She-Hulk #6 (spoilers)

[Thudpucker]

Good to see Starfox back in use!! :eek: Interesting angle, having him sleep with a happily married woman. If he was using his powers the same way he was at the Law offices then he really did rape her. Going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

The fill in artist, Will Conrad. Very nice job! will he finish out the Starfox storyline?

[Thudpucker]

Damn. Noone else bought the book.

[Pat Loika]

Haven't read it yet, but it's next on my 'to-read' pile.

P.

[xyzzy]

I was really disappointed with the art in this issue. It just didn't look "clean." Not that it might not work on a different book, but it's just not the way I want She-Hulk to look.

[Patrick King]

Damn. Noone else bought the book.

I did! I saved it for last in this week's pile. It was a lot of fun (as usual). I liked seeing the development of all the different relationships (namely Awesome Andy, I hope Mal isn't just jerking him around), and it was almost painful to see poor Pug thoroughly in love with Jen and her seeing him only as a friend. Great use of the supporting cast, that's for sure. Plus it tied in to the Thing series, with Cauldron in the background when Thing was talking to Jen. Great stuff.

[John Drake]

I liked it, and the Starfox character is interesting, though I can't remember seeing him before. The outside the court scenes were cool, and I just crack up everytime Awesome Andy is on the page. Will Conrad was ok, but I'm really looking forward to Paul Smith!

[BenitoCereno]

Starfox, man! He's totally Thanos' brother! You guys!

Come on!

[Thudpucker]

I did! I saved it for last in this week's pile. It was a lot of fun (as usual). I liked seeing the development of all the different relationships (namely Awesome Andy, I hope Mal isn't just jerking him around), and it was almost painful to see poor Pug thoroughly in love with Jen and her seeing him only as a friend. Great use of the supporting cast, that's for sure. Plus it tied in to the Thing series, with Cauldron in the background when Thing was talking to Jen. Great stuff.

:lol: That was my favorite part too, when Thing saw Cauldron there to sue him. Wonder how long they can continue to represent Villians before all of Jens friends disown her?

[Dreg]

Can Starfox make other people fall in love with each other as well as himself? Because I found Mal's confession a little out of character.

[xyzzy]

Can Starfox make other people fall in love with each other as well as himself? Because I found Mal's confession a little out of character.

I have no idea about the character's history, but that was certainly the implication in those final scenes.

[tom daylight]

I miss Juan Bobillo's clean and quirky (squeaky) style. Will Conrad's noir/romantic style doesn't seem to fit this action/comedy book.

[Dermie]

First off, thank you Dan for having Starfox guest star! This is a story I've been waiting to see for a long time.

Will Conrad does a great job as out guest artist, and as much as I enjoyed Bobillo's work on SHE-HULK, I don't think his style would have been well suited to this story.

I enjoyed the cameo appearance by the Thing, and the cross-continuity here between Dan's two books with Cauldron trying to sue Ben for their fight in THING #1.

The mystery of Mr Zix comes up again, with Pug wondering how he has relationships with the Titans and the TVA, and asking why he is so sinister all the time. Zix manages to explain away the sinister stuff...but we don't get an explanation for his impressive contacts.
ISSAC mentions the 'august body' that Zix represents, I'm wondering if Zix is a member of the Magistrati. It would certainly explain his cosmic contacts.

The Pug/Jen/John and Matt/Mallory/Andy love triangles take some interesting twists and turns here--Pug almost makes some progress in making Jen realize his feelings for her, and Jen and John nearly break up over his discomfort with She-Hulk. Meanwhile, Matt Hawk jumps to a wrong conclusion about the relationship between Mallory and Andy when he catches them together during one of Andy's 'secret missions', but when Mallory clears up the situation the two of them make a date.
But then Starfox plays Cupid and messes with both relationships--patching things up between Jen and John, and making Mallory fall for Andy.

There is some unusual characterization here for both Eros and John.
I suspect something is wrong with Starfox--this behaviour is really unusual for him. I know some people consider him creepy due to his ability to charm people and mess with their emotions...but we've never seen Eros abuse his abilities this way before. He has always made it clear he'd never use his pleasure powers on someone against their will (aside, of course, for life-or-death situations). Even if you assume Eros uses his powers to enhance his own natural charm in his love life, there is still a pretty big leap to playing with other people's relationships. Presumably he thinks he is helping--but this is still really unusual behaviour for him.

Given Dan's track record for knowledge and respect of Marvel continuity I don't believe this is a mistake--so I'm guessing there is something wrong with Eros that is causing this strange behaviour.

I am also surprised at John's attitude towards She-Hulk. I can understand him being a bit uncomfortable with a girlfriend who goes through such major physical (and even behavioural) changes--its almost like dating two different women in one.
BUT--"why can't you just stay Jen when I'm around?"?! That's a bit much! John was a member of the Avengers support staff--he has spent plenty of time with She-Hulk before this, and never shown any sign of problem. I'd like to know why John is so uncomfortable with Shulkie these days. Maybe he thinks of them as separate women (Jen = girlfriend; Shulkie = former co-worker). Maybe he is okay with super-women as long as he isn't dating them. Or perhaps her transformations are a painful reminder of his own transformation problems when he used to be the Man-Wolf. I could see that being an uncomfortable situation for him to deal with.
But whatever the case may be, I hope Dan explains it soon since John is starting to look like a real jerk.

I was a bit surprised no mention was made of She-Hulk's sexual history with Starfox...but perhaps that will come up next issue. Hopefully it won't be used against her being his lawyer.

I very much enjoyed this issue, and I'm really looking forward to the conclusion!

[bomaya]

Quite a deep issue I thought...not what I was expecting. Nice to see Madcap in the background of and Grizzly. Who was the other guy being guarded by er Guardsmen?

[Thudpucker]

I miss Juan Bobillo's clean and quirky (squeaky) style. Will Conrad's noir/romantic style doesn't seem to fit this action/comedy book.

Bobillo's art was what drew me to the book initially, it's so unique and interesting. I hope he can do more.

[Merrik]

Loved it! I thought Will Conrad's pencils were perfect for this story line. Something a little sexier than what Bobillo was doing. It's easy to see one of the reasons Jen fell for Jameson when he enters her apartment and interrupts what seemed to be Pug's confession of love for Jen... Let's face it, dude's hot, and that hasn't really been portrayed well up until now. Or when Two Gun is heading to bed and you see his upper body and can see how Mallory would be instantly attracted to him. I don't think Bobillo would've been able to portray that kind of message with his art. (That's not a slam. I didn't apprecaite Bobillo's art at first, but he's quickly become one of my favorite artists). And I'm sorry if this is creepy, but Jameson's gotta be dense if he can't look at Jen in her She-Hulk form and think... whoa... lucky me. Conrad's depiction of the character right after she transforms into She-Hulk was pretty outstanding.

I'm also appreciating how all the love triangles are progressing quite nicely (was going to say coming to a head... but decided against it.... wait... dammit...).

And seeing Starfox in a prominent role again was a blast. Yeah, the character's kinda creepy in a sense, but that's not his complete character, he's also got other sides to him. ie his role in Infinity Gauntlet. That's not the side we're seeing here though, and that's a good thing, because I enjoy this 'creepier' Casanova wannabe side of him more than his serious side. He's a fun character... kind of a tool, but fun.

Can't wait to see how it plays out next issue. If Starfox does get convicted of sexual assault, he's got no one to blame but himself, as his little love power seems to be seriously messing with Jen's head right now.


Final thought... very interesting revelations about Mr. Zix. Unaffected by Starfox, and personally knows Isaac. Things that make you go hmmmm.

[Dermie]

Loved it! I thought Will Conrad's pencils were perfect for this story line. Something a little sexier than what Bobillo was doing.

Exactly! I really enjoyed Bobillo's quirky art, but it wouldn't have been well-suited to this storyline. I love the fact that Marvel seems to be making an effort to use the right artist for each particular storyline with this book.

It's easy to see one of the reasons Jen fell for Jameson when he enters her apartment and interrupts what seemed to be Pug's confession of love for Jen... Let's face it, dude's hot, and that hasn't really been portrayed well up until now.

Although Paul Pelletier showed a rather hunky John Jameson back in volume 1.

And I'm sorry if this is creepy, but Jameson's gotta be dense if he can't look at Jen in her She-Hulk form and think... whoa... lucky me.

I don't think it is She-Hulk herself that bothers him--John has a lot of experience with superhumans; he used to be a member of the Avengers support staff, and he got along fine with She-Hulk back then.

I think it is the transformations which are bugging him--he has his own history of transformations (Man-Wolf and Stargod) and those were not pleasant experiences for him. I think this may be a painful reminder...and perhaps a bit of resentment too, that Jen's transformations are so helpful to her, whereas his transformations were a curse.

And seeing Starfox in a prominent role again was a blast.

Agreed! I've always loved him!

Yeah, the character's kinda creepy in a sense, but that's not his complete character, he's also got other sides to him. ie his role in Infinity Gauntlet. That's not the side we're seeing here though, and that's a good thing, because I enjoy this 'creepier' Casanova wannabe side of him more than his serious side. He's a fun character... kind of a tool, but fun.

I still think there is more going on than meets the eye here. Eros has always been a Casanova type, with a superhuman libido, but some of the stunts he was pulling in this issue were really inconsistent with his character. I think something is going on.

Can't wait to see how it plays out next issue. If Starfox does get convicted of sexual assault, he's got no one to blame but himself, as his little love power seems to be seriously messing with Jen's head right now.

I think it would be a cool idea if as part of Eros' defense, Jen calls a bunch of Starfox's past lovers to take the stand. Obviously she can't call herself, since that would be a conflict of interest, but she could call Tigra, perhaps Wasp, (maybe Living Lightning? ;) ), and various others, civilian and superhuman.
If Jen can prove that Eros is more than capable of getting laid without abusing his pleasure powers, that would help discredit the idea that he would have done so to this woman.

Final thought... very interesting revelations about Mr. Zix. Unaffected by Starfox, and personally knows Isaac. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Yeah, I'm still guessing he is somehow connected to the Magistrati (the cosmic legal group that Jen was recruited into in vol.1).

[Edward J. Cunningham]

I cannot take credit for this idea, but somebody on the She-Hulk message board had a brilliant thought about who Zix might really be.


Some suggested that Zix may actually mean Z-IX or Z-9. In other words, Mr. Zix is the "recorder" who assisted She-Hulk when she was a member of the Magistrati. If this is the case, it would explain why Holliway would trust him with the law firm and also why he appears so "detached" from all the chaos that goes on around him. Starfox's power of course would not work on an android, and the Living Tribunal would certainly give Zix the authority to talk back to ISAAC. Also, if you look at Zix's face carefully, he DOES resemble Z-9 if you strip away the flesh from his face.

Eddie Cunningham

[Thudpucker]

I cannot take credit for this idea, but somebody on the She-Hulk message board had a brilliant thought about who Zix might really be.


Some suggested that Zix may actually mean Z-IX or Z-9. In other words, Mr. Zix is the "recorder" who assisted She-Hulk when she was a member of the Magistrati. If this is the case, it would explain why Holliway would trust him with the law firm and also why he appears so "detached" from all the chaos that goes on around him. Starfox's power of course would not work on an android, and the Living Tribunal would certainly give Zix the authority to talk back to ISAAC. Also, if you look at Zix's face carefully, he DOES resemble Z-9 if you strip away the flesh from his face.

Eddie Cunningham

Wow, that's a great theory. It makes alot of sense and I think it would be great if true.