She-Hulk, Vol. 2: Let Them Eat Cake

She-Hulk by Mariko Tamaki

by Mariko Tamaki, Georges Duarte (Contributor), Julián López (Contributor)

Let them eat cake! Jennifer Walters is only just getting used to her new Hulk alter ego when an internet-famous cooking show host transforms into a hideous monster - on camera! Now, Jen must come to terms with her own monstrous side in time to help. Can she find an antidote for the host before the drug that caused it hits the streets - and its horrific effects start to spread? Maybe with a little help from Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!

COLLECTING: HULK 7-11

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2018

About the author

Mariko Tamaki is a Toronto writer, playwright, activist and performer. She works and performs with fat activists Pretty Porky and Pissed Off and the theatre troupe TOA, whose recent play, A vs. B, was staged at the 2004 Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Her well-received novel, Cover Me (McGilligan Books) was followed by a short fiction collection, True Lies: The Book of Bad Advice (Women's Press). Mariko's third book, FAKE ID, is due out in spring 2005.

Mariko Tamaki has performed her work across Canada and through the States, recently appearing at the Calgary Folkfest 2004, Vancouver Writer's Festival 2003, Spatial III, and the Perpetual Motion/Girls Bite Back Tour, which circled though Ottawa, Montreal, Brooklyn and Chicago. She has appeared widely on radio and television including First Person Singular on CBC radio and Imprint on TVO. Mariko Tamaki is currently attending York University working a master's degree in women's studies.

[MacMIllan Books]

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very much a fan of Mariko Tamaki, indie comics artist and fiction writer (and more) who is now working on Supergirl-Being Super, She-Hulk, and so much more in comics. I liked the first volume of this and like the second less well. I like Jen's character and the support group for her PTSD, I like her best friend, Patsy Walker (a.k.a Hell-Cat) as one of the best things about this volume. I don't much love her date scene (ooh, a jerk/monster!) though it is a bit clever to satirize how comics usually look at girls, I guess. I am a bit disappointed by this one, with all the different artists, but I will read the next one.

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arrrgh! I was so excited to read Let Them Eat Cake and I wish I could give it five stars, but unfortunately there were a couple of problems that made me want to HULK SMASH everything.

Don't get me wrong—I'm a major fan of this She-Hulk reboot. As with the first volume, I loved the storyline of this one, loved the setting, loved the whole "battling the monster inside us" theme. I love Jen Walters both as her ordinary self and as her alter ego, love her assistant, love the fact that her best friend is a superhero named Hellcat. I found most of this volume riveting—my train ride home has never gone by so fast.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with these collected volumes, several artists were used, and the art in issues 9 and 10 was just awful, weirdly juvenile and inappropriate. Our heroine was engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a bad guy, but the sneer she wore was more like that of a mean girl who'd just spotted a rival cheerleader walking by her locker. Worse still, her body and clothes were the most pornified they've been in the series so far. Artists, Jen Walters is a criminal attorney and she is the Hulk. SHOW SOME RESPECT.

The last issue, number 11, had a different artist, and I was hoping to finish the volume on a positive note. Alas, it was not to be. Issue 11 was a goofy standalone wherein our heroine goes out on a blind date. Sure, all of the standard rom-com tropes are subverted (kind of), but they're also shown in all their cliched glory. This kind of thing never works. Comics creators, when will you learn? You can't show dumb tropes and truly subvert them simultaneously. You're better off just not wasting your (and your readers') time.

Anyway, I would still recommend the She-Hulk series to anyone who likes superhero comics, but sadly this volume was yet another lesson in how important it is for comics to have artists who really understand the characters. In conclusion, Fiona Staples should just illustrate everything. The end.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy, this book quickly turned into a clunker. The first arc was great, well thought out story, fantastic pacing. This reminded me of all those other run of the mill Marvel books with poor art that don't make it past issue 12. There were 4 artists on 5 issues ranging from "meh" to give it to the intern to draw because we missed our deadline. The difference in artists midbook in issues 9 and 10 was jarring. I was really looking forward to reading this. It was a real disappointment.

[Artemy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Damn. What happened? The first volume of Tamaki’s She-Hulk was one of my favorite comics of the last year. It was smart, moody, understated, a thoughtful depiction of a person going through trauma. This? This was like when Gail Simone’s Batgirl got suddenly replaced by that Batgirl of Burnside bullshit all over again. In this volume we get a dumb storyline involving some youtuber who accidentally turned into a monster and was hulking out for four issues, and then an even stupider issue about Jen on a date with a guy who turned out to be an evil robot. Ughhhhhh... Did the editors think that the first volume was too much for the general audience and decided they should dumb it down? The sudden change of tone is absolutely baffling.

Argh, who cares. This was the last ongoing Marvel comic I was interested in, and now that’s gone, too. Good job, Marvel. Good job.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most compelling part of this series for me is Jen's recovery story. Tamaki does a wonderful job of portraying Jen's life after CW II without making it seem like there's a "miracle cure". She attends support groups, she has her coping techniques to manage anxiety and this series shows her finding a way to function while helping people around her.

Overall, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous volume because of the last, sort of hammy issue and it just didn't seem to flow as well as the first one. It's still wonderful but it didn't resonate with me the same way the first one did.

That being said, there is still a LOT to love here:
- the couple, Oliver and Warren, were written well enough that I got attached and cared about their plight. They're actually people with their own goals and lives so I really cared what happened to them. They truly care about them and I was so angry on their behalf during this book.
- Jen is wonderful as always. Tamaki has a great handle on the character and I root for her everytime. I'm enjoying this book a lot more than Slott's run which is saying something. Sorry, but a part of me will always think women write female characters better than 99% of male writers. It's all in how you choose to portray our motivations. Which brings me to:
- Patsy Walker and her friendship with Jen. I really love this! They're really supportive of each other and Patsy is never scared of Jen or the Hulk. It's a great female friendship.
- the plot is actually interesting. Sometimes, it's hard for authors to accomplish great characterization and development and still give us a decent plot. Tamaki doesn't struggle with that at all.
- the metaphor and Jen wondering about what Bruce would think if he read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein really resonated with me. Bruce didn't read a lot of fiction but I'd be interested to see his thoughts on who was the more sympathetic character: Victor or his monster?

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still low-key enjoying this series, though this volume is a little too much a retread of the first. Once again, the center of Jennifer's attention is a person who is going through problems that reflect her own. Last time it was physical trauma, this time it is involuntarily becoming a big green monster. A bunch of threads slowly come together as the story once again builds toward a big anticlimactic fight scene. I like exploring different facets of Jennifer's character in a dramatic way, but the final issue with it's meta fourth-wall breaking throwback to old She-Hulk antics made me miss the energy that made She-Hulk series of the past so much fun.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of this rebooted Jennifer Walters character; it's not bad, just not nearly as good as it once was. The book is well-written, but the situation is unappealing. This second book gets a bit overly silly with a plot centered around cake-baking-videos, which is an unfortunate side-track when a happy, competent, confident character is in the process of being re-booted as grey, grim, unhappy, and unconfident. The five issues are illustrated by four different artists, so there's a big lack of consistency in the style and look.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was pretty fun. I'm a little shocked some people here hate it.

This still deals with Jennifer and her PDST. Except someone else is now infected with a formula that turns THEM into a monster. So Jennifer now has to be the one outside looking in, while also dealing with her healing process. A little bit more humor at the end as the final issue is Jennifer going out on a date.

Besides the date issue, which wasn't all that good, the rest was pretty solid. A respectable look into loss, self hatred, and becoming whole again. Half the time Jennifer is barely holding herself together, so it makes her a far more interesting character this time around. The fights are pretty fun too.

Overall, not amazing, but hardly the dud I expected. A 3 out of 5.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jen is still reeling from the death of her cousin Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk. Navigating her grief has led her to question her involvement with the superhero community. Amidst all this, a popular internet personality known for his baking is poisoned with a drug that causes mutations. His gruesome transformation is filmed live online and Jen finds herself dealing with the fallout.

I really enjoyed Tamaki’s first volume of her She-Hulk run, but this one felt severely lacking. The plot was lackluster and I didn’t feel it connected much to the parallel plot of Jen dealing with her grief (though in one issue it felt like Tamaki was trying to force a link between the two.) There’s also an issue that’s unrelated to the main story that follows Jen on going on a date. It had very out-of-place instances of characters breaking the 4th wall and the humour didn’t work for me at all.

There was also the very bizarre issue of the artist changing literally every couple of pages (not even every issue!) Some of the artist changes were so jarring, especially when they came out of the blue. It makes for a disruptive reading experience.

I would still like to read the final volume in this run, but I’m so sad that this second volume didn’t live up to my experience with the first.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best thing about this volume is Jennifer Walters who, unfortunately, ends up playing second fiddle to a plethora of bland side characters. It's not slow by any means, yet the narrative seems to drag so badly in places that it's like watching an episode of the She-Hulk show (sue me). The small, painstaking drip-feed of interesting Jen character development attempts to salvage the story, but it barely manages to rear its head amongst the sea of nothing. A disappointing follow up to a promising start.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a couple of scumbag cameramen spike a cake with a chemical that gives the person that ate it monstrous powers, She Hulk has to try and bring in the person that ate it and became a Hulk like monster as well.

I really like the tone of this book. Oddly, it reminds me of the tv show where there's almost a dry, sarcastic wit constantly coming out of Jennifer, and it's pretty funny. But mixed with that is the obvious "Hulking" that she has to deal with as well. Lately she's been feeling a bit out of control when she turns into the Hulk, so she is a bit lost and wondering if she is turning into more of a Hulk like her cousin, Bruce Banner. Ultimately, She Hulk does stop the rampage of this poor dude who ate the Hulk cake, but not before almost killing him - again she is losing control slightly here it seems. I hope Mariko Tamaki builds on this loss of control in future volumes, as it's very interesting.

Definitely recommended for fans of the character... and if you like the show, you'll definitely dig this series.

[B. P. Rinehart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume continues the best comics about post-traumatic stress disorder being published right now. Probably the only one being published right now.

After the events of the last volume, Jennifer Walters is no longer ignoring her ptsd, though she is not back to being a superhero full-time either. She is being eased back into her life by her best friend, Patsy Walker (a.k.a Hell-Cat) and they are solving another situation involving someone who gets into a situation that is similar to (She-)Hulk's. She is regaining more control over her Hulk-mode, but still a far ways from her pre-CWII self. This is a story helps get as much into head of Jen as it does the people she is trying to help. It also does an interesting call-back/tribute to the John Byrne-era of She-Hulk which I have read of, but not yet read. I will be doing that soon, since I now have an interest in the characters history.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read...just glad it wasn't over the top girly/cutesy bs that Marvel has been doing with other titles.

[Renata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm definitely happy as new Marvel comics can move further out from Civil War II and get back to like, other things. (Although I do appreciate seeing Jen's ongoing journey with PTSD and trauma recovery! But I'm also glad for a return to the She-Hulk blend of sass/shenanigans [feat Hellcat] and legal expertise.) Plus I LOVE that the arc revolved around a queer couple who have a baking YouTube channel.

[Des Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, this was terrible! I don't know what happened here. The first volume was incredible thoughtful, and a creative exploration of depression and trauma. This volume, was almost unreadably banal and filled with leaps of logic in a superhero story that failed in just about every way a superhero story can fail. There was no growth for the main character, there was no satisfying resolution, and there wasn't even really a villain. It wasn't subversive and exploratory, it was just goofy and atonal, with a bunch of hot-button stuff tossed in trying to pass for substance. I don't even understand why Patsy was here besides the fact that sometimes, Patsy hangs out with Jen. Also, the art in the back half of this book gets pretty bad, not to mention the abysmal "Tinder(???) issue" which caps the whole thing off.

She-Hulk is my favorite Marvel hero. I loved Slott's run, I loved Soule's run, and I loved the first arc of Tamaki's run. But now I'm bouncing out, until there's a change in creative.

Bummer.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this was a huge disappointment after the great first volume. That was all psychological and introspective and character-focused and this one is a fight against a green blobby guy.

There should have been some subtext about becoming monsters and not controlling oneself and all of that ... and there's pretty much not.

Worst of all, it was frequently boring.

The only real great things in this volume are seeing Jen Walters (not the Hulk) kicking butt and the great last issue, which returns to the fourth wall breaking and fun of Byrne's run.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the sophomore slump that many GR reviewers talked about with this second trade, I generally liked it. It wasn’t as deep and meaningful a philosophical examination of the psyche like the first trade was. Instead it was like another stage of grief - not just the anger but reaching out, helping someone else who is worse off than you, getting to examine their pain and empathise with another.

The “monster” was tragic - no control, no self-determination, all loss - of a good life, of ambitions, of self-control - and sympathetic if a little two-dimensional. We’re still learning more about Jen Walters here than the focus victim - maybe he’s more of a mirror, an NPC, than a standalone character.

The tonal shift in the final issue is both jarring - out of touch with the previous issues in Tamaki’s run - and yet also just a ton of fun. As a standalone issue this one’s a blast, and if not for the g-forces in jumping from 10 to 11, I’d want a run all like this.

In fact, give me a run of Jen all like this, once she’s dealt with the aftermath of her cousin.

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flojea un poco respecto al primer tomo, se pierde un poco ese intento de analizar la mente de Jennifer Walters para meterse en una aventura un poco intrascendente pero importante para el personaje.

No me suelen gustar los cómics en los que se da por hecho que por ser cosa de superhéroes vale todo, si hay una droga que convierte a las personas que la toman en monstruos espero que te esfuerces un poco en explicar de dónde ha salido, dar una explicación y un trasfondo al tema, además espero que le des un poco de coherencia y unas reglas mínimamente estables, porque si no da la impresión de que es una mera herramienta argumental que usas a tu antojo según interese para la historia...

En general la colección no está mal, sigue siendo entretenida y tiene buenos momentos, el dibujo sigue gustándome mucho, el sentido del humor y el tono general me gusta, pero pequeños detalles como el que comento arriba son los que muchas veces terminan convenciéndome de si un cómic me gusta o no.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like Mariko to write all the comics pls

[Ma'Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of this skinny TPB of 5 issues sounds really adorable and potent: Jen Walters aka She-Hulk loves watching a super-gay YouTube show about baking cakes. While eating a pre-made matcha cake (green, duh) on a livestream, the beloved host suddenly transforms into a huge, green monster, thanks to a couple asshole cameramen pulling a prank in hopes of selling the uncut footage online. Hulk must attempt to stop and save the victim of this drugging. Sounds great on paper, and it looks good when I flip back through the book later!

Everything in this series is being developed as metaphors for Jen's struggle with PTSD and control, and I'm a fan of Tamaki examining these topics that are hardly ever examined in superhero comics. Unfortunately, her writing just is not doing "IT" for me in general. I found this volume rather boring even though I wanted to like it.

[Alex Sarll]

In an unusual conjunction of my hobbies, life, and day job, the lead story here is a superhero comic, about reaching an accomodation with one's inner monster, set around a niche programme about making cakes. That's followed by a cheerfully fourth-wall-breaking story of an exceptionally bad first date. A fun read, and I respect the determination it must have taken to yoke dark nights of the soul to daft comedy, in the certainty that while the mix may not be for everyone, someone's going to get it, and those who do will like it a lot more than safer, blander product.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The change in tone in the volume from the last one was a little whiplash inducing. I didn’t mind the YouTube baker into monster storyline, especially as it gave Jen something to relate to. But the art was all over the place and the last issues was tonally completely different and kind of hokey. This is certainly not my favorite take on She Hulk.

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one more than the first book. Finally got the humor back and her breaking the fourth wall. In this story, a social media chef ingests something bad and turns him into a monster. Yes this was done on purpose by his film crew. What happens after that is just a cat and mouse game trying to find him before he gets worse. Wonderful graphic and good story.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The backup story was annoying. Well actually the breaking the wall and talking to the reader and the romance channel announcer was annoying - the actual story wasn't horrible. But the main story. It's like the hint of who Jen Walters is, is inescapable. And makes for an interesting story whether she's lawyering or trying to save a gay cake cooking youtube star. It just came across off as interesting and heartfelt and real plus monster juice.

[Louie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an obsessive GBBO watcher, this arc was very relatable. #scrummy

[Mohamed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jennifer Walters continues to live with her transformed alter-ego, trying to understand it as her feelings become personified in the form of the celebrity baker turned unwitting monstrosity.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this so much!

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this volume treats She-Hulk Jennifer Walters somewhat better, she is still a victim unable to cope with anger (or was it fear or hormones or some woman body issues?) It is just like another guy writing a woman he does not understand and treats the character like a caricature and not a real person.

But unlike the previous volume there is an actual story and mystery to solve. That part of the book was well written and executed even if the "villains" were dumber than rocks. Now if only the writers and editors at Marvel actually wrote She-Hulk as real as the male character, you know like a person.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tonally, I feel like we've a had a major lift from the first volume to this one; the first one was explicitly dark for our heroine, in this one, we've got more of a "how do use this situation" vibe going on, and actual bad guys to confront. Still present is rumination on what it means to be monstrous, so this is a good read, cleanly illustrated, but not complicated. Together with the first one, could either be a jumping on point for a younger reader OR an archive for longtime She-Hulk fans - a reference to the infamous Byrne GN (with the plot-irrelevant nudity and near-porn) is included, but will be missed by anyone not familiar with that story.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one returns to a similar theme of dealing with trauma in a four-issue arc. Then the final issue is a stand-alone that feels way more Deadpool fourth-wall breaking comedy, which is 180 degrees from the previous issue. So the primary story was not as strong as the opening story, and the minor episode was dissonant, so the best I can offer this issue is a 3 of 5 stars.

The best bit of humor was dark and completely in line with the theme:

“I was in high school the first time I read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

…I reread it a few months ago.

It’s not the book you think it is.

A lot of it is about icebergs.”