She-Hulk #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Charles Soule
Art by Javier Pulido
I love She-Hulk. She is one of my favorite Marvel characters and I came into this hoping for somewhat of a serious book. Aside from my own personal desires for the character I came into this book thinking that with her recent appearances in graphic novels like the Mighty Avengers, the result would be nothing short of ground-breaking. Of course it does not hurt that Marvel has placed Charles Soule at the helm. He’s awesome at what he does and if he can make me like Superman Wonder Woman, I believe he can take Jennifer Walters to new heights.
That said, I was not terribly impressed with the interior artwork. It is much too Mike Allred-esque for me and it proves to be a huge distraction to the reading. It simply does not fit the image I had in mind or even the character for that matter. With any luck, a good artist will take the reigns soon. As good as the writing is, I personally cannot suffer the interiors enough to go past issue three.
Although Jen has been off saving the world in the Fantastic Four’s absence, she’s also been billing clients and practicing law. It is worth mentioning the meeting with her bosses at the law firm, and what happened there was flawlessly written and the dialogue was impeccable.
While drinking in a Lawyers bar (yes, the alcoholic kind) she meets a young woman in desperate need of help. This leads us to what comes next, seeing Jennifer take cases to help the common people. The defense attorney is an old friend and teammate of hers and this makes things a tad more complicated but ever-so-fun nonetheless. The writing does wonders to combine her passion for law and her pursuit of justice. Sometimes the worst can happen even with the greatest of intentions, and it seems this is often the case with She-Hulk. Despite her best efforts, she finds herself smack-dab in what can only be described as a mess, but that is part of what makes her such an interesting character.
Mike Allred has as many fans as he does detractors, and with the styling of Javier Pulido being very similar in nature, it could leave a sour aftertaste in an otherwise pleasant comic. I’m a mixed bag of feelings on this one as the writing is superb but the interior artwork is a 2 at best.
