O.K. Let’s start with the cover: Absolutely perfect characterizations there. Eros is a swaggering misogynist, so having him knowingly give the reader a thumbs up behind She-Hulk’s back is perfect. As for She-Hulk, she tends to find herself in bed with very strong men with attitudes exactly like Starfox. Whether that reflects overall insecurity or just a need to be with someone who is as tough as she is would be up for debate, but I tend to think she’s repeatedly expressed an insecurity around being accepted for who she is and going to bed with guys is a self-esteem boost for her. To wit: Her relationship with Wyatt never became serious, but they were truly happy together. Why not?
The irony, though, is that during this story She-Hulk is dating John Jameson—and they’re actually in love—so this isn’t even about Eros adding a She-Hulk sized notch on his belt. (Although Eros does seem to reveal in this story that he bedded Shulk in the past by using his love spells on her.)
Anyway, great cover.
The story starts with some scenes of Starfox having a one-night stand with an Earth woman.
She sues him for rape and She-Hulk is his lawyer. One (of many) great scenes: Starfox shows up to the law office after being corralled by Two-Gun Kid (who now serves as an investigator for the firm) and attacks one of the villain clients (Grizzly) because Eros is a hero and, yeah, of course he attacks a villain.
In the trial itself, the claimant brings a ton of witnesses who were seduced by Eros—including a male Hydra agent, who suffered long-term effects that made him a target for prison rapists. Yes, that’s dark. Yes, it’s funny as well. She-Hulk then has to defend her client by undermining the woman he raped, including proving to the jury that she her-worshipped supers and had posters of them around her apartment. She also calls some friends to be character witnesses…
That’s a brilliant page there. Every person’s response is fantastic.
In the end, the case cannot conclude because Eros flees the jurisdiction (into space).
Although it’s played for laughs, the story does a good job reflecting that yes, in fact, Eros’ powers make him as much of a rapist as Purple Man was in the Alias series, where mental control was very much NOT played for laughs. After I read these issues I was impressed with how well it told a hard and often harrowing story but never lost its satirical tone.
Side stories: Awesome Andy is in love with one of the legal associates at the law firm. She-Hulk is suing Thing on behalf of Cauldron, a villain from the first story in Thing’s recent solo series launch.
Like most of Dan Slott’s She-Hulk stories, the execution of the plot is much more important than the plot itself, and the smaller scenes with side characters alone are worth the cover price.