The first story was more than just that though. Jen’s first client coming back to work was Masie Brown, an Inhuman woman (I believe at least) who had gone through a very similar traumatic incident in the past that left her…different. She was an outgoing woman who was nearly killed and ever since, had never fully recovered. She begged Jen for help, but due to her own issues during the arc, ended up failing her. To sum up, since the arc was never particularly clear about anything, Masie lashed out at Jen with some kind of monster made up of the fears, trauma, and issues of all the residents at her apartment, causing Jen to hulk out. The arc ended with Masie being thrown in jail and after finally hulking out, our heroine came to peace with who she was now.
The story arc was a critical hit with almost everyone but me. However, having re-read through the arc all at once instead of having it spread out over six months, and also having read the interviews, I see the praise and understand what Tamaki was going for. This was a very different type of She-Hulk story; one that excelled at capturing the emotional trauma and heartache that Jen was going through. You could understand why she was in agony, why it hurt so much to transform, and why she was so desperate to keep her emotions bottled up. I do feel Tamaki could have done better narratively with the use of flashbacks, but her writing in this area was excellent.
Backing her up for this sole arc was Nico Lean, one of many artists to come. Lean also excelled at depicting human drama and the heavy feelings that permeated throughout the arc. You were told and shown how much Jen was hurting, a feeling that was depicted perfectly through the art. Just the scene alone in the first issue of Jennifer on the ground, trying to keep herself from hulking out told you everything you needed to know. He was the right choice to draw the opening storyline.
While the first story arc absolutely brought to life the vision that Tamaki had for her She-Hulk run, the opening was not without its flaws. Deconstructed was a poorly paced story, taking its time to get to Jen finally hulking out. The story warrants a slower, more human-focused approach without a doubt, but the pacing felt slower than it should have been with its weird breaks for humor and sequences drawn out for more than a page or two (like a pair of detectives leaving Brown’s apartment complex). In the final issue, it felt like things were still drawn out, even though the majority of the comic was one long fight scene.
There were other minor problems as well, some of which can be blamed on the nature of superhero medium to a degree. The more introspective look at both Jen and Masie and how they were both similar was appropriate and captured well, but the final issue was a complete turnaround. The careful planning and approach was tossed aside for a stereotypical superhero brawl that ended with Masie being thrown into jail and Jen accepting herself after not being able to for the past five issues. It didn’t feel right for Jen to reach that stage so quickly, along with the fact that a mentally ill woman was thrown into jail and it being treated like the right thing. Leon’s art also didn’t lend itself well to superhero medium either, since he drew Jen’s She-Hulk form mostly the same as her regular self, just painted green. His interpretation of Jen’s new Hulk form didn’t look quite right either, not matching the covers remotely and making her look more like the Witch from Left 4 Dead if she had more muscle mass.
But despite the issues and not quite nailing the ending, Tamaki did succeed in her goals for the first story arc: telling us a story about the former She-Hulk struggling with her Hulk form and dealing with a traumatic event that shaped her. She would not be the same for a long time and the series before us made it clear things would be different. Critics and readers were excited and even I recall many people talking about how interesting it would be going forward with that new Hulk form. However, what came next would quell those cheers and excitement.