After 25 issues in both She Hulk And The sensational She-Hulk titles, Rainbow Rowell’s character-defining series about Jennifer Walters (and with it the heroine’s solo series) has come to an end. Over the course of her series, Rowell breathed new life into Shulkie and created an ongoing series that made weekly snippets of the lives of lawyers and superheroes exciting and entertaining. Rowell offered a deeply romantic and personal story that is currently unmatched in Marvel Comics.
Since her introduction in 2022, the strongest aspects of Rowell’s take on She-Hulk have not been the spectacular fights or the flying green fists—in fact, there are only three real fights in the series’ first five issues, and one of those is the introduction of the popular Superhero Fight Club, which Jen forms to blow off steam—but the way the series delves deep into She-Hulk’s inner workings, prioritizing her relationships and the work-life balance she strives for over brutal action or superheroism. Jennifer is hesitant to fully commit to the role of superhero, as her pre-series time with the Avengers left her slightly traumatized, but that works to her solo book’s benefit.
Although she was originally a novelist, Rowell showed incredible finesse in character study and development, always placing her comic heroes in the midst of gripping personal drama. Her tenure at Outliers showed the same restraint in letting the complicated lives of this group of teens on the run drive the story, rather than having a central villain or overly complicated plot drive the story without giving these fascinating characters any real agency. She uses the same method here, letting audiences see She-Hulk not as a big, green fighting machine, but as a person with complicated feelings—both toward herself and her “friend from old time” Jack of Hearts. It’s been a real pleasure reading how Jen and Jack’s relationship has grown and changed over the course of their two solo titles, and it’s often the sole focus of these issues. Rowell lets these two headstrong heroes find comfort in each other, enjoy their differences from society, and create a home together.
But of course, their sometimes sickeningly sweet relationship is not without its challenges, and everything from Jen’s emotional infidelity to Jack’s seemingly heartless breakup with her for another woman was thrilling in its own way. Through Jen and Jack’s relationship She Hulk explores how caring for another person fundamentally changes your worldview, and how a difficult relationship with your own self-esteem only further complicates that dynamic. As Jen learns to love herself again while moving on to loving Jack on her journey, readers are treated to a truly heartfelt and thoughtful examination of this iconic character.
And although I prefer my comics to be emotional rather than action-packed, She Hulk And Sensational She-Hulk are no slouch when it comes to action, utilizing flying fists and angry Hulks to raise the emotional stakes at the core of this story. In particular, Jen’s Superhero Fight Club and her reinstatement as a lawyer allow her to develop deep friendships with her frequent antagonists Titania and Volcana, and make room for incredibly fun cameos from Ben Grimm and many others. She-Hulk is a heroine riddled with rage, as is common among her ilk, but letting her revel in it while simultaneously suppressing it creates impeccable drama and compelling sequences that jump out at you off the page—especially thanks to the work of artist and frequent Rowell collaborator Andrés Genolet, who joins in volume 3 and sees the run through to the end.
In the last issue (No. 10 of The sensational She-Hulkwhich hit theaters on August 14), the story that Rowell has been telling throughout her series comes to a sweet – if rushed – end. And while it’s clear that there was still so much to tell in terms of Jen’s development as a person, heroine, and friend, Rowell and Genolet make every single page and panel count, tying up all sorts of loose threads while staying true to the spirit of the series. The thing about Rowell’s She Hulk is that any ending to this series was always going to feel like a beginning. Jen accepts a position on the new Avengers team, but on the condition that she keeps her job at her and Mallory’s law firm (especially after being rewarded with a fancy new office she can actually fully stand in), keeps her dates with Jack, and never misses her lunches (and punches) with friends. Jen’s mission throughout Rowell’s run has been to find a way to have it all: the fulfilling job as a lawyer, the status as the beloved hero of NYC (and beyond), the loving boyfriend she loves just as deeply, the wonderful friends, the incredible apartment. And with this final, bittersweet issue, Jen somehow gets everything she’s ever wanted, and it’s the perfect beginning to leave our beloved Shulkie behind as this chapter of her storied story comes to a close.
Only five volumes of Rowell’s She Hulk doesn’t feel like enough. But then again, even 15 volumes of her incredible interpretation of this character wouldn’t have seemed enough. Rowell has created something unique in the superhero comic landscape by offering a deeply personal, romantic, and funny story to define one of Marvel’s most iconic female characters, and She Hulks’ presence on newsstands will be sorely missed. Just as superhero movies and TV series have been able to break the mold and explore other genres and facets of the medium, superhero comics should be allowed to be romantic, funny, and deeply personal, rather than just driven by villains and over-the-top fights. Rowell’s series certainly feature villains of the week and fierce, drawn-out battles, but the series’ true central villain (and overarching challenge) is Jen’s own insecurities and the way they make it so difficult to find a balance between friendship, love, and work – all while trying to be the best She-Hulk she can be.
It looks like She-Hulk will continue to be a staple of Marvel Comics, as she appears in books like The Avengers: Unite And Venom War: Zombiesthe heartfelt focus on Jennifer’s development into a better person, a better lawyer, a better friend, and a better hero probably won’t find its way onto these pages as it did throughout Rowell’s run, as other characters and larger, world-shattering storylines take precedence. And that’s a damn shame. This series got me back into reading comics, back into believing that Marvel in particular can tell stories that are personal and relatively small-scale but pack a huge emotional punch; stories that can be gorgeous and touching but also, by turns, action-packed and dynamic. That it fell victim to the whims of Marvel’s editorial overlords is a glaring loss that makes comics look less rosy without it.
