Just Who the Hell is She, Anyway?

Black-and-white and two-color illustrations chronicle the zany exploits of She--a gorgeous woman with a certain knowledge of who she is and what she wants--from birth through the defiance of her school years, escape from the world of corporate cubicles, and love life. Original. 75,000 first printing.

The original She was launched as a regular comics feature of Mirabella in 1993 and quickly became a reader favorite. Here, Acocella continues her efforts to create a character that embodies the cultural history of a generation of upper-middle class white women. A post-feminist everywoman, She is impatient with the status quo even in the womb. A child of suburbia stuck with gender-based expectations, She manages to both laugh at and deconstruct these conventions, wryly acknowledging the role they play in shaping her life ("Barbie did introduce the concept of 'man as accessory'"). She wants to play with the boys in every sense of the word, and, after leaving home (and her "(s)mother"), she gets her chance by joining the corporate media world. But for all her revolutionary rants, Acocella's heroine is just a neo-material girl with a rebel attitude cum pose. Which shallow trend shall I choose to be now, she seems to say-the sad result of viewing life as a succession of pop phenomena. She's pissed (like other "power babes" in her circle) that boys have all the fun but that's about it. She is fun, but ultimately is more about social climbing than social change. Acocella's drawing is barely adequate, but her page layouts are lively and carry the story well.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

She is the contemporary everywoman protagonist of Acocella's comic strip for Mirabella, and this is her graphic and graphical life story. Well, all right, She's not every woman: She's white and hip and educated and smart. Taking note of the slap on the tush with which an obstetrician welcomes her into the world, She produces a thought balloon: ``Shit!!! No man will ever get away with that again.'' And so, it is with spunk, it is with sass, it is with a whole lotta camp and almost as much couture that She perseveres through menstrual cramps, the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, and the perils of being single and gazing into her future and wondering: ``Is this what it all comes down to- -a lifetime of slave labor and a closetful of black shoes?'' -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The defiant, sexy SHE arrives straight from the pages of Mirabella.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.