She-Hulk (Vol. 3) #10

Background

Spidey has a teeny-tiny flashback in this issue, hardly worth noting, but in a sense of completeness, let's just cover off why he appears. Then we can all relax knowing we've done things properly.

Story 'Skeeter'

Last issue (that's #9, just in case you weren't keeping track), She-Hulk got attacked by Titania. Unfortunately for Titania, Shulkie has just returned from defeating "The Champion of the Universe" in combat. She achieved this by (a) presenting a legal argument that he had to battle without his cosmic gem of power, and (b) by bulking up majorly as Jen, thus gaining a geometric power increase as She-Hulk. That puts the green-gal in a power league somewhere up around the Hulk himself. And that's how Shulkie manages to whack Titania into New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Zoma the Watcher is approached by an unidentified being in a stolen high-tech teleport suit. The unnamed being wants Zoma to tell him who hates She-Hulk the most. Now, Zoma has a mad-on against She-Hulk because she had his brother (another Watcher) sent into exile. So, Zoma tells the anonymous guy about Titania, whom Zoma claims is that as-requested maximal She-Hulk hater.

Then the bulk of the issue is formed with Titania's back history. Originally named Mary MacPherran, nicknamed "Skeeter", ugly, picked on, definite victim in the scheme of life. Skeeter befriends the rather obese and equally taunted Marsha. Skeeter lives in Denver, and gets the idea of secretly pretending to be Spider-Woman (the second one, in the black-and-white costume).

Buy the comic if you want the details; this isn't a She-Hulk site. But suffice it to say that due to the Beyonder's acquisition of the entire suburb to form part of his battle planet in "Secret Wars I", Mary, Marsha, Spider-Woman, and She-Hulk find themselves all stranded on the same distant planet. Doctor Doom meets Mary and Marsha, recognises their loathing of the society that spurned them, and grants them powers as Titania and Volcana, respectively.

Mary, now Titania, is reborn. She falls in love with Absorbing Man, and gets humiliated in combat with She-Hulk. That latter event is to be repeated several times (with Spider-Man in a flashback of one battle), until Titania starts to take things personally.

Satisfied, the stranger leaves Zoma and travels through the vastness of space in almost no time at all, encountering Titania, and revealing himself to be Tryco Slatterus, formerly Champion of the Universe. He offers his gem of infinite power to Titania. Ooops, now She-Hulk has a real problem!

General Comments

I actually grab She-Hulk every month, and even handed over ten bucks on eBay to grab #1, which I missed, due to it being way hot. Dan Slott is full of fresh ideas, and the interior art is great. On top of that, some of the covers are nearly worth the price of the comic by themselves. I can imagine several of them turning up as posters before too long!

Overall Rating

This is a four-web title in general, and this issue is no exception. If you have a little space in your comic-buying budget, maybe you should give She-Hulk a look. If nothing else, just stand in your comic shop and read it each month!