With low sales and several references from Marvel's Chicago panels to this calling it a "mini-series," not to mention the mind-boggling wrong-headed developments of the character in the pages of Avengers, the writing on the wall doesn't look so good for She-Hulk. Which is a shame, because to my mind, it's probably the best comic Marvel is currently publishing, at least when you consider books set in the Marvel Universe. What started off looking like another "New Marvel" book with no respect for the integrity of the characters has instead become a book that represents everything I once fell in love with about Marvel Comics, from good use of mildly obscure characters to solid superhero action to imaginative ideas, all married to a sense of humor that makes the book laugh-out-loud funny.
There are any number of great moments in this issue, whether it's the reaction as She-Hulk scratches her hand from a bunch of shrunken-down super-criminals, the way She-Hulk deals with Tiger Shark and Electro, Awesome Andy's moment of crisis and response or even just a great use of Yellowjacket. Put all those moments together, though, and you can see that Slott also has a solid grasp of storytelling structure and a good story here, with a plot that explores the emotional undercurrent of the characters and blends it with superhero action in a way that reminds me of when Mark Gruenwald or Roger Stern were at the top of their game.
It's not just that She-Hulk is being played as intelligent and powerful rather than the uninteresting berserker she's become in two recent Avengers tales that gets me about this book, though. Slott also has a way with the villains in the Marvel Universe, acknowledging the goofiness of some of them without playing any of them like chumps. In the right hands, almost any seemingly lame character can be cool, and Slott gets that. Sure, there are some goofy moments here where the heroes dispose of the villains in undignified ways (Sandman goes out like a punk!), but that's partly down to their disadvantaged shrunken state, and there's definitely a ticking clock and a sense of danger with the sealed-off building, the impending growth of the villains or the seriousness with which the heroes treat the problem. In addition, the Mad Thinker comes off as one scary smart individual, who is able to seem dangerous without resorting to wanton rape and murder for shock value.
One of the big draws for me early on with this title was the artwork of Juan Bobillo, but he's been spelled on this two-part arc by Paul Pelletier. The change in style is notable, as Pelletier's work more closely resembles the style of an Alan Davis or Gary Frank than the Euro-style of Bobillo, but it's certainly not a bad thing. In fact, Pelletier really does some spectacular work on the action sequences without losing the comedic timing, and there are some really great sequences here (notably the one in which Andy makes his decision) that feature clever, unusual storytelling. I also have to give credit to Roland Paris, an inker whose name I don't remember seeing before, as I think his inks over Pelletier's pencils are some of the strongest I've seen outside of Pelletier's work on Negation. Kudos also to whoever had the idea to include old school sound effects in the book, as they're a nice touch that adds to the humorous and action moments of the issue, and to Dave Sharpe for carrying them off with style without making them over-the-top.
Let me be clear on this one, folks: She-Hulk is a buzz book, but it ain't a top-selling book, and at Marvel, "buzz" tends to be a synonym for "cancelled." If you want to save this book, and quite honestly, I think you should, now is the time to get onboard. Grab these issues from your retailer if you can, special order the next issue (which will be a jumping-on point), put the book in the hands of other fans. Because She-Hulk has rapidly risen from a book I had written off to a book that I really don't want to lose, and it's one of the few bastions of old school Marvel cool with modern-day style in evidence at the modern "House of Ideas."
