Category: She Hulk

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Marvel Graphic Novel vol 18: The Sensational She-Hulk


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…
© 1985, 2018 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Savage She-Hulk Marvel Masterworks volume 2


By David Anthony Kraft, Mike Vosburg, Alan Kupperberg, Frank Springer & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1718-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Until comparatively recently, American comics had pitifully few strong female role models and almost no viable solo stars. Happily, that situation has (after a rather regrettable extended and exploitative era of “chicks fighting in saucepan lid bikinis or metallic dental floss”) largely self-corrected, as more women creators and readers redressed – sometimes almost literally – the balance.

Now we have more fully thought out than fully-rounded characters everywhere: maternal, understanding ones, slinky seductive ones, sassy and vituperative ones and even funny ones, but always, Always powerful, competent and capable ones.

Although she debuted during those male-pandering times – and was usually clad in rather revealing yet conspicuously chaste rags and tatters – She-Hulk was always a rebel who played against type, and her first stab at stardom offered many off-kilter moments that broke superheroic traditions…

Let’s recap: lawyer Jennifer Walters is the cousin of Bruce Banner. After being shot because of a case she was working on, she received an emergency blood transfusion from him, with the inevitable result that she also started uncontrollably changing into an anger-fuelled rage monster remarkably like The Incredible Hulk…

This second hulking hardcover volume – or enthralling eBook, if you prefer – re-presents The Savage She-Hulk #15-25, and spans April 1981 to June 1982 by including a final foray from Marvel Two-In-One #88.

Combining soap opera melodrama with hotly-bubbling suspense in the style of paranoic TV series like The Fugitive and explosive action, it also ramps up tension by opening with some fact-packed, behind-the-scenes reminiscences in scribe David Anthony Kraft’s (AKA DAK) effulgent Introduction ‘Can a Woman with Green Skin and a Petulant Personality Find True Happiness in Today’s Status-Seeking Society?’.

With context firmly confirmed, we roar back into the turbulent, off-kilter life of The Savage She-Hulk with #15 where DAK, penciller Mike Vosburg & inker Frank Springer conjure up and puncture many ‘Delusions’.

Jen Walters is slowly getting her legal career back on track, but her personal life (lives?) is still a total train wreck. Her father Morris Walters is county sheriff and pursues the outlaw She-Hulk with obsessive zeal for a murder she did not commit. Troubled by his growing mania, Jen has no idea that he has fallen under the influence of a designing, controlling woman.

Beverly Cross seems like a demure divorcee with nothing in mind except autumn romance, but is gradually taking control of his finances and personal life: isolating Morris from friends whilst driving a wedge between him and his daughter over many patient months…

Of more immediate concern to Jen is the growing animosity between her boyfriend Richard Rory and overly-attentive neighbour (and She-Hulk’s teen friend/assistant) Danny “Zapper” Ridge. He’s now openly hostile to Rory …which is not really surprising, since Zapper has just taken his relationship with her other self “to the next level”…

Meanwhile, a singer with an enormous gift for self-deceit and sowing dissent finally takes a long, hard look at herself and decides to end a life of pain and regret. Thankfully, a ferocious Green Goddess decides otherwise…

Roaming Los Angeles and increasingly unwilling to transform back into Jen, She-Hulk soon discovers her “weak sister” alter ego has her place, after becoming embroiled in a local controversy. ‘The Zapping of the She-Hulk’ details how a telecommunications mast is making residents ill, anxious and – in some cases – blind. Initially hopeful, Jen’s legal resources prove no match for big business in defence mode, and the Viridian Virago has to literally lend her muscle to the cause – but only after a bigoted madman tries to silence all these interfering women with a weaponised, microwave-enhanced high tech armoured outfit…

Cover-dated June, SS-H #17 plumbed daft depths but delivered a surprisingly effective turning point tale in ‘Make Way for the Man-Elephant’ as philanthropist Manfred Ellsworth Haller employs his fortune to build a pachydermic super-suit to bring in the rampaging green “menace”.

The benevolent vigilante is blithely unaware that crusading Assistant District Attorney “Buck” Bukowski has just uncovered evidence proving She-Hulk innocent of the murders she’s been accused of since her second appearance…

Viewed from this distance, it seems clear now that some level of editorial input demanded these latter comic episodes should mirror the plots, tone and “simplified realism” of The Incredible Hulk TV show. Originally broadcast from 4th November 1977 to 12th May 1982 it largely eschewed fantasy elements, with commonplace crime and rampant weird science supplanting Marvel’s signature crossovers and flamboyant supervillain shenanigans…

The rifts separating Jen and She-Hulk from their allies and each other intensify in ‘When Favors Come Due’ as medical student Zapper is conned and then blackmailed by a college colleague into handing over genetic data from a She-Hulk blood sample, even as, in court, minor hoodlum and former client Lou Monkton seeks to implicate Jen Walters in an insurance scam. Although the lawyer avoids shame and disbarment, her already shaky faith in humanity takes another heavy hit, so it’s almost a relief when bullion bandit The Grappler’s latest heist gives her a target to smash and good reason to do so…

Always lurking at the fringe of the Marvel Universe, the Savage She-Hulk began her last rampage in #19. An extended storyline recapitulated her origins and core relationships whilst showing the true power and potential of the star.

Diligently wrapping up the many ongoing subplots, the saga starts in ‘Designer Genes!!’ as Zapper’s blackmailer “Doc” traps the Emerald Ogress and extracts enough genetic material to mutate his lab assistant Ralphie into a belligerent plasmoid Brute. Sadly for them, he’s no match for an enraged, escaped She-Hulk, but equally unfortunate for her, they both get away before she can finish them…

With life sucking so badly, the Green Giant refuses to resume her weakest self, unaware that all the friends she thinks have betrayed her are at last talking to each other and realising how unfair they’ve been. Sheriff Walters even catches Bev Cross destroying a letter from his daughter but She-Hulk is too far gone to care. After gaining a measure of public approval by foiling a string of robberies she opts ‘To Stay the She-Hulk’…

She still has enemies, however, and in #21 they start gathering. As LA’s underworld is taken over by new player Shadow, Monckton rallies the embattled crime families, but crooks are notoriously treacherous, and betrayal leads to disaster in ‘Arena!’ when the dark newcomer lures She-Hulk into battle against sinister super-stalker The Seeker…

The crisis deepens in ‘Bad Vibes’ as another impossibly powerful foe targets her. After Radius is defeated, an unlikely alliance is formed with Moncton’s mooks as – inked by Dave Simons, Al Milgrom & Jack Abel, #23 announces ‘The She-Hulk War!’

DAK & Vosburg introduce mighty mystery villain Torque to lay the groundwork for the final clash as the outlaws invade Shadow’s isolated estate and learn it too is a sentient weapon on ‘The Day the Planet Screamed!’ (Milgrom, Sal Trapani & Armando Gil inking). The defeat of Earth-Lord triggers Doc’s ultimate plan to attain planet-shaking power, but also reveals a crucial secret about his army of super-pawns…

In advance of the big finale, a brace of Vosburg She-Hulk pin-ups show her gentler side and anticipate her later semi-humorous mien before the climactic conclusion. Inked by “Diverse Hands” (Milgrom, Trapani, Vosburg, Rick Magyar, Mike Gustovich, Simons, Steve Mitchell, Bob Wiacek, Joe Rubinstein & Abel) a big fourth-wall busting send-off in #25 (cover-dated February 1982) reveals ‘Transmutations’ and reconciles all the distanced friends and family in advance of a cosmic war to save the world…

Having saved us all, She-Hulk joined the ranks of Marvel’s many guest stars-in-waiting… but only for a while. Mere months later, Kraft, Alan Kupperberg & Chic Stone detailed a ‘Disaster at Diablo Reactor’ (Marvel Two-In-One #88, June 1982) with future Fantastic Four teammate Ben “The Thing” Grimm joining Jen’s most assertive self in stopping the nefarious Negator’s plans to turn Los Angeles into a cloud of radioactive vapour…

The supremely Savage She-Hulk would eventually evolve into a scintillating semi-comedic superstar and – ultimately – tragic paragon, but for now these early epics conclude with an extras section including her entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9; comedy spoof ‘What If the Hulk Married the She-Hulk?’ by Roger Stern & Terry Austin from What If volume 1 #34 (August 1982) and its sequel spoof ‘She-Hulkie’ both with their original art and a gallery of original art pages by Vosburg and inkers Al Milgrom, Austin & Steve Mitchell.

Lean, mean, and evergreen, these intriguing and long-overlooked Marvel Masterpieces are well worth your attention and may prove invaluable once the TV incarnation finds its own audience. Why are you waiting?
© 2019 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Savage She-Hulk Marvel Masterworks volume 1 


By Stan Lee, David Anthony Kraft, John Buscema, Mike Vosburg, Chic Stone, Frank Springer & various (Marvel) 
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0354-1 (HB/Digital edition) 

Until comparatively recently, American comics – especially Marvel – had very little in the way of strong female role models and almost no viable solo stars. Although there was a woman starring in the very first comic of the Marvel Age, Invisible Girl Susan Storm took years to become a potent and independent character in her own right. She didn’t even become Invisible WOMAN until the 1980s… 

The company’s very first starring heroine was Black Fury, a leather-clad, whip-wielding crimebuster lifted from a newspaper strip created by Tarpe Mills in April 1941. The slinky vigilante was repackaged as a resized reprint for Timely’s funnybooks and renamed Miss Fury: enjoying a 4-year run between 1942 and 1946, with her tabloid incarnation surviving until 1952. 

Miss Fury was actually pre-dated by the Silver Scorpion who debuted in Daring Mystery Comics #7 (April 1941), but was always relegated to a minor position in the book’s line-up. She enjoyed a very short shelf-life. 

Miss America first appeared in anthological Marvel Mystery Comics #49 (November 1943), created by Otto Binder and artist Al Gabriele. After a flurry of appearances, she won her own title in early 1944. Miss America Comics lasted but the costumed cutie didn’t, as with the second issue (November 1944) the format abruptly altered, becoming a combination of teen comedy, fashion feature and domestic tips magazine. Feisty take-charge super-heroics were steadily squeezed out and the publication is most famous now for introducing virginal evergreen teen ideal Patsy Walker. 

A few more woman warriors appeared immediately after WWII, many as spin-offs and sidekicks of established male stars, like female Sub-Mariner Namora (debuting in Marvel Mystery Comics #82, May 1947 and graduating to her own 3-issue series in 1948). She was followed by the Human Torch‘s secretary Mary Mitchell who, as Sun Girl, starred in her own 3-issue 1948 series before becoming a wandering sidekick and guest star in Sub-Mariner and Captain America Comics. 

Decked out in mask and ball-gown, detective Blonde Phantom was created by Stan Lee & Syd Shores for All Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946), and (sort-of) goddess Venus debuted in her own title in August 1948, becoming the gender’s biggest Timely/Atlas/Marvel success… until the advent of the Jungle Girl fad of the mid-1950s. This was mostly by dint of the superb stories and art from the incredible Bill Everett, and by ruthlessly shifting genres from crime to romance to horror every five minutes… 

Jann of the Jungle (by Don Rico & Jay Scott Pike) was just part of an anthology line-up in Jungle Tales #1 (September 1954), but she took over the title with the eighth issue (November 1955). Jann of the Jungle then ran until June 1957 (issue #17), spawning a host of in-company imitators like Leopard Girl, Lorna the Jungle Queen ad nauseum… 

During the costumed hero boom of the 1960s, Marvel dallied with a title shot for Madame Medusa in Marvel Super-Heroes (#15, July 1968) and a solo series starring the Black Widow (Amazing Adventures #1-8; August 1970-September 1971). Both were sexy, reformed villainesses, not wholesome girl-next-door heroines… and neither lasted alone for long. 

When the costumed crazies craze started to subside in the 1970s, Stan Lee & Roy Thomas looked into founding a girl-friendly boutique of heroines written by women. Opening shots in this mini-liberation war were Claws of the Cat by Linda Fite, Marie Severin & Wally Wood and Night Nurse by Jean Thomas & Win Mortimer (both #1’s cover-dated November 1972). Modern jungle goddess Shanna the She-Devil #1 – by Carole Seuling & George Tuska – debuted in December 1972; but despite impressive creative teams, none of these fascinating experiments lasted beyond a fifth issue. 

Red Sonja, She-Devil with a Sword, caught every one’s attention in Conan the Barbarian #23 (February 1973), eventually securing her own series whilst The Cat mutated into Tigra, the Were-Woman in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), but the general editorial position remained that books starring chicks didn’t sell. 

To be fair, the company kept trying and eventually found the right mix at the right time with Ms. – now Captain - Marvel. She launched in her own title (cover-dated January 1977), to be followed by equally copyright-protecting Spider-Woman in Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977, and securing her own title 15 months later).  

Savage She-Hulk #1 came in February 1980, and was followed by music-biz sponsored Dazzler, who premiered in Uncanny X-Men #130 the same month, before graduating to her own book. 

This hulking hardcover volume (or enthralling eBook, if you prefer), collects Savage She-Hulk volume 1 #14, spanning February 1980 to March 1981 and opens with fact-packed, behind the scenes Introduction ‘The Savage Subversive’, courtesy of David Anthony Kraft.  

The new era begins with a publicity-attracting first issue crafted by old guard stars Stan Lee & John Buscema, inked by equally acclaimed veteran Chic Stone. Here, with deliberate tones of the Hulk’s early exploits and in the manner of the mega-hit TV show, we meet crusading Los Angeles lawyer Jennifer Walters, whose latest case is defending minor hoodlum Lou Monkton.  

Just as her infamous fugitive cousin hits town, Walters is gunned down by killers working for Monkton’s rival Nick Trask, and saved by a hasty blood transfusion from her kinsman. He is Dr. Bruce Banner and he should have known better… 

Fleeing when the cops arrive, he doesn’t know how the rapidly recovering Jennifer is targeted again in her hospital room or how the stress of the second murder attempt triggers a shocking transformation. Easily thrashing the would-be killers, a gigantic green woman then rampages through the medical facility and the city before reverting to human. However, LA is now fearfully aware that ‘The She-Hulk Lives’… 

The second issue is where the story truly begins as scripter David Anthony Kraft and artists Mike Vosburg & Chic Stone kick off a string of unconventional thrillers slightly askew of standard Marvel Fights ‘n’ Tights fare. Resuming the Monkton case piles on more stress for the recuperating legal eagle, as do smug assistant DA “Buck” Bukowski and her own father Sheriff Morris Walters. Thankfully, iron willpower and strong drugs keep her raging fury at bay until a confrontation with Trask prompts another murder attempt.  

This time though, the mobster’s thugs accidentally snatch her best friend Jill, triggering a second change – just as overly-attentive neighbour Danny “Zapper” Ridge walks by… 

A frantic freeway car chase ensues with the green goliath easily pacing high performance engines, but ends in failure and tragedy at the end of the ‘Deathrace!!’ with a body everyone believes is Jennifer Walters… 

Since Jen had cleared Monkton, her emerald alter ego is now the only thing LA is talking about and ‘She-Hulk Murders Lady Lawyer!’ sees the situation escalate as Trask’s men are assassinated in jail by something with giant green arms that can punch through walls. In hiding and cared for by unwilling confidante Zapper, Walters is traced by Trask’s deadly She-droid (a stolen Stark tech robot painted green and wearing a wig) but proves too much for mere mechanisms. In the aftermath of brutal battle, She-Hulk – savage, super-strong and far smarter than her male counterpart – resolves to deal with Trask once and for all… 

However, as detailed in #4, when ‘The She-Hulk Strikes Back!’ she finds sheriff Walters still believes the monster killed his daughter. Seizing his opportunity, Trask – now revealed as more Bond-villain than local Godfather – offers to join forces with the grief-stricken policeman and provide a superweapon to kill the unsuspecting monster woman… 

Surviving the traumatic family encounter drives She-Hulk to her ‘Breaking Point!’, but her very public terror tantrums simply divert focus as Jennifer Walters quietly re-emerges and resumes her life. Her latest client is Roxxon Oil: suffering inexplicable losses in their storage facilities. When Jennifer investigates, She-Hulk ends up battling Trask’s subterranean theft device and seemingly ends his threat forever. 

‘Enter: The Invincible Iron Man’ sees the Golden Avenger finally hit town to find out who stole his tech, and manoeuvred by Sheriff Walters into going after She-Hulk, even as Jen defends Tony Stark from accusations of criminal collusion with Trask, after which ‘Richard Rory… Winner’ sees Steve Gerber’s everyman loser strike it rich, move to California and – having seen the good side on another green beast – immediately side with the fugitive She-Hulk in her latest clash with the cops. As romance blossoms, Jen returns with Rory to Florida only to stumble, as She-Hulk, into the mystically-tainted swamp that birthed the muck-monster.  

Captured by the last eternally-young occupants of secret retreat La Hacienda – who wish her company forever – She-Hulk’s time ‘Among the Ogres!’ ends in strife when she rejects their bovine passivity and clashes with Rory’s old associate the mossy Man-Thing… 

Danny Bulanadi “and friends” ink #10 as ‘The Power of the Word’ introduces a charismatic preacher/cult leader with vast ambitions and very strange ideas about personal empowerment. College science student Zapper meanwhile, has offered to have Jenifer’s blood secretly tested, and his efforts have brought him to the attention of radical researcher Dr. Michael Morbius… 

The Word believes his positive affirmations have unleashed his daughter’s physical and mental potential, but her emotional state is as fragile as any teen and when Ultima mistakes’ Jen Walters’ patient enquiries as a play for her boyfriend it results in brutal battle with the Green Queen and a ‘War of… the Word!’ (inked by Frank Springer) as Jen gets a day in court against the malevolent master of motivation, but – as is increasingly commonplace – loses out to chicanery and her own evermore uncontrollable other self… 

Zapper’s meeting with Morbius revealed a degenerative blood disease in Jen’s sample and that plot thread culminates now ‘In the Shadow of Death!’ as the critically enfeebled gamma transmute collapses and is arrested. At UCLA, Morbius has his own problems. Students have started rioting after learning of his previous life as a blood-drinking “living vampire”. Marked for death by Mr & Mrs LeClerc (parents of one of his victims), the “outed” professor is saved by Zapper in time to treat the recently escaped and almost expired She-Hulk… 

Initially ineffective, the cure eventually resurrects her, but ‘Reason and Rage!’ war uncontrollably within both of her, especially after Jen’s inexplicably hostile father rails at her for representing “mass-murderer” Morbius in court. With nobody satisfied by the eventual verdict, the scientist is released only to be targeted again by the LeClercs who convince philosophically-motivated android Gemini to go after him and Jen in the name of a higher balance. Things go very bad very quickly when She-Hulk tips the scales of justice… 

A long-dangling plot thread is plucked in #13 as Richard Rory’s return completes a romantic triangle with Jen and Zapper, even as trans-dimensional star god Man-Wolf resurfaces and Defenders Hellcat and Valkyrie cameo in ‘Through the Crystal!’  

When the divine wolf’s forces seek to abduct She-Hulk to liberate their leader, the result is a cosmic chain reaction and potential end of existence unless Hellcat Patsy Walker can orchestrate a cleansing clash between wolf and she-beast in ‘Life in the Bloodstream’… 

The fearsomely furious Savage She-Hulk would eventually evolve into a scintillating semi-comedic superstar and tragic paragon but for now these early epics pause with an extras section including original art pages by Buscema & Stone and Vosburg/Stone; original plot ages for #2 and character bio sheet; Vosburg’s pencil thumbnail layouts; unused script pages and a draft for comedic ‘How Dave and Mike Write & Draw the She-Hulk!’ story plus house ads, John Romita’s pencil art and Frank Springer’s inked version for the first ad. 

Lean, mean, and evergreen, these are intriguing and long-overlooked Marvel Masterpieces in need of your attention. Why are you waiting?  
© 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. 

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The Aladdin Effect – Marvel Graphic Novel #16


By James Shooter, David Michelinie, Greg LaRoque & Vince Colletta (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-87135-081-7

Marvel don’t generally publish original material graphic novel anymore but once they were market leader in the field with a range of “big stories” told on larger pages emulating the long-established European Album (285 x 220mm rather than the standard 258 x 168mm of today’s books) featuring not only proprietary characters in out-of-the-ordinary adventures but also licensed assets like Conan, creator-owned properties like Alien Legion and new character debuts.

This extended experiment with big-ticket storytelling in the 1980s and 1990s produced many exciting results that the company has never come close to repeating since. Most of the stories still stand out today – or would if they were still in print.

Released in 1985, The Aladdin Effect was an attempt to capitalise on the company’s growing stable of female characters and – I’m guessing – target the notoriously scarce and fickle maturing female readership with something more exclusively to their tastes and aspirations. This conventional but highly enjoyable Fights ‘n’ Tights thriller was conceived and concocted by Editor Jim Shooter, scripted by David Michelinie and illustrated by Greg LaRoque & Vince Colletta.

Joe Ember is a good man, loving husband and father: sheriff of the isolated community of Venture Ridge, Wyoming but someone looking the end of the world in the face…

Two months ago the little town lost all hope and has been sliding into decadence, anarchy and ruin. Sixty days ago, without explanation the rural community was surrounded by an invisible, impenetrable forcefield and trapped like bugs under glass.

Cut off from the world, with food and power dwindling, the people have begun to go mad…

Little Holly-Ann isn’t worried: the little girl knows her daddy will keep everyone safe even if so many old friends and neighbours are acting strange and scary. The little girl is a dreamer and fan of New York’s superheroes. She especially adores the women like Storm, She-Hulk, Tigra and the Wasp and wishes that she could be like them…

When Joe, crumbling under pressure, destroys her scrapbook Holly-Ann goes to sleep extremely upset and really, really wishes…

Next morning an amnesiac stranger is seen on the streets: a striking black woman with white hair and blue eyes. When the mob attacks her the stranger easily cows them all and Holly-Ann knows it is the mutant X-Man Storm.

At last an answer begins to form when a mysterious being called Timekeeper reveals himself and demands that the incomprehensible power-source hiding in the city reveals itself – or the city will be destroyed within 24 hours…

When Storm tries and fails to shatter the forcefield, the She-Hulk appears, also with muddled memories but just as determined to help little Holly-Ann. Soon after both the Wasp and Tigra are discovered and the sinister secret technologists of AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) are discovered as the true cause of all the town’s problems.

When She-Hulk tackles them she is almost beaten to death by the army of super scientific soldiers…

With only hours remaining before the deadline, the battered community and diminished super-women prepare for the overwhelming onslaught to come…

Terrified and outmatched Joe Ember is ready to surrender all hope but his valiant daughter shows him another way and, regaining his sense of purpose, he galvanises the ordinary folk and leads them in a last ditch battle for their town, their lives and their souls…

A stirring mix of childhood fantasy and mature B-movie thriller, all wrapped up in Marvel madness and with loving overtones of the Magnificent Seven, this extremely uncompromising and occasionally explicit tale delivers action, tension and soul-searching drama for both the faithful readership and even the newest kid on the block looking for a different kind of story….
© 1985 Marvel Comics Group/Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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She Hulk: Time Trials


By Dan Slott, Juan Babillo & Marcelo Sosa and various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-78511-795-7

Let’s re-cap: She Hulk is the cousin of the Incredible Hulk. Her alter-ego, lawyer Jennifer Walters, got a blood transfusion from Bruce Banner and the inevitable result was a super-powerful, ample-bosomed, seven foot tall green Valkyrie who is the poster-child for “As If…”

For most of her comics career she’s been played slightly skewed to the rest of the Marvel Universe. For a good deal of it she was the only character to refer to her life in comic-book terms, with all the fourth wall comedy that could be wrung out of that situation. In this incarnation (reprinting her five issue miniseries from 2005 – in which #3 is celebrated as her 100th full issue) she returns to the prestigious Manhattan law-firm which specialises in the fledgling legal grey area known as Superhuman Law (see also Single Green Female).

This volume is marginally less tongue-in-cheek, but still follows the delightfully accessible formula, albeit with a slightly darker overtone as the human Jennifer needs artificial methods to transform into her seven foot glamazon form due to psychological traumas incurred as a result of the Avengers: Disassembled storyline and her rampaging destruction of the city of Bone, Idaho.

Nonetheless she is soon back at work on a time-travel murder case with a fascinating underlying idea. As everybody in the potential jury pool has been prejudiced by constant media coverage of the attempted murder (the victim isn’t dead yet at time of trial) Jen’s defence team comes up with the brilliant notion of calling jurors from the recent past – courtesy of the multiversal temporal police force the Time Variance Authority…

It’s all going so well until Clint Barton is selected as a jury member: how can Jen work when one of the twelve is secretly Hawkeye – a fellow Avenger she feels responsible for killing!? Guilt-racked and conflicted, Jen decides to break her oath and the rules of time-travel to warn the Ace Archer of the doom that awaits his return to his own time…

The Time Variance Authority is infallible however and when Jen is accused of the capital offence of time-tampering she faces having her entire existence erased from the annals of reality.

This third chapter is also her 100th anniversary issue and features guest art from Paul Pelletier & Rick Magyar, Scott Kolins, Mike Vosburg, Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti, Ron Frenz, Joe Sinnott & Sal Buscema, Mike Mayhew, Don Simpson, Lee Weeks and Eric Powell as well as dozens of costumed guest-stars from her jaded career as a hero/villain, whilst #4 is a brief interlude in the greater story (illustrated by Scott Kolins) as She Hulk explores the aftermath of her Idaho rampage with the poignant and rewarding ‘Back to Bone’ before the jurisprudence and chronal carnage concludes with the rescue and return of a dead hero…

This is a priceless, clever romp with devastatingly sharp wit and low, vulgar slapstick in equal amounts plus loads of the mandatory angst-free action: a great read and possibly the Best Whacky Legal Drama since Boston Legal. But don’t listen to me: catch this book and judge for yourself…

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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She Hulk 2: Superhuman Law

She Hulk 2: Superhuman Law 

By Dan Slott & various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN 0-7851-1570-6

The second volume of this incarnation of the Sexy Green Giant, Superhuman Law sees a sort of promotion for our heroine as she is seconded by the Universal Court known as the Magistrati.

Once there she is becomes a circuit judge for a sector of space that still uses a form of trial by combat as their legislative principle, which leaves plenty of room for both burly humour and hopefully a little self-examination among the progagonists and fans.

On returning to Earth she is called on to defend her fellow avenger Hercules from an Excessive Force suit brought by one of the many villains he’s thrashed in his career, showing even more thought for the consequences of a comic-book life-style.

The book concludes with an extended adventure as Jen’s old foe Titania gets hold of ultimate power and goes on a spree of destruction that eventually involves most of New York’s superhero community. The art is courtesy of Bobillo, Pelletier, Sasa, and Rick Magyar.

These volumes are a rare treat. A high concept that’s universally accessible to newcomer and fan alike, inconspicuous continuity, great gags, lots of action and great art. What more could you want?

© 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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She Hulk 1: Single Green Female

She Hulk 1: Single Green Female 

By Dan Slott & various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN 0-7851-1443-2

She Hulk is the cousin of the Incredible Hulk. Her alter-ego, lawyer Jennifer Walters, got a blood transfusion from Bruce Banner and the inevitable result was a super-powerful, ample-bosomed, seven foot tall, green Valkyrie who is the poster-child for “As If…”

For most of her comics career she has been played slightly skewed to the rest of the Marvel Universe. For a good deal of it she has been the only character to know that her “life” is merely a comic-book, with all the fourth wall comedy that could be wrung out of that situation. This latest outing still concentrates on the humorous aspects, as with a huge tip of the hat to TV’s Ally McBeal, she leaves Avengers Mansion and joins New York’s most prestigious law-firm to specialise in the fledgling speciality and legal grey area known as Superhuman Law.

Single Green Female covers this transition with tongue-in-cheek aplomb, and all the gag prerequisites covered. Sexy rival, geeky lawyer who secretly prefers Jen to her Junoesque super-persona and slightly daffy boss are all in place and awaiting their cues, but the real secret to why this works is the fan-boy nit-picking that extrapolates the superhero world but isn’t ashamed to see the comedy potential. A shape-shifter is on staff because he can always get close enough to serve Writs. Sorcerer Dr. Strange is retained as a consultant for the more exotic cases. The law library contains every Marvel Comic ever published because they are considered pertinent legal documents…

Working on such cases as a man suing for compensation after a nuclear accident gives him super-powers, a murder trial where the victim is the key witness, a libel case where a certain wall-crawler sues a prominent publisher for defamation and a wrongful imprisonment case that involves an underage criminal provides plenty of action and laughs. The art is by Juan Bobillo, Paul Pelletier, Marcelo Sasa, Roland Paris, Tom Simmons and Dan Hillsman and although a little disconcerting in places in all of a high standard.

© 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.