Polite Dissent

The Savage She-Hulk #1 “The She-Hulk Lives!”
Stan Lee, writer
John Buscema, artist

Do you ever wonder where it all began? When did meek Jennifer Walters become the lovable She-Hulk? Well, fret no longer — your answers are here.

There are definitely some medical mistakes in this comic, but nothing too atrocious. The plot holes on the other hand — those are horrid.

As the story begins, Bruce Banner is in Los Angeles to visit his cousin, lawyer Jen Walters, hoping that she can help him with his “problem” (presumably he wants to sue the Hulk.) While driving to her house, he tells her how he became the Hulk and she fills him in on her latest case. She is defending a street punk accused of shooting a mob boss’s bodyguards. Jen believes that her client is innocent and that mob boss killed his own bodyguards. She has spread the rumor that she knows a big secret in order to draw the boss out of hiding.

Her plan has a major flaw in the form of the three thugs who are waiting for her at her house. As she steps out of the car, she is shot in the back. Bruce tumbles out of the car and grabs a nearby garden hose, figuring, “I’ve seen cops use it — for riot control!” He sprays it at the crooks and drives them away (Drives them off with a garden hose? That should only make them wet and very very annoyed.)

He drags Jen inside the house and realizes:

She’s dying! Lost too much blood! Only a transfusion can save her!

I would agree with Bruce that replacing Jen’s lost blood is important, but I would point out that stopping the bleeding is even more important.

Stating that he can’t wait for an ambulance, Bruce picks Jen up and runs out the door, looking for a doctor’s office. That’s right, instead of waiting the few minutes for an ambulance to arrive (or driving to the hospital himself), Bruce decides to carry the bleeding Jen all over a residential neighborhood looking for a doctor’s office. In a fit of coincidence, he finds a doctor’s office — right across the street.

Ignoring the locked door, he breaks in and scrounges up some transfusion equipment. Bear in mind that no normal doctor’s office is going to have transfusion paraphernalia; it’s very specialized equipment. If by some chance they did have the equipment, they’d also be storing some blood — for what’s the point of having transfusion equipment without blood?

Somehow, he manages to transfuse his blood into her, and then he sits and waits.

It’s done! Now for the worst part — the waiting!

What’s he waiting for exactly? For Jen to bleed out again because he never stopped her bleeding in the first place?
Jen regains consciousness and Bruce takes a minute to call the authorities. Instead of calling for an ambulance immediately, or while sitting there waiting, he puts off calling for help until she starts showing signs of recovery? That kind of defeats the whole purpose of calling for help, doesn’t it?

Jen is rushed to the hospital and Bruce is taken in for questioning. Before the District Attorney can arrive, he changes into the Hulk and escapes.

Meanwhile, Jen is resting in her hospital bed when the three hoods who shot her come into her room dressed as doctors. They try to drug her but she changes into She-Hulk and not only captures them, but gets them to squeal on the mob boss. She returns to her room (actually, the room next to hers — her room was destroyed in the brawl) just in time to change back to plain Jen Walters.

I’m confused about this whole “transfusion from Bruce Banner causes Jen Walters to change into She-Hulk” concept. Is Bruce’s blood radioactive? Does he set off Geiger counters? Since blood cells only circulate for an average of three months, why is his blood still radioactive this long after his accident? Finally, since it has been revealed that the Hulk is a physical manifestation of Bruce’s multiple personality disorder, does this mean that Jen suffers from the same serious and very rare condition? Did she have an abusive father who killed her mother too?

Tags: comics medicine hulk she-hulk blood transfusion