Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
She-Hulk #1
Marvel Comics
Soule, Pulido & Vicente
The return of She-Hulk to her own solo title is a breath of fresh air as the book focuses on the regular life of Jen Walters. While that might sound boring as a concept, the book executes in an engaging and charming way all the way through. If you are looking for a strong character book regardless of capes and super-villains then I recommend checking this book out.
The comic opens with Jen's performance review at her law firm. While this seems absurd, it helps to define her character perfectly in the first few pages of the comic book. Plus, it's fairly humorous, especially for those that have been through any kind of corporate performance review before.
Then Jen heads off to a bar to recompose herself where she is confronted by a woman that has a legal issue with Tony Stark. The remainder of the book is spent with Jen using her wits against Stark's lawyers, her muscles to deal with Stark's robots as well as her charm to deal with Stark himself. It's a wonderful way to showcase all of the components that make this character something different.
The book is a slower pace. It's not a bad thing but it is noteworthy. The comic is text heavy and this seems to last from scene to scene. It would seem to reason that this will turn some readers off. Though this does allow the book the ability to really dig into the character as a result and that is a good thing.
The artwork is fantastic. There is a cartoon, all-ages quality to the artwork here and that is a tribute to the line work as well as the extreme color palette used. The layout of the book also throws in some angled paneling to make the comic just look like something "different." The artwork is definitely a big reason why this book provides an engaging story about her regular life.
This isn't your rank and file super-hero comic book. It has charisma and showcases She-Hulk's personality. The comic might be too heavy on the lawyer stuff but it has a payoff within this issue. This is a good comic that tells a self-enclosed story and introduces the title character very nicely for the new series. I recommend checking this out.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
