Nick Peron

View Original

Savage She-Hulk #25

Nick Peron

Transmutations

Credits

The She-Hulk has finished her battle against the Earth-Lord on the estate of the mysterious mobster known as Shade. To her surprise, she is shocked to see Earth-Lord de-evolve into his past foes, Torque, Radius, the Seeker, the Brute until he finally reverts to Ralphie Hutchins, one of Zapper's classmates at UCLA. She-Hulk recalls how, Hutchins and his employer captured her for a blood sample and how the man known only as "Doc" injects Hutchins with a mutagenic brew that first turned him into the Brute. She then recalls all the battles with Raphie's other forms and how she narrowly defeated each of them. Suddenly, Ralphie begins to stir and mutate back into the Brute. She easily smashes the Brute to bits, but he comes back as the Seeker. She-Hulk then fights through all of her foes various evolutions until he stops at Torque. Torque explains that he is in the process of evolving into a higher being and has no desire to fight the She-Hulk anymore, just her mutual need for revenge against the Doc and Shade. She-Hulk reluctantly agrees to work with her one-time foe, but as they approach Shade's mansion they are surrounded by his hired thugs. She-Hulk tells Torque to go on without her as she deals with these thugs. Meanwhile, in a cavern below, Lou Monkton awakens after being captured by the Doc's mutates. Seeing that there is one guard, Lou knocks the creature out and recovers his gun. As he finds his way out of the cave, Lou Monkton decides that if he ever makes it out of this situation alive, he will go straight.

While at Jennifer Walter's law office, Zapper and Richard Rory have just explained to Jen's father all they know about his daughter's transformation into the She-Hulk. This revelation causes Morris to think about how distant he and his daughter became following the death of his wife. How he disowned Jennifer for her decisions as a lawyer while also hounding her as the She-Hulk, unaware that they were both the same person. Zapper is also thinking about Jennifer, mostly how she used to babysit him when they were younger. He also thinks about how he started developing feelings for her after Jill's funeral, but he didn't end up in a relationship with Jennifer Walters, but the She-Hulk. That quickly ended when he betrayed her to the Doc to get a blood sample and she stormed out of his life. Richard Rory also thinks about his first encounter with Jennifer Walters and their relationship until the She-Hulk stormed out of his life as well. Suddenly the three men have their thoughts interrupted when they receive word about the She-Hulk's battle at Shade's mansion. Sheriff Walters, orders his men to mobilize and tells Richard and Zapper to join him.

Back in Beverley Hills, Torque tries to confront the Doc, but he has developed a control helmet that causes his creation great pain. Outside, the She-Hulk fights off Shade's guards and when Shade tries to destroy her with a grenade, he becomes victim to it himself. To everyone's surprise, Shade appears to be a robot. When She-Hulk goes in for a closer look she is shocked to see the head open up and a small mutate created by the Doc scurry out for his life. She then rushes into the mansion where she faces against the Doc himself. While explaining that he is apparently over 100 years old, he protects himself in a mobile attack vehicle which he uses to try and subdue the She-Hulk.

Elsewhere in LA, Beverly Cross packs her bags and is planning to exit the life of Morris Walters. She recalls how she grew up poor and after being abandoned by her mother she turned to crime and prostitution in order to live. Realizing that she only had her looks to work for her, and those looks being finite, she used her charm to attract powerful men. One of these men was a powerful mobster. However, Sheriff Morris busted him, Beverly realized that any wealth she obtained vis-a-vie a relationship with a criminal could come to an abrupt end. As the ultimate jest, she decided to romance and swindle Morris Walters out of money to set her up for the rest of her life. Now with her plan in shambles, Beverly Cross vows to get revenge and ruin the reputation of Morris Walters.

In Beverly Hills, the She-Hulk continues her battle with the Doc as her father, Zapper and Richard arrive on the scene. During the course of the battle Torque begins his final evolution, evolving into a being of pure though and as his last act of humanity, transmits the keys to defeating his former master into the minds of all those watching the battle unfold. When the She-Hulk is contained in an energy field, the mutates sacrifice their lives to keep the Doc busy while she frees herself. While they overload the force field around the Doc's battle vehicle, Lou Monkton prepares to shoot the field keeping the She-Hulk contained. Meanwhile, Morris, Zapper and Richard convince She-Hulk that the only way she can break free is by changing back into Jennifer Walters. The combination of all three attacks causes enough feedback that frees Jennifer.

This entire ordeal makes Jennifer come to terms with all the loss and emotions she has been combatting since the death of her mother. She then decides that she never wants to be weak Jennifer Walters again and remain the She-Hulk forever. Resuming her She-Hulk form, Jennifer makes one last attack on the Doc, ripping his armor to shreds. However, instead of killing her foe, her father convinces her to turn him over to the police. The Doc and Lou Monkton are taken into police custody. While She-Hulk reconciles with her father, she finally decides on pursing a romance with Zapper, prompting Richard Rory to walk away a loser once again. She-Hulk then announces that instead of being at odds with the police, she vows to use her powers for the cause of law and order.

Recurring Characters

She-Hulk, Morris Walters, Zapper Ridges, Richard Rory, Brute, Seeker, Radius, Torque, Earth-Lord, Doc, Shade, Lou Monkton, Beverly Cross, Jill Stevens (flashback)

ontinuity Notes

  • She-Hulk recounts her various encounters with the forms of Ralph Hutchins and his master the Doc that has run through the course of Savage She-Hulk #19-24.

  • Some of the events that Zapper recount are:

  • Richard Rory also recaps a series of events in this story:

    • His meeting with Jennifer and subsequent adventure with her in Florida happened in Savage She-Hulk #7-8.

    • He followed after her in Savage She-Hulk #13.

    • He also confirmed that she was the She-Hulk in Savage She-Hulk #19.

  • Lou Monkton recalls how he was framed for murder by Nick Trask and was represented by Jennifer Walters. This happened through the course of Savage She-Hulk #1-5.

  • The plot thread about Beverly Cross still going after Morris Walters for revenge has been left unresolved as the Savage She-Hulk series was canceled and this was the last issue.

NEXT: Sensational She-Hulk in the 1980s