of New York and the eventual capture of not only our heroine but also a large number of passers-by.
Trapped aboard the spooks’ flying helicarrier, She-Hulk is subjected to numerous indignities and abuses whilst her boyfriend Wyatt Wingfoot and the other civilians are treated as hostages for her good behaviour. Unfortunately, one of those ordinary mortals is a zombie vehicle for those cockroaches I mentioned earlier, and they want to drop the floating fortress on the city below as a declaration of war against humanity…
Inked by Kim DeMulder -with colours by Petra Scotese & lettering from Janice Chiang – Byrne’s writing and illustration deliver spectacular action, tinged with horror yarn overtones. The art deftly utilises the (European-style) expanded-page format of Marvel’s Original Graphic Novel line, and combines with sharp scripting to elevate an old plot to new heights. I personally find the coy prurience of some of the semi-nude scenes a little juvenile, but that’s not enough to spoil the fun in a what’s otherwise a highly effective disaster thriller: one which set the tone of She-Hulk adventures for years thereafter…
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