SHE-HULK #36 - Discussion

[Merrik]

I love the last week of the month, it's usually when a few of my favorite series drop. She-Hulk, Nova, Cap, Guardians of the Galaxy. We only got She-Hulk and Nova this time, but they were both great issues.

In the issue:

Continuing from last issue, She-Hulk goes to meet the President-for-Life of Marnimer, Darqon Par for a private meeting. In the meeting, they discuss Par and his recent actions. She-Hulk is pissed and is disgusted with Par for being capable of killing his own people. He replies that of course he is, but what leader isn't? That a leader will send it's citizens to war, including the president of the United States. He then explains how when he took office, he wanted to stop the religious wars, but the people would have none of it, and then, in his mind, god sent the earthquake to settle the matter once and for all.

She-Hulk is even more upset and yells at Par that he's murdered women and children and that now he's actually allowing more to die (Par has an awesome line after this, really nails the kind of disgusting human being he is: "Why do people become so exercised about the fates of women and children?")

It's revealed that Par wanting to discuss a treaty with She-Hulk was a lie, there's a thud behind She-Hulk, and The Invisible Woman turns visible and hits the floor. Par has been burning kolokol-1 in the candles and She-Hulk passes out as well.

We then discover a bit about the origins of the Red Guardian. His grandfather was a priest who was sent to work camps and then executed, so he feels for the people of Marnimer and understands their pain (part of the reason why last issue the Winter Guard decided to help The Lady Liberators instead of stopping them).

She-Hulk wakes up, tied up to a bed, reverted Jennifer Walters. The drugs act as a mental suppressant, so she can't maintain her She-Hulk form. Par then reveals that yeah, he's about to rape Jennifer. Jazinda busts in, disguised as one of Par's General's. A plan She-Hulk and Jazinda put in action before she went to visit Par. Jazinda is about to kill Par, when She-Hulk intercedes, telling Jaz he's not worth killing.

Jazinda asks She-Hulk what her feelings would be if Par had actually raped her? This enrages She-Hulk to the point where she's kind of changes back to She-Hulk (just a little), and breaks from her ties. She's advances on Par, and he states that we are what circumstances make us, and that She-Hulk is a hypocrite, because deep down, she actually wanted him to rape her, which pretty much pushes her over the edge. She goes to punch him, we see a panel of blood on her hand, and then it's revealed that the Invisible Woman is free, and had put a sheild around Par's head to stop She-Hulk from killing him, which she had skinned her knuckles on (she's still only partially transformed into She-Hulk).

Then we hit a slippery slope that She-Hulk is walking. Jazinda impersonates Par, goes on national television, opens the borders of Marnimer to relief aid and orders the army to help the citizens. She then states that she (as Par) is removing herself as President for Life, and the only way to do that, is to die, so she shoots herself in the head on national t.v. (knowing she would come back to life).

The real Par wakes up in the Australian Outback with She-Hulk, where she leaves him, telling him he's got a second chance at life, and not to screw it up, because she won't give him a third chance.

Cut to Jen in her trailer where the Justice Department comes a knockin' to tell her she's under arrest for willful violations of international borders.



GREAT issue! Seriously, I LOVE what PAD has been doing with She-Hulk's character in the past year or so. And it aggrivates me to no end that the series is coming to an end in a couple of short months. The amount of character development, and the circumstances that she faces, under PAD (and Slott), have been more in-depth, and more revealing about the character than what She-Hulk received basically from the beginning of her character life in The Savage She-Hulk, through her time with The Avengers & The FF & through her Sensational series all put together. The character, after almost 30 years, is receiving the most, and best, character development she's ever had, and Marvel is bringing it to and end. She's no longer the same character who just cracks a joke and follows the lead of someone else in a group jumping into the fray with her fists. She's now a character with more depth, more sides to her personality and in the process of becoming a qualified and considerable leader, and it's going to end. Boo-urns!

PAD's writing is in top form here, as he tackles some tough topics in the issue, and raises a few ambigious questions as to who could be considered right and wrong (although it's clearly revealed that Par is absolutely a villain and a disgusting human being, he does make some points about politics, leaders and war, which in his mind at least, make sense), and by the end of the issue, he puts She-Hulk in another potentially explosive situation which she'll have to rely on something other than her muscles or quick wit to get her out of.

I'm cherishing the last couple of issues, 'cause who knows what character development limbo She-Hulk's going to go back into when the series ends.

Only downpoint? Not as much Lady Liberators as the past couple of issues, with only a few quick shots of Thundra, and only a short conversation with Valkyrie. The interaction between the Liberators was a highlight in the past couple of issues, and it totally makes sense about why the issue revolved more around just She-Hulk this time, but any interaction between those characters under PAD is a bonus, so I was hoping for a bit.

Can't wait until next issue!

[passer-by]

I'm cherishing the last couple of issues, 'cause who knows what character development limbo She-Hulk's going to go back into when the series ends.

I know. The same limbo her cousin is in right now. Its initials are J.L.


Great review, Merrik. Can't wait for the TPB.

[Merrik]

I know. The same limbo her cousin is in right now. Its initials are J.L.


Great review, Merrik. Can't wait for the TPB.

Perish... the... thought!!!



Having She-Hulk go to a full-time supporting character in the Hulk under Jeph Loeb (or something similar) would be a travesty. He already caused enough ruckus when he threw She-Hulk into the book in the first issue ignoring all previous continuity with the character and not even bothering to contact the She-Hulk writers to see where the character was at. I'd hate to see what would happen to her if he was the only person writing her. She'd end up like Ultimate Wasp. Eaten alive or some shit.

[CMBMOOL]

Plus in this issue we finally have Sue talking to She-Hulk about her Skrull partner.

[Merrik]

I meant to put that in. Things were getting long and it looks like I forgot. So I guess during the events of She-Hulk Cosmic Collision, at least Sue knew that Jazinda was a skrull (Lyja figured it out, but that was the only mention of it). Wonder if off panel She-Hulk got around to filling in the rest of the Lady Liberators about Jazinda being a skrull or if that might take place later on.

And for anyone wondering, Sue was okay with it.

[americocaine]

Cartoony art and forgettable story.

I'd like to see a Lady Liberators title but *NOT* Peter David on it, Loeb, or anyone with with the first name Pasqual. Those freaks really get around Marvel's HR department these days.

[midnightman2001]

I love the Cartoony art ! It has a certain style to it. Very unique. And the story has been great so far. I LOVE the Lady Liberators! We need more of them!

[Dusty.]

I love the art for this series. The finished look from the inker and colorist give it a look all it's own! This has been a really good series under PAD, and it's ashame it's getting the axe, but I suppose common sense dictates that a new She-Hulk and Her Lady Liberators will be launched soon. I hope PAD gets to write it.

8/10

[midnightman2001]

I love the art for this series. The finished look from the inker and colorist give it a look all it's own! This has been a really good series under PAD, and it's ashame it's getting the axe, but I suppose common sense dictates that a new She-Hulk and Her Lady Liberators will be launched soon. I hope PAD gets to write it.

8/10

Really? She-Hulk and Her Lady Liberators will be launched soon???????

[Dusty.]

Really? She-Hulk and Her Lady Liberators will be launched soon???????

Well, She-Hulk's series is basically going out as that, and the Hulk series is also pushing the group, and even set up future stories for the ladies. I'm assuming Marvel will follow through with a new launch.

[Spiffy]

Cartoony art and forgettable story.

For me it was a great issue, and a vindication of David's writing.

Many "comic book writers" would have taken the chickenshit lame way out of this story--a happy ending.

Another group would have tried SO damn hard to be what they consider hip and modern, which of course would be lazily translated as meaning there'd be a hyperviolent shocking bloodbath.

Peter David had the sense to plot a unique course--one that mixes comic book logic with real world consequences.

On the face of it, we've got a solution that's only possible in comics--people turning invisible, people impersonating other people so accurately that they can convincingly appear to blow their brains out, etc. That's the layer that's comic book logic.

But what's admirable is the non-comic booky message which wraps around all of this--stated by the dictator guy himself and proved at the end by the actions of the new leader. That as observers we can be as idealistic as we please, but neither our idealism nor even most of our actions motivated by that idealism, are going to be able to change the overall nature of how humanity works. We may want to swoop on in, as the great saviors, but that's not going to be more than a band-aid, because you'd have to be able to change an entire way of thinking to make any real lasting change.

That's a pretty sophisticated message for a superhero comic book. I applaud PAD for it.

[sHayden]

It was ok. Yes, the story went in a different direction and good for PAD for taking the gutsy way.
Will there be some Lady Liberators book? Maybe.
Are #37 and #38 the last two issues of She Hulk? For now (maybe).
They'd better go out with a big green sexy silly BANG!

[Mikeymike]

It was another great issue----which again, makes me so sad that it's ending. This has undoubtedly been the best She-Hulk series ever. Slott and PAD have both done amazing things with her character----and this book has been pretty critically acclaimed all along. I realize Marvel put some faith in the series by closing it down with # 12 in order to do a splashy season 2 relaunch at # 1----but are sales really that bad that they can't allow it to hang on a bit longer ? It's just always a shame to see a book of this caliber go.

I too thought it was gutsy to not give this a happy ending. Life is sloppy and even with She-Hulk and the team's best efforts, they still couldn't tie everything up in a neat little bow.

On a very trivial thing----I noticed that Jen Walters eyes were colored brown again. I was not a fan of a green eyed Jen. I think it's a nice effect to see her eyes change from brown to green when she's going to transform to She-Hulk. If they're already green, then you lose that effect. I don't know if it was just the colorist who did that but I was happy to see it.

Oh yeah, and if this great book must end, then I am all for a launch of SHE-HULK AND THE LADY LIBERATORS !

[Arrogantcur]

So here are my thoughts on this particular issue.

First, the ending: meet the new boss, same as the old boss. It's probably what would happen in real life but disheartening nonetheless. Par was probably telling the truth when he said that his experiences running that country made him into the person he was, at least in part.

But at least Jen and the others succeeded in making things better for a little while, and saving some lives. And of course, no good deed goes unpunished.

There was a lot of talk about God in this issue, and I'd like to comment on that but I'll save that for when PAD makes a post about his recent work and what people thought of it on peterdavid.net, because I think here it might be too off-topic.

Par got off easy, and I'm sure that there were plenty of people who would've liked to see him either killed or at least punched out. But I'm glad the Liberators handled it the way they did, without resorting to actions that would make them less heroic (at least in my eyes). The important thing is that Par was removed from power; the "how" doesn't really affect the result all that much.

It would have been easy to let Jaz kill Par so that Jen could keep on looking like a noble hero-person without getting her hands dirty, and I'm glad Jen actually pointed that out and said she wasn't going to let that happen.

Now after getting into an argument with PAD here about Thundra's behaviour, it was nice to see two things in this issue:

1. Thundra not saying anything douchey (actually not saying anything at all, but oh well), plus

2. Thundra working alongside Ursa Major to help Marinmer's people. Ursa's a guy, isn't he? Maybe there's hope for her after all.

Finally, the way they set up Par's fall was pretty damned clever.

There have been some very good stories written in this book since PAD took over (I can't compare it to Slott's run since I wasn't reading it then), and it's a shame that this will be one of the books to get axed in the new year.

EDIT TO ADD:

She goes to punch him, we see a panel of blood on her hand, and then it's revealed that the Invisible Woman is free, and had put a sheild around Par's head to stop She-Hulk from killing him, which she had skinned her knuckles on (she's still only partially transformed into She-Hulk).

Thanks for clarifying that, Merrik. It was something I wondered about too. That'd be good for a No-Prize back in the day.

[the4thpip]

I've always been a big fan of Peter David's writing, but...

I don't get Marvel's editorial decision here. They take the book that many of us "old farts" flocked to who were missing classic, almost silver-agey fun comic books. They even give it to a writer who has been known to do almost silver-agey fun comic books in the past. But then PAD channels his Fallen Angel much more than his Young Justice on this book. It's dark, it's violent to the point of gore.

I am not sure how they were expecting to hold on to the rather loyal readership Slott had won for this book with that concept.