ALL NEW MARVEL NOW SHE-HULK

Jennifer Walters, better known as the She-Hulk made her first appearance in the Marvel Universe in 1980 in her very own comic book, THE SAVAGE SHE-HULK. Created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, she has been a mainstay in Marvel Comics and a staple in at least four various versions, plus a two-issue mini-series. Her last regular series appearance was in 2009. It has been a long drought until 2014 but the superhero lawyer is back as part of the ALL NEW MARVEL NOW. Brought to you by Charles Soule and Javier Pulido, this book is trying to make a mark in a landscape filled with super heroines.

The first issue finds our green-skinned lawyer languishing in her office at the firm of Paine & Luckberg, LLP, waiting for her annual review. Unfortunately, her bosses are upset that, although she brought in millions of dollars in income for the firm, she didn’t bring in any high profile, superhero type clients. Before they get the opportunity to be fired, she quits and breaks their huge table made in Madripoor. Out of work and drinking in a lawyer bar, the widow of Dr. Jonas Harrow, the villain known as The Hood, approaches her. Apparently he had tech that was used by Stark Tenchnology and his widow is looking for a taste of what should have been his. Jen gets stonewalled by Stark’s Legal person and ends up in court, where the team of Stark lawyers get a continuance.

Digging through a Harrow’s garage in Queens, Jen finds an audio tape protected by a death robot. That tape has the incriminating evidence she has been looking for and again she heads to Stark, finally getting to see Tony himself. He admits that he should do the right thing and makes a hefty payment to the widow Harrow, who eventually gives Jen a check for 150K. With that, she rents space in a Brooklyn apartment and begins to search for paralegal, which she finds in the person of Angie Huang and her monkey named Hei Hei. Clients are sort of sparse and she finds out that her previous employer has told the rest of the legal community that Jen is crazy.

She decides to down her sorrows and meets up with her old friend Patsy (Hellcat) Walker. Before the night is over, Patsy decides they should check into a building in the Bronx that Patsy had heard was housing some A.I.M. lab. Of course, to say that Patsy is a little drunk is an understatement. Before all is done, the pair has defeated the bad guys and Jen has agreed to hire Patsy as her investigator. Returning to her office, she finds her first “true” client: Kristoff Vernard-the son of Doctor Doom. And how does one jolly green lawyer manage to convince the legal system to allow him to stay here and what happens when his dad arrives to take him home?

I LOVE this book, as much as I was expecting to hate it. I am a huge fan of Charles Soule’s writing, based on his work on such titles as SWAMP THING, RED LANTERNS, SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN and THUNDERBOLTS, along with the upcoming DEATH OF WOLVERINE storyline. While not trying to copy the style of John Byrne that he used while writing SHE-HULK, this title is probably the funniest version of She-Hulk SINCE Byrne. There are some great one-liners, some fun bits of dialogue, a tremendous supporting cast and a visual look from Javier Pulido that just makes it all work. Pulido has had his work in many places over the years including HELLBLAZER and HUMAN TARGET and I have never been a real fan of his style, as it seems that everyone these days are trying to be the next David Mazzucchelli, David Aja or even Jim Steranko. His style is quirky and, for this book, it just works fine.

If you are a fan of the old Byrne version of this character, do yourself a favor and pick this up. This is a hoot of a ride and I hope it survives this second round of Marvel Now titles. It is truly worth three dollars from your comic budget.