by Randy Lander

THING & SHE-HULK: THE LONG NIGHT #1 Mildly Recommended (6/10) Marvel Comics Writer: Todd Dezago Pencils: Bryan Hitch & Ivan Reis Inks: Paul Neary & Randy Emberlin Colors: Paul Mounts Letters: Randy Gentile Editor: Jaye Gardner & Tom Brevoort Price: $2.99 US/$4.75 CAN Thing & She-Hulk is undeniably a funny and very beautiful looking book, but it also lacks a lot of punch in the plot department. How much readers will get out of this book depends largely on their intrinsic interest in the two lead characters, although even those without much attachment will no doubt get a kick out of the artwork, whether it's the first half by Hitch or the second half by Reis. Dezago's script relies on repetition for humor, showing us the Thing and She-Hulk in essentially the same situation, playing up that they're both just folks in the wrong place at the right time, and also playing up the similarities of the characters. Though this does make for some humor, particularly as we see hapless would-be bullies turned into the butt of jokes, it also comes across as a bit too repetitive, particularly once the trick is used more than once. The similarity is established with the first sequence, where the heroes meet a civilian and beat up a handful of bullies, and the second sequence that shows them helping others off the train in nearly exact fashions is unnecessary. The comedy in this issue also relies on a lot of things going wrong, all at the same time. While a villainous organization's research into a powerful creature goes on, a band of vampires decide to blow up the subway tracks to make for cornered food, and everything goes to hell from there. It is fairly transparent that the whole reason for this plot is to have Thing and She-Hulk take on Dragon Man, but that's hardly a bad thing. In fact, this is classic Fantastic Four type stuff, and the down-to-earth personalities of both Thing and She-Hulk play nicely against the absurd nature of their adversaries and the situation. As I see it, the biggest weakness of the book is that it is a fairly inconsequential story. There's very little in the way of active conflict, as the basic structure simply finds two heroes preventing a series of accidents, and the plot has as much importance as the average episode of Seinfeld. Unless a book is hysterically funny, I usually prefer a little more of a plot with important doings, and though I found Thing & She-Hulk to be fun, it didn't make me laugh enough to forget that the plot was paper-thin. One of the big selling points for the book, though, aside from a fondness for the lead characters, is seeing four very talented artists tackle the situations. Hitch and Neary bring the same gorgeous, detailed look of New York City that Hitch and Currie have brought to The Ultimates, and they seem equally at home with the cramped settings of the subway and the expansive setting of the underground lab. In addition, the physical power of both the protagonists and of Dragon Man comes to life in the artwork. Ivan Reis and Randy Emberlin follow up on this performance with such skill that it isn't easy to see the transition, and in fact there were some elements, including a more detailed version of the Thing, that I liked better in Reis's work. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.