Sensational She-Hulk #56
Sensational She-Hulk #56
Title: “The Edge Of Plight: To Die And Live In L.A. Part 5 of 6”
Writer: Michael Eury
Artists: Patrick Olliffe & Fred Fredericks
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Renee Witterstaetter
War Zone bursts onto the set of "Heartbreak Hospital"!
In the control booth, the crew asks if they should keep filming, and Greg
Hallerhand tells them yes… there's nothing like a little violence to boost
ratings! Wyatt rushes down to the set to help Jen!
The actor playing Dr. Quarterbain tries to improvise to make War Zone's
appearance look like part of the show, but gets knocked out by a backhand blow
from War Zone! She Hulk begins pounding away at War Zone, wondering how the
robot survived the explosion. War Zone says that she should treat him with more
respect, since he is the first new addition to her rogues’ gallery in ages. He
also says that she has probably gotten too used to fighting losers, and will be
begging to fight someone like Man-Elephant by the time he's through with her. He
then pulls out a cannon and blasts She-Hulk away!
Wyatt tries to attack War Zone with a stage lamp, but War Zone grabs him by the
throat! "Wyatt Wingfoot! Just the guy I was lookin' for!" Wyatt tries to free
himself by kicking War Zone in the face, but he only succeeds in hurting his own
foot! She-Hulk struggles to her feet, surprised at how much War Zone's weapon
hurt her. She starts to realize there is something special about the robot's
arsenal, when she sees he has caught Wyatt! "How do you like it, havin' the one
you love taken away from you?" She-Hulk orders War Zone to put Wyatt down. "You
want a put down? Sure...he wears too much hair gel, and he's got rotten taste
in women! Heh-heh"
She-Hulk gets angry, and for a few seconds turns back into the monstrous Savage
She-Hulk. Jen is horrified that she turned into the Savage on live TV.
Hallerhand is thrilled, hoping that She-Hulk is full of more rating-boosting
surprises. Elsewhere, many of Jen's loved ones see this on the show. At the
hospital, Moe and Weezi are worried, since Zapper had said that Jen wouldn't
change like that again. In his office, Zapper realizes that his diagnosis was
wrong, and decides that She-Hulk needs him. At an airport, the Hulk thought that
the events on the show were staged, but now realizes that it is real and Jen is
in danger.
Back on the set, She-Hulk grabs a hold of War Zone to prevent him from escaping
with Wyatt. She rips off the robot's arm, freeing Wyatt. Then she punches War
Zone, knocking his cannon out of his hand. She-Hulk says that now she'll get to
find out how tough he is without his weapon. War Zone points out that he IS a
weapon and fires on her from another weapons port! She-Hulk notices that there
is a TV cable around War
Zone's ankle, and she yanks it, knocking the robot into the hot tub, where he
shorts out in an electric burst!
With the crisis over, Dr. Quarterbain gets the show back on track, thanking
"Nurse Emerald" for disposing of the "party-crasher". As soon as the show goes
to commercial, Jen storms into the control booth to confront Hallerhand, and
demand to know why he kept filming during the attack! Hallerhand tells her that
it put ratings through the roof, and he asks if there is a chance she'll get
attacked again, but by a more well-known villain this time. Jen angrily points
out that someone could have been hurt or killed in the attack, and that it was
very irresponsible for him to have filmed it. He apologizes and promises it
won't happen again.
Back in the show, Zack Colt blackmails Dr. Quarterbain for $50,000 to keep quiet
about the experiments he performed on Nurse Emerald that turned her green. As
Quarterbain writes the check, he comments to "Emerald" that he hopes this will
get her and her boyfriend out of his life. Jen delivers her line that he is not
her boyfriend. At that moment, Christina bursts onto the set! "Not your
boyfriend, huh? What a surprise...seeing how stealing men seems to be a gift of
yours!" She demands that Jen look her in the eye and tell her that she isn't
trying to steal Zapper from her. Jen tries to get Christina to stop, since this
is on live TV, but Christina doesn't care if Jen is embarrassed.
In the control booth, Hallerhand is ecstatic; he says that She-Hulk is
practically a soap opera all by herself!
Jen tries to convince Christina that there is nothing going on between her and
Zapper, when suddenly War Zone attacks again! He says that he was only
programmed to kidnap her boyfriend, but he is going to override his programming
and kill her! She-Hulk rips off his other arm, so War Zone goes to his final
resort… a gamma bomb in his chest, with a 60 second countdown! She-Hulk orders
everyone to evacuate the studio! Hallerhand is angry as all the crew run off.
Wyatt tries to get him to leave too, but Hallerhand refuses, saying he has to
keep the show on the air at all costs!
She-Hulk pounds on War Zone's chest, trying to get access to the bomb, but can't
get through, and she starts to get very frustrated, and transforms back into the
Savage She-Hulk! At the last moment before the bomb goes off, Zapper arrives in
high-tech armor, carrying a cannon! He opens fire, and deactivates War Zone and
disarms the bomb. Zapper explains that he used a gamma neutralizer… it absorbed
the gamma radiation that powered the robot.
She-Hulk finds it suspicious that Zapper knew how to disable the robot so
easily, and comes to the conclusion that he is the mysterious enemy who sent the
robot after her! She reviews the evidence against him: he knew too much about
how to stop the robot; the toxin used on her affected her blood, and Zapper is a
hematologist who has had a sample of her blood for years; Zapper didn't like
Wyatt, and Wyatt was War Zone's target; and finally, Zapper obviously hasn't
gotten over their old relationship. Jen demands to know how he could do this to
her. Zapper gets angry that she would accuse him. "I brought you back from the
dead, for goodness sake!" Christina says that he brought her back from the dead
so that She-Hulk would fall in love with him again! She believes that Zapper
arranged all this in a sick attempt to win back She-Hulk!
She-Hulk exits the story, saying that she isn't going to allow one of her oldest
friends to get pulled into a "Fatal Attraction" subplot. She goes to find the
Keeper of the Comics Code to get him to fix things. However, she finds him
trapped inside a Mylar bag by the Exploitinator! He says that he is the guy that
comes up with gimmicks to help sell comics, such as holograms, cover
enhancements, trading cards inserts, etc. He tells her that Marvel was worried
about sales on her book dropping after Byrne left, so they brought in the
Exploitinator to pack the story will exciting elements to attract readers. The
Exploitinator then trapped the Keeper, to prevent him from interfering. Jen
considers just walking away from the story, but the Exploitinator reminds her
that if she does that, all of her subplots will be unresolved for eternity, her
father will be in the hospital forever, etc. Jen realizes she can't leave her
friends like that, so she returns to the story.
Savage
She-Hulk snarls that she should kill Zapper for what he's done. Wyatt tries to
get her to calm down, but she isn't listening. She starts tossing equipment
around the set. She is startled by a voice from behind her, "Guess it's up to me
to take the wind out of your sails, huh, Jenny? After all, what's family for?"
Everyone is surprised to see the Hulk walk in!
Site for Sore Eyes rating: 5 out of 10
The art team changes yet again, and the inconsistency continues to undermine the story. The writing has some problems as well. How did War Zone get reassembled and break free from Reed's lab? How did Christina get on the set--as Hallerhand pointed out, shouldn't there be some security? Why would She-Hulk HIT a bomb? There are far too many implausibilities in the storyline--suspension of disbelief only goes so far. Christina continues to be an unbelievable, melodramatic mess of a character. She bursts onto a LIVE television broadcast to make completely false accusations that Jen is trying to steal her husband! Then we've got the Exploitinator. Ugh! I don't mind the 4th Wall breaking as a gag, but I hate it when they use it as a plot point. At least this time Jen wasn't able to "fix" the situation through the 4th Wall this time. However, the fact that her trip through the 4th Wall didn't accomplish anything makes it not only annoying, but a complete waste of space. The only bright spot to this issue was the arrival of the Hulk. He is LONG overdue to make a guest appearance in his cousin's book, and should help make the finale more interesting! What is the most disappointing is that this storyline actually DOES have some good ideas, but they fail due to poor execution. Handled differently, this could have been a good storyline.
Review by Dermie
Picture by The Leader