Hulk is already a big headache to deal with. Especially in his current state with Hulk being the dominant personality and looking to fight anyone who he thinks has crossed him. While She-Hulk tried to reason with her cousin things quickly escalated with the return of April Booth, who wanted to prove she is the perfect Hulk. This led to an epic clash that looks like it will leave very little of the surrounding area April Booth, Hulk, and She-Hulk are fighting in left. Let’s find out how things could possibly be resolved with Sensational She-Hulk #3.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Rainbow Rowell
Artist: Andres Genolet
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
SOLICITATION
“SHE-HULK & HULK face off against one of She-Hulk’s most dangerous villains! But is Hulk’s scary new incarnation the best teammate to have?” – Marvel Comics
REVIEW
Sensational She-Hulk #3 acts both the end of an arc and the start of something bigger. There is a lot of set-up here for bigger story arcs in the future revolving around She-Hulk. It’s exactly what we should be getting established at the start of an ongoing series. In the middle of all that we get a lot of strong development with She-Hulk in the process.
Kicking off where the previous issue left off with April Booth continuing her rampage effectively established her as a major antagonist for the series. As we’ve seen with other Gamma-powered individuals, the power has consumed April. She has lost her sense of reason as she now out to prove she is the biggest and strongest. That is fully shown with how she destroys the Hulk sample her husband, Mark Booth, was use to return her to normal.
Mark to his credit worked really well to try to show that the Booth couple can change. You do feel the honesty in how Mark speaks to She-Hulk about curing April. This honesty made April turning around and announcing her villain name as Anathema even more effective. Rowell, Genolet, and Cunniffe worked well together to make sure to get the greatest effect out of this moment.
Moving from there to having She-Hulk and Hulk having a sit down conversation provided plenty of great character development for both. With She-Hulk we see he moving more into a big sister role as she realizes she needs to do better about treating Hulk as his own person. While she still shows the most concern for her cousin, Bruce Banner, having her come to terms that Hulk shouldn’t just be treated as another side to Bruce was effective.
This understanding from She-Hulk’s side is something that Hulk needed. He doesn’t have many who see him as his own person. In the eyes of most he is the monster side of Bruce Banner who can provide the muscle when needed against the likes of Thanos and other villains. Even though he dashes away in the end just seeing Hulk start to open up to She-Hulk is a positive step to their relationship.
The last couple of pages of Sensational She-Hulk #3 does a lot of quality set-up for what conflicts this series will be dealing with. Obviously with Anathema still out rampaging she is the immediate villain to deal with. The Avengers, or at least Captain Marvel, look to be factoring into how She-Hulk will be dealing with Anathema.
A bigger long-term problem for She-Hulk will be with her boss, Mallory Book. Based on how the media is showing videos from She-Hulk’s fight with Anathema there will be a lot of negative press going on. This puts into a question how Jennifer Walters career will develop. The clash between her superhero and lawyer careers can be an even bigger part of the story of this series moving forward.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Sensational She-Hulk #3 does a phenomenal job establishing multiple major storylines for the long-term future of this series. We get some incredible character work for She-Hulk and Hulk. It all comes together to make Sensational She-Hulk one of the must-have comic books Marvel is publishing right now.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10