While eagerly awaiting the relaunch of Marvel’s First Family, (i.e. the Fantastic Four), I jumped at the chance to read the new adventures of The Thing and The Human Torch when Chip Zdarsky’s new Marvel Two-In-One series was reborn. I have a history with this title, having read and collected the 1970s version. You see, this was one of those cases where Marvel wanted to feature a particular hero, in this case the Thing, without actually giving him a self-titled book. So they created a team-up book (which was working for them in Spider-Man’s Marvel Team-Up book), in which Ben Grimm/the Thing, teamed with various heroes in his own adventures. Loved that series!
Marvel Two-in-One #9
Fast-forward to the 21st Century, and we realize we live in a dystopian future devoid of any Fantastic Four books. Long story, not going to editorialize (much) on Marvel’s short-sighted and mean-spirited war with Fox Studios over ownership of the Fantastic Four and X-Men characters, but, suffice it to say, we have been FF-less for a while now. Then, ta-da, Marvel and Fox kiss and make up, and Marvel announces the imminent return of the Fantastic Four.
To prep us for that, they bring back Thing’s Marvel Two-In-One series, where Ben is teamed with (for the whole series) with his buddy Johnny Storm/Human Torch, along with a somewhat reformed Dr. Doom.
Zdarsky does a great job of capturing the personalities of Ben and Johnny, while setting the stage for the actual return of the Fantastic Four. In this particular issue…yes, some minor spoilers here…
We see our heroes duking it out with the Mad Thinker and his most recent lackeys while trying to survive in an alternate Earth where a deranged Peter Parker has set up his own Battleworld. Against this backdrop of plot and battles, we see the series-wide struggle between Ben and Johnny that is at the heart of this series. Ben is convinced that Reed, Sue, and the kids are dead, while Johnny holds out hope that they are alive, and that is why he accompanied Ben on this multiversal journey.
Looking forward to #10 and the new FF series. If you are a fan of the Fantastic Four, you MUST read this series prior to picking up the new Fantastic Four comic series.
The Joker, as even non-geeks know, is Batman’s arch-foe. Dubbed the Clown Prince of Crime, and the Harlequin of Hate, Joker is the penultimate bad guy. Fans debate whether or not Batman should break his vow to never intentionally take a life in Joker’s case, but keeping this evil nutcase alive is in DC’s best interest, what with him being perhaps the most recognizable villain in their stable of bad guys.
Joker is one of my favorite Batman villians. You may ask why that is so. Ok, here it is…he is the perfect Batman villain because he represents, in his current form anyway, the polar opposite of Bats. Batman is most often portrayed as self-controlled, humorless, secretive, and controlling. He represents order. Joker, on the other hand, is, in the modern day especially, seen as out of control, sees (sick) humor in everything, loves the limelight, and leaves chaos in his wake. He is, in effect, an agent of chaos. He strives to bring chaos and disorder to everyone.
For instance, one of the most notable Joker stories is “The Killing Joke,” in which he tries to create so much chaos and pain in the life of Commissioner James Gordon, that Gordon would break his own personal ethics. We see this theme also in the hugely popular Dark Knight movie, in which the late Heath Ledger played the Joker.
While other major DC villains have changed significantly over the years (Lex Luthor in the Golden Age, Silver Age, and now the Modern Age are all quite different from each other), Joker has stayed more or less the same. The Golden Age Joker was written as not really insane, just evil and odd, but the basic character is the same. The latest Joker version in the movies will be Jared Leto in Suicide Squad, and we will have to wait and see what that version of Joker is like.
Today we look at She-Hulk #s 1-4, the recent series featuring our Jade Giantess by writer Charles Soule and artist Javier Pulido.
This series began in 2014 and is the third individual She-Hulk series put out by Marvel. The first four issues of this She-Hulk comic focus on our heroine’s attempts to blend her normal (such as it is) everyday life and career with her side-job and acquaintances as a super-hero.
Charles Soule is a superior writer, and he is able to take She-Hulk’s problems and make them seem real.
She-Hulk #2 Cover (2014)
Jennifer Walters has been publicly known as the real name of She-Hulk for quite some time, and this has both helped and hindered her career as a lawyer. As She-Hulk #1 opens, Jennifer (who spends most of her time as the green-skinned version of herself), is awaiting a large monetary bonus from the law firm for whom she works. However, her bosses do not give her the bonus because their (unspoken) expectation on hiring her was that she bring over clients from the superhero world, like Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Danny Rand. Incensed at her treatment by these law partners, Jennifer quits in a rather spectacular show of ire, and leaves. As she storms out, they remind her that the only thing she can take with her is “The Blue File.” As we shall see as the series progresses, the Blue File will remain a constant sub-plot in Jennifer’s life.
Without giving a blow-by-blow description of each of the four issues we cover here, a brief summary (with some spoilers thrown in), basically goes like this: Jennifer takes on a widowed client (her late hubby was a supervillain scientist-type), who is seeking to sue Tony Stark for stealing her husband’s invention. Jennifer takes on the job and expects a quick talk with Tony will fix it all, but instead she encounters the voicemail routine from hell and does (legal) brief battle with Stark’s 18th-Floor attorney. She then battles Stark’s lobby-guard robots (robots form a large part of her battle buddies in these issues as well), and then gets to have her nice talk with Tony, and at the end of the day, she gets a nice check from the widow and sets herself up in her own law office. This first issue is all about showing the reader what Jennifer’s life is like and how she is willing to help those in needs (in this case, widows and orphans), and how she strikes out on her own to be in charge of her life and her business.
The second issue is all about how She-Hulk acquires her posse, as it were. The building she sets her shingle up in is owned by a former mutant (remember M-Day?) who rents out office space to people with powers. So She-Hulk fits right in. Jennifer hires a para-legal who apparently can do Jedi mind tricks, and her monkey (Angie Huang and Hei Hei, respectively). And what is an aspiring superhero without a sidekick? After a night of partying and drunken AIM-smashing (the drunks are the superheroes, not the AIM bad guys), Jennifer offers her old buddy Patsy Walker (Hellcat), a job as her investigator.
Let’s see: she has an office, a para-legal, a mascot monkey, and an investigator/sidekick. All that is missing are clients. At the end of issue #2, Jennifer gets one of those as well. Kristoff Vernard, the son of Dr. Doom, hires Jennifer to secure political asylum for him in the United States. In a hilarious adventure that takes them from the New York courts to Doom’s kingdom of Latveria, She-Hulk battles Doombots and the arrogant presumptions of a father who believes he knows what is best for his son. The Vernard/Asylum storyline consumes the third and fourth issues, and again highlights the ridiculous situations that Jennifer finds herself in constantly.
A nice little side-trip that Jennifer makes before heading to Latveria features her relationship with the other main super-powered legal eagle, Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil. In a bit of (we assume) foreshadowing, they discuss the fact that they have never been on opposite sides in court. Gee, what do you think may happen in future issues?
The fourth issue ends with Jennifer and her legal team in her office, sans paying clients, contemplating the mysterious Blue File.
Several interesting points need to be examined about these first four issues. For a superhero book, it is striking that (except for the AIM guys that Jennifer and Patsy beat up and some street punks that Jen and Matt drop in on) there are no real villains in these stories. Well, maybe Tony Stark’s soulless attorney in issue #1, but even Doom comes off more as a misguided father than as an actual bad guy. This series is all about relationships. Jennifer’s relationships with Tony Stark, Patsy Walker, Matt Murdock and the relationship between Doom and his son, all are the real heart and soul of these She-Hulk books.
Charles Soule is a great story-teller, and he injects a great deal of humor in these books. The art by Javier Pulido is, in our opinion, perfect for a She-Hulk book. Pulido is clearly of the Kirbyesque school of Marvel art, and this style captures the emotions, moods, and humor of the characters that populate these early She-Hulk issues.
Who should read She-Hulk #s 1-4? Fans of She-Hulk and her history of humorous stories and situations and anyone who enjoys the writing of Soule and/or the art of Pulido. This reviewer thoroughly enjoyed reading these She-Hulk books.
Marvel Two-in-One #9
