She-Hulks: Hunt For The Intelligencia

GIRL FIGHT TONIGHT!

This paperback collects a mini-series that ties into the current continuity of the Hulk comic. Actually Hulk comics, since there are currently two monthlies, Incredible Hulks and Hulk, dealing with the wacky antics of a whole bunch of gamma-irradiated folks as they search for love n’ life n’ learning in the big wide world. There’s your traditional green Hulk, a red Hulk, Doc Samson, a big blue guy who’s kind of a junior Hulk, and at least three She-Hulks – red, green and Junior. I don’t think there’s a Hulk-Hound yet – but give ‘em a few issues…

Anyway, since I don’t give a toss about the Hulk and most of the ‘Hulk Family’, why did I buy this? I’m fond of Jennifer Walters, ‘classic’ She-Hulk, who, despite her unfortunate beginnings as a copyright-saving act of desperation, has surmounted those odds time & again to give us a surprisingly high proportion of entertaining stories.

And guess what? This is another of them.

Apparently there’s been a big war of the Hulks lately, organised by a cabal of Marvel’s evil big brains, calling themselves the Intelligencia. I neither know nor care why these supposed geniuses thought this getting some of the most powerful beings on the planet really angry was a good idea! In any event, the war is over, the Intelligencia are being hunted down, and chief hunter is Jennifer, using her handy skill set trifecta of lawyer, bail bondsman and radioactive powerhouse. But she has a sidekick – Lyra, a junior She-Hulk from the future, apparently the daughter of the Hulk and Thundra of the Femizons (you can Wiki it if you’re bothered; it’s not as interesting a backstory as it sounds), who was sent back from the future, Terminator-style, to avert something or other, and is now stuck  in the present. All clear? Good. Moving on…

Jennifer and Lyra, with occasional help from Cousin Bruce, ensnare the at-large members of the Intelligencia – Trapster, Wizard, Red Ghost, Mad Thinker, Klaw – in fairly short order, both the deductive/interrogation and action scenes being adeptly handled. I’m unfamiliar with Wilcox’s previous work, but his dialogue has a fresh and witty quality that suits She-Hulk well; her buoyant, glass-half-full personality comes through, and Wilcox’s inventiveness and narrative vitality makes yet another scene of the hero punching out the villain a fun read. (The battle with the Red Ghost’s disturbingly adorable super-apes is particularly enjoyable.)

Where Wilcox really entertains, though, is with Jennifer’s role as a surrogate parent to Lyra, and in particular the scenes where Lyra has to face one of the true horrors of modern life – High School! Yes, yes, it’s all very Buffy-reminiscent, but nevertheless well done, with the inevitable meetings with bitchy cliquettes, obnoxious jocks, and potential romantic interest all being highly entertaining.

Steadman’s art is lovely; evocative of Ed McGuiness, but without the forced cartooniness that occasionally jolts the reader (well, this reader) out of the story, it’s vivid and possessed of an admirably clear narrative flow. One is never for a moment in any doubt as to the sequence of events, and while that shouldn’t be an exception in comics, sadly, today, it too often is.

The real beauty of this story? You don’t have to have read the previous umpty-squillion issues of Hulk in order to get it. The book gives you everything you need to know as you go along, and while it reads very much like a pilot for “High-School She-Hulk: the Series”, if future issues would be this much fun, that’s a series I’d be keen on seeing.