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Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
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Furious Smashing: Red She-Hulk volume 1: Hell Hath No Fury

 

Cover of Red She-Hulk: Hell Hath No Fury TPB

Review:

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" is the famous English expression to which this collection's title is alluding. Is there a scorned woman here? Not in the title and not especially in the story. There is, however, lots of hell and fury.

Betty Ross, as Red She-Hulk, does battle with the products of the Super Solider project at the corporation Echelon. She battles multiple Avengers. A couple militia hit squads.

Yet her fury is far from blind rage - well, mostly. Other than one self-preservation switch to full-Hulk mode, Ross maintains a careful balance between human and hulk. But when an out-of-control convict volunteer to the research program winds up dead, she becomes a fugitive hunted by the Avengers, with Machine Man taking point.

Variations of the above plot description could fit most any of the Hulk books through much of Marvel history. Writer Jeff Parker plays with these classic Hulk themes and gives them his unique twist on the formula by layering a secret society monitoring and managing an Earth-spanning "Terranometer" machine, with its glimpses into human history and future. It's a bold, global angle, which by times needs lots of textual explanations that weigh down the narrative.

The art team of Carlo Pagulayan and Wellinton Alves do a creditable job with the shifts between Betty Ross and She-Hulk. Their emotional range is limited to anger, rage, fury and other shades of intensity, mostly as constrained by the furious script. Their battle scenes are as intense as the emotions, although occasional small details stick out and distract. For me, it was the so-called stolen "Porsche" that She-Hulk and Machine Man escape in - kudos to the art team for giving us a recognizable and realistic car, except they gave us a Jag, not a Porsche.

Overall, this is a tale with too much textual explanation and not enough emotional range to fully satisfy. But if you like Hulks of any color and gender smashing things, it's there in spades.

Description:

The world's strongest female, Red She-Hulk, has a new mission - and she's dead set on a path of destruction! Her enemies? Every super-powered being in the Marvel Universe! Captain America has no choice but to hunt her down...but will the newly redesigned X-51 need to use lethal force against her? And even if he has to make that tough call...will it even be enough to take a fighting mad Red She-Hulk down!?

Collects: Red She-Hulk #58-62

Authors: Jeff Parker
Artists: Carlo Pagulayan, Wellinton Alves
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: Jan. 1 2013
Parental Rating: Teen+
ISBN: 978-0785165316
Pages: 122 pages


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