My (very) unofficial guide to She-Hulk

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What you need to know to enjoy my new Marvel comic

Another reason to pick up she-Hulk — stunning covers by artist jen bartel

I’m pretty excited about writing the new She-Hulk comic book, and I want to make it as easy possible for people who are new to comics – or new to She-Hulk – to pick it up and love it.

So I’ve put together this two-part guide. First I’m going to give you an overview of She-Hulk as a character and recommend a few great She-Hulk comics. And then I’m going to explain how to buy and read the new series. (You can skip ahead to that blog entry by clicking here.)

Let’s start with the basics:

Who is She-Hulk?

Her real name is Jennifer Walters, and she’s the Hulk’s cousin. Way back when, Jen was shot by a mobster*, and her cousin Bruce Banner gave her a blood transfusion to save her life. His gamma-radiated blood turned her into a big green Hulk, like him.

But not just like him, which is what makes Jen so interesting. Over the years, Jen has mostly had control over her Hulk form. She doesn’t transform when she’s angry; she transforms when she wants to. And she wants to be in Hulk form pretty much all the time.

Bruce has felt cursed by being the Hulk. Jen chooses it. Being She-Hulk makes her feel strong, secure, confident, sexy, and better able to help people.

One thing I love about She-Hulk is that she likes being a superhero. She’s not reluctant. She generally doesn’t have to be talked into it. She’s an attorney with a real love for the law and justice. Becoming a hero was a natural extension of herself.

Jen is good – but she’s also interesting. And she’s very, very funny.

Funny is rare for comic book heroes, especially for the women. But She-Hulk has been funny almost from the beginning. She was one of the first Marvel characters to break the fourth wall (though she hasn’t done that in her more recent appearances). And she’s one of the few characters who dependably crack jokes. I think that’s one reason she’s appeared in so many different books – writers love her.

You might be wondering where the conflict is. She-Hulk is beautiful, strong, smart, funny, everybody loves her… What makes her interesting?

A LOT.

One of Jen’s problems is that she’ll always be seen as the Hulk’s girl cousin. He’s such a dominant and destructive character in Marvel comics, Jen often gets dragged into his messes – or dragged behind him.

One time, a bunch of other heroes tested a weapon on her that took away her powers, just to see if it would work on the Hulk. (I have not forgiven these guys – you’re not good with me, Tony Stark!)

She’s often the person who gets sent to talk to Hulk when he’s in a bad place. Jen loves Bruce and wants what’s best for him. But she can’t save him.

The other problem Jen has – and this is related – is she’s a classic B-lister. Her life gets rebooted and uprooted a lot. Some characters, like Spider-Man and Hulk, drive big Marvel stories. Some, like She-Hulk, are usually supporting players. That actually makes for an interesting character dynamic – She-Hulk continually struggles to reconcile her own identity and needs with the greater good. She’s a great team player, but when she steps into the spotlight, she’s complicated and fascinating.

Speaking of teams, Jen has been on just about every big Marvel team… She’s been a Defender, an Avenger and a member of the Fantastic Four. And because of that, she knows everyone in the Marvel Universe. And almost everyone likes her. She-Hulk is who Marvel characters call if they need a lawyer or a shoulder to cry on – or if they want to have fun. She gets invited to every Marvel bachelorette party.

“Rainbow, this sounds complicated …”

I know. It sort of is.

But trust me when I say this:

You do not need to know everything about She-Hulk to enjoy a She-Hulk comic.

I think you can read the new series – by artist Rogê Antônio and me – without doing any homework.

But if you like a little homework (I like a little homework – I actually did read every She-Hulk appearance), you only have to read one series:

The first 12 issues of She-Hulk (2004) written by Dan Slott, with Juan Bobillo, Paul Pelletier and a bunch of other great artists. Slott wrote about 40 issues of She-Hulk total, and I enjoyed them all.

But this series of 12 gives you a really good picture of who Jen is as a character. You see her at work… You see her struggling with her identity... (Jen loves being green, but the men in her life aren’t always on board.) You meet a few of her friends… I think this series is probably also a good primer for the new She-Hulk show on Disney+

The story arcs are called Single Green Female (1-6) and Superhuman Law (7-12), and you can read them in several ways:

  • All of Slott’s 40+ issues are grouped together in two volumes (1 and 2) that are for sale on Comixology. Volume 1 is a good start.

  • Or you can track down the individual story arcs. These paperback collections are six issues long, and you might be able to find them at the library. Here’s Single Green Female. And here’s Superhuman Law.

  • If you’re a Marvel Unlimited subscriber, you can find the full run there.

If you finish those comics and want more Jen, I’d recommend:

  • She-Hulk (2005) (Same links as above.) This is the rest of Slott’s run. Peter David took over as writer at issue 32, and he’s great, too.

  • She-Hulk (2014) by Charles Soule and Javier Pulido. (With covers by Simon Snow cover artist Kevin Wada!) More courtroom antics and good stories about Jen trying to make her way in the world.

  • She-Hulk (2017) (link is for first volume) by Mariko Tamaki and Nico Leon. A look at Jen as she struggles to recover from major trauma.

And then, if you really want to dig into She-Hulk’s history, The Sensational She-Hulk by John Byrne is the book where Jen took shape as a character. It started in 1989, around the time I first started reading comics.

If you want to see how Jen interacts with other Marvel characters, my favorite of her team-ups is FF by Matt Fraction, Mike Allred and Lee Allred. (Volume 1 and Volume 2.) This series is full of weird Marvel characters and references, so you probably don’t want to start here. But it’s really smart and fun, and probably has the most romantic She-Hulk scene ever.

If you decide you have to read every She-Hulk appearance ever, this is a pretty good reading list.

Again, you don’t have to read any of this to enjoy our new series. But I think She-Hulk is the best of the best in the Marvel Universe. You can tell when a character is beloved by Marvel editors, artists and writers – She-Hulk gets better and better over time.

*I had this wrong when I first posted it, and just caught my mistake. Maybe I shouldn’t have written a character history from memory 🙃