"Engagement Ring, It's the Lawyer Versus the Warrior!"
Writer: Dan Slott
Artists: Juan Bobillo (p), Marcelo Sosa (i)
Publisher: Marvel
Plot:
As She-Hulk is called to settled a dispute on a world that believes that might makes right, we see she ends up in a boxing ring battling the Champion of the Universe, and she quickly gets her head handed to her. However, she is able to secure a rematch bout, and thanks to some clever thinking She-Hulk is able to come up with a way to defeat the seemingly impossible to defeat Champion, and in doing so she frees the planet from his poor leadership.
Comments:
A very entertaining issue that occasionally wanders very close to the line of being an outright parody, but for the most part Dan Slott is able to deliver a very entertaining adventure, that has the added benefit of being very funny. I mean we basically have an alien culture that has embraced the might makes right solution to every problem, and the Champion of the Universe has set himself up as this planet's leader by taking on all challengers in a boxing ring, and beating them all senseless. Dan Slott also manages to offer up a pretty solid bit of writing as She-Hulk is called upon to come up with a solution to what looks to be a problem that is impossible to solve, and her final solution is quite clever. Now I do have to ask why none of the previous challengers keyed to the idea that the Champion of the Universe was breaking the one rule of the boxing ring, as one would think it would be the first idea to come to mind when it was explained that they couldn't make use of any outside weapons. Still, this is a minor complaint that didn't impact my enjoyment of this issue, as Dan Slott is delivering the funniest title coming out of Marvel, as how can one not love the non-reaction to Adam Warlock's death, or Southpaw's acceptance of the Champion's challenge for She-Hulk. I also rather enjoyed the final page dialogue among the aliens, as it's a delightfully goofy presentation of the might makes right mindset.
Juan Bobillo has a great eye when it comes to delivering the amusing moments of the issue, as the art does a wonderful job of capturing the surreal goofiness of the hospital ward where Marvel's heaviest hitters are recovering from their battles against the Champion. I also enjoyed the cartoonish delivery of the big impact scene where She-Hulk reveals her new bulked up status, as essentially it looks like a little kid pretending her water wings are muscles. The various expressions of the people receiving the punches in the ring are also quite entertaining, as it's hard to take the fights too seriously when we get a look at those comical expressions. My only real quibbles with the art are the visual takes that he has on certain characters, as Beta-Ray Bill is far too scrawny, and his Thing also left a bit to be desired. Still, the art is very successful at delivering the humour, and this is the most important element an artist can bring to this title.
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