Thanks to the popularity of the live-action Incredible Hulk TV series; along with The Bionic Woman starring Lindsay Wagner; Marvel Comics created the character of She-Hulk in 1979. Created by the team of Stan Lee and John Buscema, the character debuted as the Savage She-Hulk.
In her first issue, young lawyer Jennifer Walters is visited by her cousin, Bruce Banner. Banner is seeking legal help due to the massive amount of destruction his old half, the Hulk, has created over the years. While going out to lunch, Walters is attacked by mobsters involved with a case she is handling. Needing a life-saving transfusion, Bruce gives his cousin some of his blood and the rest is history.
For 25 issues, Jennifer Walters fought crime by day as an attorney. When things got rough, she'd go all big and green as She Hulk. Not quite 100% mindless as Bruce's Hulk, over time, She-Hulk was able to maintain Walters mental capacities while in her hulked out form. After cancellation in 1982, She-Hulk moved to the Big Apple, becoming members of the Avengers and Fantastic Four. While with the FF, an extra dose of radiation caused Jennifer to become She-Hulk permanently.
John Byrne was heading the Fantastic Four during She-Hulk's tenure as the team's strong body. But Byrne was far from through with the character after Ben Grimm returned to the team. Bryne crafted a pair of prestige format issues starring She-Hulk and then boyfriend Wyatt Wingfoot. After an 8-pager in the holiday themed issue of Marvel Comics Presents #18, the House of Ideas announced the creation of an all-new series to based of the character; penned by Bryne.
The new series debuted with a May, 1989 cover date. No longer was the character savage; now she was the Sensational She-Hulk. In her new comic, She-Hulk was involved in much more zanier adventures. Some of the story lines were satires of famous TV shows and films. Many of She-Hulk's adversaries were parodies of popular comic book characters from Marvel and DC. Perhaps the most lasting mark to the She-Hulk character made by John Byrne was Jen's new found ability to break the fourth wall with her readers.
Beating out Deadpool by several years, She-Hulk knew that she was a comic book character. The cover of issue #1 has Jen threatening to destroy readers' X-Men books if her new series doesn't sell. Over the course of Sensational She-Hulk's 60-issue run, Jen would battle it out with both the artists of her series as well as Bryne. In one issue, Walters kidnaps Bryne in order to find a new writer for her book. On another occasion, She-Hulk decided to skip through the ads in her comic book in order to not let a villain get away.
Jen's fourth wall abilities are not too far explored past the cover image in the first issue. Instead, She-Hulk makes the mistake of getting tangled up with the very circus run by the nefarious Ring-Master. Hypnotized and smeared with flesh-colored paint, Jen is now advertised as the Glamazonia and used as part of Ring-Master's ploy to rob his audiences of their hard earned dough.
Behind the scenes is a mysterious duo of scientists. They've hired Ring-Master out in order to trap She-Hulk and learn of her abilities. However, those experiments must be put on hold when someone makes an attempt on the Glamazonia's life with a runaway circus wagon.
With Disney+'s very soon debut of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law live action series, a lot of interest has been renewed in the big green machine. One of the Facebook groups I am a member of posted the first issue of this series on their feed. Since one of my tasks for my reading challenge is to read a book featured on a group I take part in, and I own most of this series, I decided to give it a read.
Along with the script, John Bryne drew the cover. I really thought he also did the interior artwork. But that job was by Bob Wiacek (Avengers). Many fans believe that super model Cindy Crawford was an inspiration for the Sensational She-Hulk. I can see that on the covers. But in the book, I think Wiacek was trying to evoke Raquel Welch and Marilyn Monroe.
An entertaining issue that is inspiring me to complete my run. Though with the general public's renewed interest in She-Hulk, that might be easier said than done.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
Completing this review completes Task #33 (That you heard about from a comic book group) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
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