Hulk #11

Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Bachan
Colorist: Federico Blee
Publisher: Marvel

This week’s issue of Hulk is a throwback to the She-Hulk of the John Byrne era and it’s a ton of fun. With the upcoming legacy renumbering, Mariko manages to infuse the old school fun and fourth wall breaking Jennifer with the one still reeling from the recent tragedies. It should appeal to old fans who didn’t appreciate the new tone Mariko has taken.

The whole issue is a one and done story focusing on Jennifer deciding to finally put herself out there and go on a date. It’s a much more lighthearted plot and guest stars Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat! Patsy is a delight in this book and I hope she becomes a more prominent member of the cast since her own book was canceled. Mariko tries to play up the cliché romantic novel tropes with hilarious narration captions along the lines of “She wondered if this was Mr. Right or just Mr. Right Now”. We know Mariko can write a PTSD struggling Jennifer really well but turns out she can write a fun Jennifer too. Jennifer hilariously breaks the fourth walk to react to these purposely cringe worthy narration boxes. Things quickly go wrong with her hipster date and we get to see Jennifer Hulk out and take out a bunch of robots. Lots of action and splash pages.

You can see that Bachan is having a lot of fun here. The art is very kinetic and clean but the strongest part was his facial work. The humor in this issue lands so well in large part due to the faces and expressions Bachan draws. He was a perfect fit for this issue and I hope we get to see him on the book again.

I had a lot of fun with this issue but I can see some being put off by the different tone the book has taken on. There’s still the recognition that Jennifer is going through some things, but the tone is still a lot more lighthearted. There was no conflict over what this new Hulk means and how it’s different, besides being grey. With the Legacy relaunch, going back to the title She-Hulk, it seems like this might be the new tone going forward.