REVIEW: The Sensational She-Hulk #5

She-Hulk, Hellcat, and Captain Marvel team up to roughhouse demons in the most unlikely of places, a bar in New York City. The three heroines fight their way through the hordes of hell until a surprise visitor appears and brings every ne’er-do-well back to where they belong. Between beautiful coloring, fantastic panel layouts, and a quick and action-packed storyline, Marvel Comics delivers a fun new installment to the She-Hulk series.

5 issues in, we see Captain Marvel still trying her best to get She-Hulk to join the Avengers. Whilst the overall story is quite simple in this issue; fight demons, meet up with ex, maybe join the Avengers, there are a lot of things left unsaid that feel like plot points being set up for future issues. This is an interesting technique used in storytelling as it makes the reader excited for what is to come, even if this issue, in particular, feels like little more than a set-up issue and not a big plot point or big dramatic fight. However, do not get me wrong, the action sequences are fun to read through but other than a 2 page combo of Daimon relinquishing the demons back to hell, there is not much of substance in this issue.

While the story itself is fun, it is not particularly new or interesting in many places. I enjoyed a few things of it however, like She-Hulk literally punching through a panel, or the appearance of Jack of Hearts, whose character design literally surpasses everyone else’s in this story. Other than that though, we have your standard bad guys come in, punch bad guys, bad guys leave story and well it can get boring quite quickly. Where the real substance of this story lies is in the relationships between the characters. Even though She-Hulk is the titular character, I honestly didn’t care too much about her, right until the end when she comes home and speaks to Jack, she’s just a big green wrestler woman, all meat and no potatoes. In sharp contrast, we have Hellcat who feels much more deep not just in her interactions with her ex lover Daimon, who literally is the most interesting thing to happen in the issue, but even throughout the way she handles the demons that come into the bar. Instead of trying to defeat them through force, she encourages the other heroes to join forces in hopes of vanquishing them back to hell and to be smart about the way they handle the situation so as to not destroy her favorite bar in New York. Little details like this make Hellcat stand out as a character and sadly enhances how viscous She-Hulk and Captain Marvel are in this issue. There is a bit of comedy in the issue, but it’s nothing too laugh worthy, just a few grins here and there at least from my part. It is not a bad story, and the art is quite beautiful but it is a tad bit boring.

One thing that is not boring in this issue has to be the art. I think everyone on this team did a great job at not only designing cool characters to look at, but to bring a beautifully colored comic into the hands of the readers. She-Hulk, and Captain Marvel of course will always wear the customs we have seen them in throughout movies and TV shows, but when you get the chance to redesign more obscure characters like Hellcat, Daimon and Jack of Hearts that’s when things really go wild. These 3 characters are handled very well in this comic, specially the two male characters who look rocking! Daimon’s pentagram tattoo and red fiery hair makes him look not only like the son of Satan but like an evil elf like rockstar! On the other hand Jack of Hearts suit is a mix between something Nightcrawler might wear and the original card design, it is really cool to look at. The environment designs are few and far between but when they do appear we get a look at the world of She-Hulk that is both interesting and captivating at the same time. It is a shame however to see the backgrounds rely so heavily on gradients instead of actual backdrops. Coloring wise though, this is a true masterpiece. It uses 3 main color schemes, that quickly denote where in the story we are. For the fight sequences we get a heavy use of oranges and yellows, after the fight we rely mostly on calm greys to evoke feelings of nostalgia and somberness after a battle, and lastly when we go back She-Hulk’s home we are treated to a heavy use of pinks and light blues that quickly make us feel both at home and in love which is exactly what is going through She-Hulk’s mind during that moment. This use of color works well to guide the reader through the story but also to transmit the feeling that are relevant to each part of the story.

The lettering is done by Joe Caramagna, and whilst we’ve seen a lot of his work in Marvel Comics, I still find it to be a hit or miss for a lot of the issues I do read. Sometimes it works really well, and sometimes it can feel a little shoe-horned into the comic. In this issue, it has a bit of both things. The sound fxs are fantastic, especially during the vanishing of the demons sequences, I think the way Joe handled that scene is magnificent! However, when we go into the narration boxes for presenting the characters, I think the font choice is a little bland and I think the words are way too tight in relation to the box surrounding them. Lettering is not an easy thing to do, but sometimes it feels like it fails in places that could have been avoided. The dialog text font choice is alright, it’s nothing spectacular but it works.

In all honesty, I wasn’t a huge fan of this issue. It simply didn’t fully catch my attention as so many other comics are able to do. It was fun, and there’s no doubt about that. Yet, even with all the things that got set-up in this issue, that do seem interesting. I still find it hard to see myself picking up the next issue. If however you are a fan of She-Hulk and are following this series closely then I have no doubt you will enjoy this issue as well. I didn’t but then again, I haven’t even watch the She-Hulk Tv show, because honestly I’m not a huge Hulk or She-Hulk fan. If you are though, more power to you.

Writing: 3 Stars
Art: 5 Stars
Colors: 5 Stars

Overall: 3 Stars

Written by: Rainbow Rowell Illustrated by: IG Guara Coloring by: Dee Cunniffe Lettering by: Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: Jen Bartel
Variant Covers by: Greg & Tim Hildebrant, Matteo Lolli, Pablo Villalobos & Jean Francois Beaulieu Published by: Marvel Comics

Reviewed by Antonio “Mabs”