The Marvel Universe is a place of extremely volatile physics. It honestly doesn’t take much to turn a perfectly ordinary accident into an opportunity to wield ridiculously overwhelming power. It’s only natural that there would be people who think that they could make that type of volatility work in their favor. Writer Rainbow Rowell explores two such people in She-Hulk #8. Artist Takeshi Miyazawa brings Rowell’s superhuman drama to the page with the aid of colorist Rico Renzi. Though Rowell commits the cardinal sin of entirely omitting a title character from an issue of her own comic book, the story the writer is exploring is more than interesting enough to fill the space between two covers.

April Booth is a genius. Being a genius in a world of superheroes is never easy. Thankfully, April has Mark. He’s also some kind of genius. And since he’s the kind of genius who believes in a genius like April, the two are in love. And married. She wants power, though. She finds potential for that power in a blood sample from lawyer Jennifer Walters. April and Mark intend to use that blood to gain power. Naturally...it isn’t going to go well. 

Jen’s on the cover. She’s on the title page. Other than that, #8 is a She-Hulk without She-Hulk. She appears in a poster, a photograph, and a bit of footage on a TV as Rainbow Rowell explores a couple of scientists in the margins of the Marvel Universe. Rowell makes April and Mark seem like perfectly nice people who happen to have a dangerous side-project that is NOT going to end well. It’s compelling stuff that appealingly expands around the corners of the Marvel Universe. 

Miyazawa has a bit of a challenge with this chapter. A couple of marginal characters from side moments in the past few issues become the focus of the story. They’re just a couple of young people in lab coats. Miyazawa gives their drama the sort of depth that makes their stress an intriguing single-issue study. April seems like a fascinating and sympathetic person without all of the awkward quirkiness that might accompany her kind of drive outside of the Marvel Universe. A single shot of her admiring She-Hulk through a TV while waiting in line at a coffee shop delivers a profound amount of emotional expression. There are so many clever nonverbal moments like that which give both April and Mark an incredible amount of personality. Renzi covers the nuance in soft colors, which shade the story in the dream and nightmare of moody resonance.

All too often, scientists in Marvel and DC are shown as figures with insane motivations and ideals. Rowell shows another side of scientific misadventure: a couple of people with slightly reckless curiosity. It’s a fun angle on the traditional. These villains have heart and weight that is not often afforded to those who would choose to tangle with title characters.

Grade: A