Issue(s): Marvel Two-In-One #88
Cover Date: Jun 82
Title: "Disaster at Diablo Reactor"
Credits:
David Anthony Kraft - Writer
Alan Kupperberg - Penciler
Chic Stone - Inker
Lance Tooks - Assistant Editor
Jim Salicrup - Editor

Review/plot:
David Anthony Kraft gets a chance to write She-Hulk again for this fill-in issue of Two-In-One. The story is fairly stock, with a nuclear energy company recruiting the Thing to guard some equipment that a mercenary hired by anti-nuclear activists is after, and the mercenary ("Negator")...

...turns out to be an executive at the nuclear company, angry that he was poisoned in a uranium mine.

What's interesting about the issue is the interaction between the Thing and She-Hulk. They meet when the Thing gets dumped on the road by the exec/mercenary. She-Hulk is driving a pink Cadillac. She was given the car as payment for doing an advertisement for a car dealership.

And yes, she's wearing her torn pink nightgown in a car commercial. This would have been a really easy way to give her a nice costume for this issue but no. But she does receive the car, and that's how she picks up the Thing on the road.

The depictions of both the Thing and She-Hulk are a little off to me, but i'm ok with it, i think. The Thing comes off a little sexist, calling She-Hulk "sweetheart" and complaining about women drivers.

I do think it's in character for the Thing to be a little sexist (although i can point to the spanking scenes), and i interpret it as a defense mechanism against a woman whose strength may threaten him.

She-Hulk, meanwhile, quickly shows an attraction for the Thing..

...and while that was surprising to me since in all subsequent issues i've read with these two characters, there wasn't any hint of that, but at the same time it makes sense for She-Hulk to be attracted to someone in her power class and equally "monstrous". Certainly i like this better than Zapper.

Alternatively, she's just messing with him because it makes him uncomfortable.
Ben of course is still dating Alicia, but as he says above, his agreement to have a weekend with She-Hulk was in the line of duty, and besides, she's getting a little deformed lately.

Next month by publication date, She-Hulk will join the Avengers when she'll really start to get what i consider to be her proper due, but Kraft does fine here, keeping with the latter days of her series.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between FF #245-246. For She-Hulk, this is where she gets the pink Cadillac that she'll be using in Avengers #221. Technically it should be a minimum 3 days (for the decontamination) plus a drive across the country in her Cadillac (this story takes place in LA) before her appearance there.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I hope She Hulk takes off in a big way in Stage 3 of the Marvel Cineverse, and DAK gets credit for just how far he took the character in the direction that made her quite popular! The Pink Cadillac, the sexual confidence and integrated personality, and lots of interesting uses of her attorney career all go in the Kraft column. He had a knack for drawing upon the real world for unexpected plots. Really creative guy.

Sort of wrapped up way too quickly at the end, but still not a bad, lighthearted story. Nice twist to have someone crush on Thing instead of be repulsed by him. I wonder if this was ever touched on later when She-Hulk replaced him in the FF?