Wednesday, February 11, 2009

She-Hulk # 37

Why am I reading She-Hulk, when there are a bunch of comics I would much rather be reading, such as Nova or The Legion of Super-Heroes? To put it bluntly, it's because out of all the books I plan on reading this week, this was the one I care the least about. With an early day of classes ahead of me tomorrow, I figured I just get this comic out of the way tonight, and dig into the comics I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night when I have more time. Does that make any sense? Meh, what can I say, I'm tired. On that rather ominous note, here's my take of She-Hulk #37.

Overall- Well, storyline-wise, I this was an OK comic book. Not great, but not awful. However, Peter David was back in top form when it came to witty, funny dialogue. That's probably the thing that's bothered me the most in regard to Peter's run on She-Hulk. The comedy just hasn't been there... One thing Peter does better than just about any other comic book writer is mix a good story with hilarious dialogue. For some reason, he just never seemed able to find the right balance of good story and funny dialogue in this series. This comic was probably my favorite issue of She-Hulk written by Peter, which is funny in an ironic sort of way, since the next issue is the last issue of this series!

This story unfolded on two fronts, with the primary story revolving around Shulkie getting released from UN custody after the public found out about her humanitarian efforts in that earthquake stricken country(I can't remember the name for the life of me...)last issue. With her approval rating sky-high, Mallory Book(from Shulkie's old law firm)shows up and tells Shulkie that she wants her to come back to the firm again. After visiting her old law office again, Shulkie gets a moment alone, and calls her Skrull buddy, Jazinda and tells her the news. Jazinda pretends that she is happy about Shulkie possibly getting her law licence back, but she realizes that if Shulkie becomes a lawyer again that means their bounty hunting days are over.

After getting off the phone with Shulkie, somebody knocks on the trailer She-Hulk and Jazinda are sharing, asking to speak to She-Hulk. Jazinda shape-shifts into She-Hulk and is surprised to see a giant elephant-themed villain standing at the door. The bad guy apparently used to be called the Man-Elephant, but smartly changed his name to the Behemoth... The Man-Elephant... Are you kidding me? Jeez, whatever writer came up with that name must not have been feeling very creative that day. "Well, he's a man dressed like an elephant. I know, I'll call him Man-Elephant!".

ANYWAY, Behemoth beats the hell out of Jazinda with ease, since Jazinda doesn't have She-Hulk's strength, only her looks. Behemoth ultimately beats Jazinda unconscious, which forces her to revert back to her Skrull form. Upon seeing this, the crowd of people watching the fight figure that since Jazinda is a Skrull, she must be a part of the Secret Invasion, so they call the police while Behemoth stands there confused.

Like I said before, this was a funny comic book. THIS is how Peter should have been writing this comic book. She-Hulk was hilarious, the villain was ridiculous(the Man-Elephant/Behemoth! Please!), and the situations were absurd, just the way I like my She-Hulk comic books. Anyway, from the looks of this issue, and next issue being the final one for this series, I'd wager that She-Hulk will get her law licence back and Jazinda will disappear, putting She-Hulk right back to the status quo. I doubt Peter will kill Jazinda off or anything like that, I figure she'll just return to bounty hunting in space. For a score, I'll give this comic a 7 out of 10. Hopefully, Peter will pull out all the stops next issue, and give us something laugh out loud funny. Too bad Peter hit his stride in this comic as it was getting cancelled... Oh well, that's life I guess.

No comments:

Post a Comment