Reviews
She-Hulk, Volume 4: Laws of Attraction by Paul Smith, Juan Bobillo, Dan Slott, Rick Burchett
viandemoisie's review against another edition
3.0
She-Hulk, tackling superhero sex crimes one year before The Boys did.
Gotta be honest, I'm not too warm on the way they capped Eros' sexual assault storyline. From what I understand, yes he used his magic seduction powers to take advantage of a bunch of women, but it's not his fault because Thanos messed up with his mind and because of that his power had a tendency to fire up on its own or something? And because of that he just assumed that every encounter was consensual? I don't know how to feel about it, and it does not make me eager to see Eros join the MCU.
Artwise, I prefer the earlier issues in this volume, with Will Conrad's style. The later issues by Rick Burchett and Cliff Rathburn are, hum, less to my tastes. Which is puzzling because they're both rather talented and have done great work in other series.
I don't know, overall I'd say I've been a bit underwhelmed with the art direction in the 2004-2005 She-Hulk series.
Gotta be honest, I'm not too warm on the way they capped Eros' sexual assault storyline. From what I understand, yes he used his magic seduction powers to take advantage of a bunch of women, but it's not his fault because Thanos messed up with his mind and because of that his power had a tendency to fire up on its own or something? And because of that he just assumed that every encounter was consensual? I don't know how to feel about it, and it does not make me eager to see Eros join the MCU.
Artwise, I prefer the earlier issues in this volume, with Will Conrad's style. The later issues by Rick Burchett and Cliff Rathburn are, hum, less to my tastes. Which is puzzling because they're both rather talented and have done great work in other series.
I don't know, overall I'd say I've been a bit underwhelmed with the art direction in the 2004-2005 She-Hulk series.
familyguy026's review
1.0
Uncomfortable. Did they seriously just tell a story where a guy with date rape super powers gets off? Maybe it'll address it more in the next issue but the fuck?
just_fighting_censorship's review
5.0
This series is fantastic and I certainly did not find this volume to be a disappointment. I love the inclusion of lesser known heroes and an appearance by Thanos is always exciting.
moreteamorecats's review
2.0
I'd enjoyed the three previous She-Hulk trades from this writing team, but they were, charitably, way out of their league trying to tell a story about desire and impaired consent.
depreydeprey's review
3.0
Can we get a full court room drama with She Hulk? I know it would be cool and would emphasize what is great about this character, that she is a woman and a super hero with a career. We get close here and the Starfox on trial (and then trial again) shows a lot of potential but falls short. I will give Dan Slott credit for having the guts to give the Awesome Android an emotional arch that doesn't feel cheap or easy.
tsana's review
3.0
One of the problems with these two volumes is the existence of comic events. Civil War happens in the middle of Vol 4 and completely throws out the most interesting arc in this run. In fact, the epilogue of said arc, which I'll talk more about shortly, gets pushed into #14 and Vol 5. As well as the Civil War — which does at least fit in with the concept of She-Hulk being a lawyer fairly well — there seem to be Hulk/She-Hulk on a rampage stories which are told in other books, I think? I don't exactly mind missing out on these, but it's a bit weird when no apparent time has passed in the story line and yet She-Hulk has found time to go on a rampage or something. I know it's kind of the nature of comics, but it really disrupted the flow for me.
Especially the Star Fox arc, which was potentially the most interesting. I say potentially because it didn't quite live up to it's potential, although it wasn't as dire in the end as I feared. The background is Star Fox's powers include the ability to make people fall in love temporarily. Or, as someone put it, he's a walking roofie. He's brought up on sexual assault charges and Jen is forced to represent him because her firm's been getting into some questionable stuff. (Side note: I would kind of like to know how that back story pans out, but not enough to keep reading, unfortunately.) Just as the trial gets interesting... the Civil War starts and it gets ignored for several issues. I actually didn't think we were going to come back to it at all which was kind of infuriating because it left Jen to run off and marry her boyfriend that she was about to break up with before Star Fox zapped her! And then when she finds out what was happening it's kind of completely glossed over. Like one minute she's realising she doesn't love him and the next... it just was not handled well. The one good thing is that Star Fox did eventually get justice... but there was this weird bit with Thanos (supervillain) which had me excited for a few pages before they doubled back. To summarise, the idea of Star Fox being put on trial was good, but the execution was lacking (I will admit, it could have been worse, though).
Then there was all the objectification of She-Hulk. Mainly this was in the artwork — the covers above are by a different artist, but that should give you an idea. Gratuitous side boob and almost-nudity are just icky and unnecessary. And there was one point where a troll ran under She-Hulk's skirt and commented on her "going commando", in a context where she didn't even get to dress herself, no less! Ugh.
It took me a lot longer to get through these two volumes than it did the first run. The spark that made the first run memorable got old and I just lost interest. Most of the internal art was OK, but there were not-sufficiently-occasional objectifying shots of She-Hulk which were very off-putting. As was some of the plot. I wouldn't say don't read it, but don't get your hopes up if you loved the first run.
3.5 / 5 stars
Read more reviews on my blog.
Especially the Star Fox arc, which was potentially the most interesting. I say potentially because it didn't quite live up to it's potential, although it wasn't as dire in the end as I feared. The background is Star Fox's powers include the ability to make people fall in love temporarily. Or, as someone put it, he's a walking roofie. He's brought up on sexual assault charges and Jen is forced to represent him because her firm's been getting into some questionable stuff. (Side note: I would kind of like to know how that back story pans out, but not enough to keep reading, unfortunately.) Just as the trial gets interesting... the Civil War starts and it gets ignored for several issues. I actually didn't think we were going to come back to it at all which was kind of infuriating because it left Jen to run off and marry her boyfriend that she was about to break up with before Star Fox zapped her! And then when she finds out what was happening it's kind of completely glossed over. Like one minute she's realising she doesn't love him and the next... it just was not handled well. The one good thing is that Star Fox did eventually get justice... but there was this weird bit with Thanos (supervillain) which had me excited for a few pages before they doubled back. To summarise, the idea of Star Fox being put on trial was good, but the execution was lacking (I will admit, it could have been worse, though).
Then there was all the objectification of She-Hulk. Mainly this was in the artwork — the covers above are by a different artist, but that should give you an idea. Gratuitous side boob and almost-nudity are just icky and unnecessary. And there was one point where a troll ran under She-Hulk's skirt and commented on her "going commando", in a context where she didn't even get to dress herself, no less! Ugh.
It took me a lot longer to get through these two volumes than it did the first run. The spark that made the first run memorable got old and I just lost interest. Most of the internal art was OK, but there were not-sufficiently-occasional objectifying shots of She-Hulk which were very off-putting. As was some of the plot. I wouldn't say don't read it, but don't get your hopes up if you loved the first run.
3.5 / 5 stars
Read more reviews on my blog.
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