Book Review: She Hulk Vol. 1 by M. Tamaki et al.

She Hulk Volume 1: Deconstructed written by Mariko Tamaki, art by Nico Leon and Matt Milla with Dalibor Talajic and Andrew Crossey

Jennifer Walters is a brilliant lawyer and cousin to Dr. Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk. She got a blood transfusion from him once upon a time and now she can change into She-Hulk. Classically, Jen has control over when she changes and she retains her personality as She-Hulk. This story takes place after the Civil War II event in Marvel Comics, during which She-Hulk had a fight with Thanos that put her in a coma. Jen has recovered, gone back home, and started work at a new law firm. She hopes to leave the difficult past behind. The firm gives her all the freak clients, including a woman who has clearly been transformed physically by some accident. She's being evicted from her apartment wrongfully. Jen agrees to look into it without promising anything concrete (she is a lawyer, after all). Meanwhile, she blows off some superhero friends who come to check on her. She struggles to keep her alter-ego from emerging during stressful moments.

The story moves along at an even pace, delving into this new persona for Jennifer Walters. Previously, she was a fun-loving superhero who hung out with the Avengers, did a stint with the Fantastic Four when The Thing dropped out for a while, and was her own muscle during legal cases. Now she's very subdued. While in the coma, Bruce Banner was killed, adding to her hardships. So she's dealing with that as well as the other issues in her life. The story is interesting but very low on action and not the rollicking good time of earlier She-Hulk stories. I enjoyed it but found it very average.