She-Hulk (Vol. 4) #9 (Story 2)

Background

In the first story of this issue, John Jameson and She-Hulk eloped in Vegas. Jonah was not happy about his son marrying a super-powered green lawyer. John and Jen have agreed to meet with Jonah and Marla to smooth things over. Good luck, you two.

Story 'My Dinner With Jonah'

John and Jennifer go to Jonah and Marla house for a quiet dinner with them. It remains a quiet dinner until Jennifer finally breaks the silence and asks Marla how she and Jonah met. Marla answers that Jonah initially hired her to build a spider-slayer and try to kill Spider-Man.

Jonah continues by stating he thought John was Spider-Man at one point. He mentions the 5 million he recently paid Parker for the photos of John unmasking as Spider-Man. Jonah is extremely disappointed in John for working with Spider-Man to humiliate him.

Marla tries to change the subject, reminding Jonah to be nice to Jen as she may be the mother of their grandchildren. Jonah has a vision of their potential family portrait with green grandchildren taken by Peter. In a classic Banner-to-Hulk morphing sequence, Jonah gets even angrier over this possible outcome. He abruptly leaves the table and stomps up the stairs to the attic, swearing along the way.

Moments later the original mark I spider-slayer appears in the living room. Jonah has now rechristened it a "She-Hulk slayer" and plans to kill his new daughter-in-law. While the other two Jamesons head for cover, Jonah grabs Jennifer in the slayer's tendrils. He tries to make her confess this is some long-range plan of hers. She responds that he's crazy; and besides being "Jenny Jameson" isn't exactly something she planned. She's been getting all kinds of obscene e-mails within the last 24 hours.

They continue to exchange punches and insults until Jen makes her way into the attic and confronts her father-in-law. He accuses her of working with Parker to drive him insane: the marriage, the unmasking, the amnesty. Jennifer states that the amnesty won't cover the fraud of selling pictures of someone he knew wasn't Spider-Man.

Jonah reminds her that he can't get anything from Parker - he's broke. Jen counters that the "iron Spidey" suit he's currently wearing is probably worth 8 million. As they come down the stairs, Jonah is grinning from ear-to-ear praising his new daughter-in-law. He explains that she's going to help him sue Parker. Jen pulls John aside and tells him not to worry; she can keep this in the courts for years.

General Comments

For some reason I can believe Jonah keeps a spider-slayer in his attic. It sounds ridiculous yet right somehow. In any case it was hysterical watching him turn it on She-Hulk and practically trashing his living room in the process. Jen's comment about her new name was a genius move by Slott, both surprising and funny. If you don't get the joke, I'm not going to explain it.

Overall Rating

3.5 This is a very funny story that accomplishes a lot in a few pages. Kudos to Slott, Frenz, and Buscema for putting together a hilarious "meet the parents" style story.

Footnote

The mark I spider-slayer made its debut in Amazing Spider-Man #25. The fact its still in working order is a tribute to the sliding time scale.