Green Reading

I’ve been on a comic book kick recently.

I go on these tears every couple of years. They’re fun. Comic books have good writing and beautiful art. They blend magical realism, science fiction, sword & sorcery, urban fantasy, mythology, and all other kinds of speculative fiction into one pot.

Sometimes, plot lines are downright ridiculous. Often (nearly always?) women are depicted in skimpy, skin-tight, impractical outfits. (Many men, too, FWIW). Sometimes, women have agency and great storylines. Sometimes they don’t. I try to nose out the former.

She-Hulk

Aside from her pretty lame name, She-Hulk is one of my favorites. By day, Jennifer Walters is a lawyer, one that apparently is good enough to argue before the Supreme Court. By night, she’s an ethical strongwoman, sometimes-member of the Fantastic Four and Avengers.

I loved the series on Disney+ and really hope it gets a second season, so I thought I’d look for a good She-Hulk story to read. I was not disappointed!

Rainbow Rowell’s 2022-2024 run on the character was terrific! A mixture of action with character depth and a light-hearted love story. Like, an actual story!

Jen Bartel produced some eye-catching covers, and the artists rendered She-Hulk in a way that was cool and not overtly, gratuitously, exclusively hyper-sexualized.

A love story runs through the line following She-Hulk and Jack-of-Hearts, a character I had never heard of. I’m not a comic book expert, but I was a diehard player of Heroclix in the game’s first years (twenty years ago) and I don’t remember any Jack-of-Hearts.

The events follow the aftermath of Avenger’s Disassembled, so I had to read that for it to make sense (although that was not vital to enjoying the story). And that was jarring because the art style was so different. (Disassembled was published in 2004).

Rowell’s story was split into four sets. The third sagged, developing a potential love triangle and a Manhattan-level crisis at the same time, both of which Rowell resolved too neatly in about three panels.

However, the rest made up for it. There were fantastic scenes of camaraderie between She-Hulk and Hell Cat and Captain Marvel, as well as an awesome storyline—“Punch Club”—where She-Hulk and her once-nemesis Titania form a fight club-esque way to blow off steam in an empty lot.

We didn’t get to see any major courtroom battles, which would have been fun, but there was a lot of other stuff lawyers do (review contracts, arbitrate stuff, get the Thing off from a parking ticket). Plus, there are about a zillion cameos in She-Hulk’s waiting room.

When I picked up these books, I was hoping for a fun, easy story with action, drama, art, and some girl-power kick. And that’s what I got! What else could a guy want?

Other stories I’ve read and liked recently were:

• Black Panther (featuring Shuri as BP)
• Ironheart
• Avengers Disassembled