She-Hulk #2 // Review
Jen has just had an old friend drop in on her. He's supposed to be dead. He's not. But he's not supposed to be thirsty. Or hungry. And he doesn't even know how he got to be at Jen's place. Jen's new life comes with a new mystery in She-Hulk #2. The five-issue mini-series written by Rainbow Rowell makes its way to the end of its first half with style and poise thanks to the art of Rogê Antônio and colorist Rico Renzi. Rowell makes a largely dramatic and action-free issue feel fun and breezy in a series that is already going by WAY too fast.
Jack shows up at the apartment just when Jen gets used to things. It will be complicated given his strange physiology and his inability to remember much of anything. Jen is genuinely concerned about him. That concern takes an interesting turn when Jack realizes that he's not only thirsty--he's hungry. Jen helps him out the best she can prior to leaving the apartment to head out to work the next day. As she leaves, Jack is sleeping. (He's not supposed to sleep either. This is the Jack of Hearts. He's ridiculously powerful, and he's just eaten a hell of a lot.)
Rowell focuses the story on Jen's social life. There's no action here. No adventure. Just the sudden appearance of somebody with strange powers, who doesn't seem to have strange powers anymore. Rowell makes the issue more fun than it might have been with an obligatory slugfest through some vibrant and quirky dialogue. The extensive gaze into the memories of the Jack of Hearts feels like it might have gone on for a bit too long. Still, Rowell allows for enough time with Jen to make the issue satisfying.
An issue like the one that Rowell is conjuring would be nothing without really, really good dramatic art that plays with subtlety and nuance. Antônio has a breathtaking handle on the tender finesse needed to vividly show deep emotion without overpowering the page. Antônio gives Jen some remarkably expressive eyes. She's achingly concerned for Jack, but there's a casual swagger to her poise that seems perfectly at home in someone who has been an Avenger and a member of the Fantastic Four and been in countless strange worlds and dimensions and things. The novelty of She-Hulk heading off to work in Manhattan looks particularly charming in Antônio's hands. Whether Jen is on a subway car or entering an elevator and introducing herself to an elderly neighbor.
Though the story works perfectly well for anyone not extensively familiar with the character's history. Rowell adds in layers of storytelling that reward those of us who have been hanging out with Jen since she first left California in the '80s. It's particularly nice to see her back in the place that was originally rendered by John Byrne when she moved into the place back in 1989.
