Essential Savage She-Hulk: Vol. 1
She-Hulk stands as a metaphor for the biological process of menses, with her burgeoning transformation from harried human into raging monster a thinly veiled representation of PMS. For in every woman lies … oh, who’m I kidding? She-Hulk is just like the regular, green, strong Hulk … only smart, talkative and hot! And therein lies all the lesson you’ll need to enjoy Marvel’s ESSENTIAL SAVAGE SHE-HULK: VOL. 1, collecting the entire 25-issue run of the early-1980s title.
Jennifer Walters is a young, enterprising, do-gooder attorney until the day her life is changed when cousin Bruce Banner (aka Hulk) comes to visit. A mob tries to kill her because of a snitch she’s defending in court, and they nearly succeed except Bruce intervenes with a homemade blood transfusion. And since his blood is tainted by all those gamma rays, he passes on a watered-down version of his curse to Jen.
So Jen’s life complicates as this monster emerges when she gets angry. People mistake her for being evil and even frame her for murder. Hey, it’s not easy being green. But it sure helps when you have to fight a Hulk robot (repeat: a Hulk robot!), tussle with the Man-Thing (who at one point “stiffens,” says the text), kick the ass of Iron Man or spar with the Man-Elephant, all the while fretting over family matters and continuing courtroom battles, including the defense of one Dr. Michael Morbius, vampire.
The ongoing story takes a very strange two-issue turn with a convoluted arc about the Man-Wolf – Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson’s son, former astronaut John Jameson – and his dimension-jumping at the subatomic level. That busty mix Hellcat figures into it (mostly to make bizarre exclamations like “Hot ziggety!” and “Cheese and crackers!”), but it makes no sense. I read it twice and still couldn’t wrap my head around it.
But no matter, because there are constants to carry you through, like the lustful attention of Zapper, Jen’s neighbor who has a white-man ‘fro and porn-star mustache. I’m not giving away, but it all ends on a surreal, self-referential note with She-Hulk hanging out with “television star” the Hulk in sunny L.A. It’s nice they had a chance to wrap everything up, but left one thread dangling – and too bad, because I wanted to see the evil bitch get her due.
Man-Wolf detour aside, David Anthony Kraft did a remarkable job of balancing Jen’s ongoing struggle (you feel genuine sorrow for her) with the “villain of the month” appearances in all 24 issues he wrote (Stan Lee scripted the first to get things going). Though it lags a little near the end as everyone got too rushed or too lazy, the pencils and inks of John Buscema, Mike Vosburg and Chic Stone are especially bold and crisp. This one’s an underappreciated smash. –Rod Lott
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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• ESSENTIAL DEFENDERS: VOL. 1
• ESSENTIAL GODZILLA: VOL. 1
• ESSENTIAL IRON FIST: VOL. 1
• ESSENTIAL KILLRAVEN: VOL. 1
• ESSENTIAL MOON KNIGHT: VOL. 1
• ESSENTIAL NOVA: VOL. 1
[...] The one good thing about my obsessive collecting of THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE as a slightly introverted child is that I know more about the second- and third-tier Marvel characters than most humans. Marvel, having found out about my superhuman genius, is trying to negate it with its ESSENTIAL line, and the latest one to get reviewed in these virtual pages is ESSENTIAL SAVAGE SHE-HULK: VOL 1. Rod thinks it’s pretty great, aside from the odd Man-Wolf incoherence. My special knowledge has been severely degraded, however; with Nova, Moon Knight and now She-Hulk revealed to the general public, the only guy I really have good info on is The Whizzer*, and that’s pretty sad. [...]
[...] Another recurring character is Richard Rory, the lovable loser who also figures greatly in the recent ESSENTIAL SHE-HULK. But what makes Man-Thing a must-read are the utterly bizarre bit parts from a barbarian made of peanut butter, space pirates and a talking duck named Howard – perhaps you’ve heard of him? These kind of what-the-hell’s-next touches play better than the usual Marvel superhero cameos (though those are here, too, including The Fantastic Four), but ultimately probably killed the concept. It gets too silly, and Gerber can’t quite pull off the fantasy angle in ways that Alan Moore and company could with Swamp Thing by resisting the comedy. [...]