Fight club with your favorite superhuman brawlers, hiding your superhero friends in your tiny office, and trying to figure out what’s going on with your newly resurrected friend’s radiation powers — a day in the life of Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk #4, written by Rainbow Rowell, drawn by Luca Maresca, colored by Rico Renzi and lettered by Joe Caramagna.
Armaan Babu: This issue: Jack of Hearts gets to wear a comfortable sweater, and really, that’s what this issue is. It’s a comfortable sweater. I don’t know about you but I’ve had a very heart tiring week, and this issue’s basically been a warm hug of Jennifer spending time with supportive friends before heading out to be a supportive friend herself. The issue is gentle, friendly, and all the right kinds of absurd. How did you like it?
Stephanie Burt: I had a rough day. I could use a sweater.
Brawler Buddies
Armaan: We start with some follow up to She-Hulk’s run-in with Titania back in #1. The two have started a little fight club of their own to blow off some steam, a full first page of Jennifer pinned beneath a metal beam.
You know how there are some things you don’t realize you’ve missed until you see it again? I feel that way about Luca Maresca’s art. There are so many little details put in that add so much personality to the characters on the page, soft stylishness that’s perfect for this kind of book. Jennifer’s Lila Cheney t-shirt and workout sneakers, Titania’s tracksuit, the way their hair’s tied up for a work out with strands pulling loose to show us there’s been a lot of action happening – and Volcana, to the side, eager to fight but dressed for a casual day hang. Even Ben Grimm just looks fantastic (pun fully intended) here wearing a simple white t-shirt. Maresca makes style look effortless, it’s a real treat.
Stephanie: It is. This fight sequence makes me believe that Jen and Titania are having fun, even more fun fighting each other than we’re having as we see them fight. And it neither ends too soon, nor goes on too long.
Armaan: Speaking of Volcana, she was a smart addition to the scene, as she yells encouragement from the sidelines, adding a little extra fun to what might ordinarily be a very focused fight. I imagine She-Hulk and Titania would be happy to trade blows in silence for an hour once they got the initial banter out of the way — look at the way they smile when they’re getting into it, they enjoy a good workout.
My favorite moment here is She-Hulk’s extremely reasonable stance that she’s not fighting Volcana because she doesn’t want to be on fire if she doesn’t have to be.
Stephanie: It’s like Volcana wants to be the Human Torch to Titania’s Thing. And it’s like Jen’s back to fighting because it’s, simply, fun to be fighting. As long as you’ve got rules. Rule one of writing Jen is: she likes being She-Hulk, likes using her powers, likes flexing and being green. Rule two is good-humored lawyer jokes, which we’ll see soon.
Armaan: Ben Grimm comes in swinging, assuming Jen’s in an all out superhero brawl — a simple misunderstanding, and I suppose if you’re as strong as Titania is a stray blow doesn’t do too much damage. Ben’s a little salty that he wasn’t invited to the Fight Club, which I think is a bit much considering how rarely I see She-Hulk at his poker games! Still, it looks like this superhero fight club might actually become a thing — I’m hoping to see more of it just randomly popping up in other comics, like Ben’s poker nights do.
Stephanie: His intervention makes Jen lose the bout! That’s what it’s like to rush in helping your friends without understanding the situation. Armaan, who else would belong to superhero fight club? Has to be someone who likes fights but isn’t a jerk about it. Also someone hard to hurt and good at wisecracks. And, honestly, that’s a small roster. Domino?
A Business Thing
Armaan: I’ve always enjoyed the relationship Ben and Jennifer share. There’s this uncomplicated connection between the two bruisers — they’re both very aware of the value of a good punch, and their limitations when it comes to more every day matters. Whenever you see them together, you always get the sense that Ben’s got Jen’s back, just as much as if she were family.
There’s a special kind of friendship that grumbles about not being invited to enough parties anymore, and has to ask twice – once lightly, and once again with a sterner stare – how you’re really doing, because they know things aren’t going that easily.
Stephanie: She is family. Just as Ben is family. Fantastic Four comics always address literal birth family, the people you’re stuck with, the way Reed and Sue are stuck with Johnny and Franklin and Valeria, and it’s easy to forget that way back at the beginning Ben was a pilot and a family friend. And Jen’s a family friend, almost in the same way. What did you think of their banter? 10/10 for the Lockjaw/ Black Bolt joke, but points taken off from “I’m a lawyer, not a magician”: you’re only allowed to say “I’m an X, not a magician” if you lampshade the Star Trek reference. Wait, does that mean Beast is automatically able to say it? He is a bit of a magician…
Armaan: In one timeline, at least…
Ben’s also the kind of friend who’ll do you a favor before you even ask for it, especially if he knows you’re the type who doesn’t easily ask for help. The problem, of course, with this kind of thing is that a well intentioned action can often be something that causes a little more trouble than help. Case in point, Jennifer’s now got a handful of brightly costumed heroes crammed into her office after her boss specifically asked for simple, human cases.
This is where I feel the art falls short just a little bit. We have a half page gag about how superheroes aren’t the most discreet of people, but with the somber coloring – perfect for the mood of the office, for the brightness of a cheerful sunny day in other scenes – and the casual feel Maresca puts into clothes, it really feels like yes, superheroes could be pretty discreet if they wanted to. It’s a quick moment, but it does highlight where this creative team works best, and where it doesn’t.
Stephanie: Nobody told the superheroes to be discreet before they showed up! Jen wants them to be discreet when it’s too late, because they’re already in the office, because Jen is, famously, the lawyer who represents supers in super-cases. I have no problem with how Maresca draws this miscellaneous cast of Marvel A- to C-listers but I wonder about who he drew. Shouldn’t Moon Knight already have legal representation? What on Earth, or on Krakoa, does Nightcrawler want? Is Nova looking to incorporate the Champions?
It’s fun. It’s a lot of fun. But it’s also a bit that we’ve seen before, no? In the great Charles Soule lawyer-joke run, and in the Jen who turned up in Kate Leth’s Hellcat.
Armaan: The problem with starting over, sometimes, is that you run into the same kind of problems you’ve seen before…only you’ve got additional complications the second, third, or even fourth time around.
In The Midst of You
Armaan: With Jen’s legal troubles put on hold for the moment, we get back to this series main hook: Jack of Hearts, sitting in an aforementioned comfy sweater, enjoying a nice day with some popcorn out in the park. Jennifer comes to see him, de-greened to her normal human appearance, which throws Jack for a bit of a loop. I forget sometimes that She-Hulk is hulked out so often that some people might not know what her human self looks like — though it’s hard to believe she’d be that unrecognizable.
This did make me look a little closer at the differences between She-Hulk and Jennifer. Besides the green, She-Hulk’s head is definitely larger, as are her legs and upper body. Shulkie’s got a wider jaw, but you know what’s bizarre to me? Her arms look more or less the same, which is baffling to me considering the bulk of her fighting style is punching people and throwing things. It’s not that Maresca doesn’t draw buff arms — take a look at Titania’s! But She-Hulk, not so much.
Sorry, I digress.
Stephanie: Maybe she worked out a lot before she got green? Or maybe… her smaller human form just has buff arms, because baseline human arms can be that swole, even though baseline humans can’t get that tall. And Jack, specifically, wouldn’t recognize her because he’s used to seeing her in her Avengers green identity, not in court. Also because his brain is still a burnt mess.
Armaan: It seems pretty clear that a romance is developing here, but it’s a very slow burn. I appreciate it, though, if we’re getting scenes like this. Sitting in the park, being vulnerable, talking poetry, light teasing back and forth…and trying to deal with uncomfortable memories. As close as Jack and Jennifer are getting, it’s hard to forget that the last time he got too close to her, he nearly killed her, and warped her powers in a big way. That’s the kind of thing that makes you flinch in the middle of light-hearted teasing — it’s a trauma unresolved.
Stephanie: Everything about Jonathan Hart is a trauma unresolved. That’s why he writes poetry! I mean, I asked to write about Jen’s new series with you because I like Jen and I liked Rainbow Rowell’s Runaways. I absolutely did not expect the lawyer jokes to fall away, this issue, in favor of English-major references. Poems about stars, which Jack wrote in space, are absolutely a thing! As is Walt Whitman, the great poet of Brooklyn, who probably would have been into Marvel heroes (and would have been shipping them often). Rowell is quoting a real Whitman poem (“The Centenarian”) whose lines appear on a monument in Brooklyn. Maresca’s urban pastoral looks great– refreshing, even.
As for Jen’s speech about how and why she prefers being green… that’s it, that’s why she’s herself, that’s what sets She-Hulk apart. And the speech makes for a fine contrast to Jack’s speech: he’s spent his adult life afraid of who he is and what he can do, self-isolating so as not to bring down the people he likes. That’s a very recognizable thing, a particular kind of depression– and he’s still depressed.
Jen gets up at the end, ready to throw down, and her stand-up pose bookends an issue that nearly began with Jen prone. Neato symmetry! I liked this issue as much as I am able to like an issue where nothing surprises me, and apparently that means I like it a lot.
Armaan: You and me both.
We’re getting the kind of stuff comics usually speed through. The bonds forged between people, the moments they spend walking around town, opening up to each other, the memories they share that aren’t life or death situations. There’s an audience for that – if you and me aren’t proof, then the thousands and thousands of coffeeshop AUs ought to be – and I’m glad there’s space being made for it in the Marvel U.
This was a lovely comfort read — hell, they even saved the actual surprise twist for next issue, whatever it may be. All we know is that there is a surprise…and I’m happy to wait a bit before things in this comic upend themselves too far.
Last Minute Legal Notes
- Bronze Age Marvel comics often contained very accurate information about NYC microgeography, so it’s a fun throwback when this one incorporates accurate views of downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights.
- Any guesses as to who the mystery villain controlling, or draining, Jack might be?
- My guesses about these are terrible, but from what we’ve seen so far, it’s probably a deep cut that ties up some loose ends in continuity…so maybe someone from that Marvel Zombies series that’s the last place we saw him resurrected?
- Jen must be teasing Jonathan something fierce when she pretends she believes that real poetry has to rhyme.
- For those that don’t remember, a zombified version of Jack was responsible for Ant-Man’s death — but between mind control and a resurrection for both parties involved, things seemed to have turned out okay?
- Jack doesn’t know much, but he knows to trust reference librarians. Smart man.
Stephanie Burt is Professor of English at Harvard. Her podcast about superhero role playing games is Team-Up Moves, with Fiona Hopkins; her latest book of poems is We Are Mermaids. Her nose still hurts from that thing with the gate.
