Home The Order Forums Stats/Leader Comic News Login FAQs Podcasts Register
CMRO Menu Header
Marvel reading order menue bottom

Hulk #29 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 052013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #29

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: March 2011

Hulk #29 brings the “Scorched Earth” story to a close with a lot of action and a few new developments for the
title character. It also features the red and green Hulks working side by side, which is a rare and enjoyable
treat.

With Rick injured and Ross unable to change, things look bad for the title character until the Hulk shows up. The Hulk’s presence is enough to get Ross furious and make him change, resulting in the two smashing their way through the jungle to a volcano where MODOK has his central computer which is running the Scorched Earth program.

Even then, things look bad for the heroes, with the island’s defenses enough to put two Hulks through their paces. The tide changes when the Hulk tells Ross that Banner lied – he can absorb energy. This leads us back to the red Hulk becoming the guy of old who could beat up just about anything. Of course, when the Hulk turns back to Banner, Bruce explains that it wasn’t entirely a lie – the red Hulk’s energy absorption abilities will eventually burn out his ability to change and lock him in one form or the other if he keeps using him. Future writers take note: this is a convenient way to get him to turn back to General Ross permanently when this whole red Hulk experiment starts to lose sales.

In reality, Scorched Earth was actually a distraction so a new MODOK – apparently an improved clone of the original – can be born without the heroes interfering. I like this. It gives MODOK a chance to return to comics while also letting George Tarleton, the original, to have a peaceful rehabilitation. I hope this change sticks.

Our backup story features Uatu the Watcher and his companion Uravo, who was looking for him after he disappeared. Uatu is observing a “red hole” which killed many red-skinned creatures and which itself unleashes a robotic weapon called the Omegex. The Omegex winds up going after the red Hulk after sensing the energies left behind from Rulk’s punching of the Watcher. Uatu says this is unfortunate, but gives the vibe that he’s not exactly sad. It’s interesting to see the Watcher suddenly become this petty, and hopefully that will go somewhere.

Overall, this issue is a solid conclusion to the red Hulk’s first post-Loeb arc. Jeff Parker writes a good Banner, and the interaction between the Hulk and his red counterpart is entertaining. Parker’s Hulk seems a little off, lacking in the rage that the Hulk is known for, but not so much so as to take the reader out of the issue. “Scorched Earth” overall provided a lot of fun smashing, interesting locales, and good characterization. It also gave us some cathartic beatdowns from people who had some revenge against the red Hulk coming. Finally, it was the start of some interesting new character development for General Ross. Overall, while this storyline doesn’t quite launch itself into the realm of truly great comics, it is a good tale and well worth the effort of tracking down the issues or the compiled Scorched Earth trade paperback.

Hulk #33 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 162013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #33

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: July 2011

If you’re like me and thought that the last issue was too slow, Hulk #33 pics up the action and gives us more of a focus on the red Hulk. This issue gives us a first encounter with one of his new enemies and also leads to the next story arc, Planet Red Hulk.

As the red Hulk tries to fix the brain mines that General Fortean planted in him which will kill him when he turns back to Thunderbolt Ross, he’s challenged by the reconstructed serial killer Black Fog. The red Hulk wins this battle, but takes quite a few cuts in the process. He also loses two of his LMD allies, leaving him only with the charming Annie as an assistant.

Other than the fight in this issue, there are a couple of cool highlights. First, it’s interesting to see Ross repeatedly want to get in touch with Bruce Banner, who he thinks will fix his problems. Ross has spent most of his time in comics despising Banner and wanting nothing to do with him, so it’s a pretty significant reversal that he’s now relying on the guy. Of course, Banner’s a bit busy over in The Incredible Hulks, so he’s not available to help Ross.

The second highlight of this issue is when Chuck, one of the LMDs, brings Ross to an old aircraft graveyard. This is a chance to see General Ross’ military mind and get a bit more insight to his character. For a guy that’s been around for as long as Ross has been, it’s surprising that there is so little about his past in previous comics. Most of his on-page life has been defined by his relationship to Banner and the Hulk, so it’s interesting to see him get some reflective time of his own.

There are a few flaws in the story, however. First, there’s the problem that this comic might be overcrowded with villains. Fortean alone would be a good nemesis to focus on, but now he’s being pushed to the side so the plans of Zero/One and the coming threat of Omegex can be dealt with. Second, there’s the fact that Zero/One isn’t really that good a villain. She’s got the power, but her motivation is vague and her personality lacking. She hasn’t personally encountered the red Hulk yet, so there’s not even a real connection between her and her would-be nemesis. Quite frankly, she’s boring, and that’s one of the worst things you can say about a comic book supervillain.

Despite these flaws, Hulk #33 is a good look into the mind of the red Hulk, with some rare introspection from a character who has previously been all about action. This issue also offers progression in terms of plot, with the red Hulk finally able to sleep thanks to a special serum that keeps his brain mines from detonating. With Carlo Pagulayan returning for the next story arc to give us something reminiscent of the classic Planet Hulk, this is a good issue to grab if you’re looking to become a fan of the red Hulk.

Hulk #32 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 152013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #32

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: June 2011

Hulk #32 continues the buildup to the red Hulk’s new rogue’s gallery. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of the actual protagonist in these pages. What he does get is just the sort of thing that the character needs to make him appeal to a wider audience, though – a bit of heroism.

Since his inception, one of the main problems with the red Hulk is that he’s been all about smashing the good guys. Throughout Jeph Loeb’s run on the character, he fought the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, X-Force, the Defenders, and more. He basically showed up, made a bunch of boasts about how powerful he was, then threw down with everybody’s favorite heroes. This made him more irritating than interesting. Even when he teamed up with the Hulk against the Intelligencia, it had more of a “bad guy teaming up with the good guys” vibe than anything else. When Jeff Parker came on board, we got more of the same, with Iron Man, Thor, and Namor all lining up to give the red Hulk a beatdown in a conga line of humiliation.

Now, thankfully, we’re seeing the red Hulk as he sees himself – as a hero. His main action in this issue is to defend a town in Arkansas from a tornado. General Fortean, observing the whole thing, thinks that it’s a calculated move to boost his public opinion. That’s oddly meta, since scenes like this are likely a move on the part of the creative team to make the red Hulk more appealing to an audience that has gotten sick of him.

Unfortunately, this issue has more of a feeling of filler and a slower pace than the last one. The red Hulk gets relatively little action, and Annie is missing for most of the issue, off at Gamma Base to figure out how they can get the nano-bombs out of the red Hulk’s skull. Instead, we get to see more buildup of the villainous cast, with Zero/One hunting down a serial killer nicknamed the Black Fog and “improving” him to become more like the fabled beast created through a mixture of half-truths and children’s stories. While there’s nothing particularly uninteresting about Zero/One’s story, she and her hapless followers are not what people are coming to this issue for. It would have been preferable to shorten the creation of the Black Fog some in order to give the red Hulk more page time. Alternately, more page time could also have been given to General Fortean, who is a more interesting villain because he is such a mirror image of Thunderbolt Ross himself.

All told, Hulk #32 is a decent issue, but things are starting to slow down a little bit. The red Hulk having his own cast of villains is an exciting prospect, but there might be too much going on right now around the protagonist. He’s got Fortean, Zero/One, the Black Fog, the approaching threat of Omegex, and the hinted upcoming threat from some ancient Mayans all on the table. Hopefully, future issues will work on what is already on the board instead of adding even more pieces.

Hulk #30.1 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 072013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #30.1

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: May 2011

Marvel’s .1 initiative was designed to get people up to speed on their books if they’re new readers. Hulk #30.1 doesn’t exactly do that, since it’s pretty much the beginning of a new story arc, but it does make for an easy jumping on point for folks who have been avoiding the red Hulk’s tales for one reason or another.

The story plays a bit fast and loose with continuity, retconning in a protégé for General Ross named Reggie Fortean. He’s apparently been just off-panel every time Ross has fought the Hulk. The only thing that really bugs me about Fortean’s appearance is that there could have been an existing character put in his place without much difficulty. The best candidate would have been Major Talbot if Marvel had stuck with the initial suggestion that he had been brought back from the dead. The next best would be Cary St. Lawrence, a Colonel that was introduced in the Hulk’s book during the 1990s and who worked alongside Ross.

That objection aside, Fortean serves as exactly what the book needs: a real villain, and a mirror image of Thunderbolt Ross himself. He engages Ross in battle and doses him with nanites that will melt down his brain the next time he transforms into his human form. This will set up the conflict for future issues, and it does so quite well. Ross has a respect for Fortean but also sees the dangers of his former protégé becoming obsessed with defeating a Hulk like he was. The issue also highlights Ross’ desire to keep his identity secret lest his military record – the one thing he has left – become jeopardized.

One of the problems with the red Hulk stories since the character’s creation is that they’ve all been the red Hulk fighting other superheroes. There’s been a lot of boasting and bragging about how he’s his own monster and better than the original Hulk, but we haven’t seen that. We’ve just seen a schoolyard bully punching out people’s friends in a misguided attempt to seem cool. Hulk #30.1 is the start of fixing that, allowing Ross to have his own rogue’s gallery and be his own hero. It all happens in keeping with the character’s personality, and the future of the red Hulk looks like it will be an interesting ride.

Hulk #30 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 052013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #30

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by c

Published: April 2011

Hulk #30 is a callback to Silver Age wackiness, complete with a Dragonball Z-style fusion between the green and red Hulks. It turns out that Xemnu the Titan is back in town and determined to defeat the Incredible Hulk, but he finds the red Hulk instead. Hilarity ensues.

Okay, well maybe not hilarity. Fun at least. Writer Jeff Parker is about as solid as they come, but trying to do humor seems to take something off his fastball. We saw it when he did the World War Hulks Deadpool crossover, and we see it a bit now. There’s plenty of puns and jokes, some snappy dialogue and a few ridiculous situations, but it never quite gets into the realm of comedic gold. That’s not to say that it’s a bad issue – the pacing just seems a little bit off.

The red Hulk can’t overcome Xemnu’s mind control like the original can, so the Impossible Man, an observer with the intergalactic media, uses some of his powers to create a fusion between both Hulks. Putting Thunderbolt Ross and the Hulk into the same mind goes about as poorly as one can expect until they find the common ground of their love for Betty, which allows them to work together.

The biggest problem with the issue is one of pacing. The Hulk gets kicked around and we’re told that he’s losing the fight, but we don’t really get a feel for him being in real peril. Similarly, the merger between the two Hulks gets wrapped up almost before it’s begun, making the issue as a whole feel a bit rushed. I think that Parker had a lot of ideas that he wanted to work out in a single issue and just ran up against the restrictions of having to keep it under a certain page count.

The backup story involves Rick Jones on another adventure as A-Bomb, this time apparently under some sort of mind control that causes him to believe that Jen Walters and Lyra, the two She-Hulks, are actually deadly monsters. We’ll see what’s going on with that in future issues.

Overall, while the pacing is a bit off there is still a lot to enjoy in this issue. It’s got a lot of wacky old-school antics as well as some obscure returning characters such as Woodgod, the Impossible Man, and of course Xemnu himself. Pacing issues aside, it’s a fun one-shot and a welcome change from the longer storylines and proliferation of crossovers that have dominated the Hulk books for a while.

Hulk #28 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 252013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #28

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: February 2011

Hulk #28 brings the red Hulk’s plot together with the backup story from previous issues in a ride that is ultimately enjoyable.

I had previously stated that Jeff Parker writes a poor Rick Jones from time to time, but this time around he’s back on his game, writing Rick as a guy who is witty and fun but also heroic. The one slip-up is the implication that Rick didn’t know until this issue that the red Hulk was Thunderbolt Ross, since he was shown to have known way back before Banner himself even figured things out. My no-prize attempt at reconciling things is that the Intelligencia screwed with Rick’s mind enough to mess up some of his memories.

Ross is sent to re-establish contact with the missing Rick Jones, who disappeared on a monster island last issue. It turns out he’s being mind-controlled with the rest of the beasts on the island by one of MODOK’s contingency plans. The red Hulk tries to save the day, but winds up nearly getting controlled himself. He saves himself by overheating and burning out the thing that is controlling him, but transforms into the vulnerable General Ross in the process. So now it’s up to Rick Jones as A-Bomb and a depowered General Ross to stop a bunch of dinosaurs from rampaging through the sea and destroying America. This is the fun stuff that would have been nice to explore earlier with the red Hulk, rather than having him pitted in endless slugfests with the Marvel heroes.

Speaking of slugfests, there’s no Marvel hero to beat up the red Hulk this time around. He does get his butt kicked by some dinosaurs, which causes him to flip out at the fact that everybody has been treating him like a punching bag. Again, it’s fun to see Ross get his comeuppance and see that being a real hero and not the “I’ma gonna overthrow America for its own good” kind is a lot tougher than it looks.

The issue also has a nice scene with Bruce Banner as he follows Ross’ earlier advice and tries to interrogate Sam Sterns, formerly the Leader, and George Tarleton, formerly MODOK. Sterns is useless, but Tarleton unconsciously gives Banner a clue by sculpting a volcano made out of clay. We’ll find out more about that next issue.

Our backup story moves on from Rick’s adventures now that they’re part of the main story and deals with the Watcher, who is apparently a bit messed up since getting punched by the red Hulk. That explains why he was so smug when the red Hulk faced certain death in space a couple of issues ago. What’s going on with Uatu will be explored in future issues.

Overall, this is another very good story. There’s nothing completely groundbreaking here, but it is a solid comic book story with a lot of fun to offer. At its simplest, it is a tale of two gamma beings taking on an island full of rampaging dinosaurs. If you want something more complex, you can read it as an exploration of how difficult it can really be to get redemption. At the beginning of this arc, Ross expected to just be let out of jail because he was too powerful to be locked away. Now he’s learning that there’s more to heroism than just sheer power.

Hulk #27 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 232013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #27

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: January 2011

Hulk #27 delivers more in the revenge conga line that is the red Hulk’s life right now, to the point where you almost (almost) start to feel sorry for old “Thunderbolt” Ross.

Even the Watcher, who Ross punched in the face way back in Hulk #4 in what would become one of the most iconically bad moments in the character’s history, gets in on the act now. Naturally, as a Watcher, he can’t do anything more than just observe the events which are taking place, but you can tell that there’s a sense of amusement as he observe the red Hulk nearly get sucked into a black hole.

All this revenge is starting to feel a little petty on the part of the folks who got jobbed so the red Hulk could look like the cool new guy on the block, but it’s also reasonable considering the character’s history. He spent quite a while waltzing through the Marvel Universe punching people just because he could, and he allied with some of the worst supervillains out there in order to overthrow the United States. People are not going to make his rehabilitation easy, nor should they.

There are three major joys to this issue. The first is more excellent art by Gabriel Hardman. His pencils have a different style than those of Ed McGuinness, but they suit the story very well and deliver the action just as effectively. The second is a sit-down conversation between Banner and Ross. It’s interesting to see such a role reversal for the characters – Banner is now the guy with freedom and a family, while Ross is the traitor, the loner, and the monster. They still don’t like each other, but you can tell that each is starting to get a grudging respect for the other.

The third great joy is the arrival of the Sub-Mariner on the scene. The next segment of the red Hulk’s mission is to stop the Intelligencia’s deep sea contingency plans, which means that Ross and his obnoxious school bully attitude is running face to face with Namor and his supreme arrogance. It’s a good clash of attitudes, and it does result in some fists flying in a squabble that fits the characters well. Once again the red Hulk succeeds in his mission, bringing him one step closer to a final victory over the Leader and MODOK.

Overall, Hulk #27 continues some solid storytelling and the gradual transformation of the red Hulk from an obnoxious character that should never have been created to a guy who is genuinely intriguing. There’s nothing here that makes me jump out of my seat and declare the comic the best thing ever, but it is a good issue and the type of solid, well-paced storytelling that the character needs in order to continue his ascendance into something better.

Hulk #26 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 212013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #26

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: December 2010

Hulk #26 continues the retribution conga line against the red Hulk, this time featuring Thor getting a chance at laying the smackdown. It’s a surprisingly effective way to get angry readers to forgive the character – just have all the folks who were punked to make him look good show up and deliver a righteous beating.

Last issue had Thunderbolt Ross teaming up with Iron Man against the machinations of the Intelligencia, and that plot gets wrapped up pretty quickly this time around. The next ally for our main character is Thor, who flies in claiming that he is excited about teaming up with the Incredible Hulk, only to start throwing his hammer around when he sees the red Hulk instead. Steve Rogers assumes that the transmission cut out early, but in actuality Thor just has an ego and is looking for some payback. The art here really shines, especially when we get a shot of Bruce Banner enjoying the beating. It seems that even while he’s working with Ross, there is some level of dislike there.

After the scuffle is resolved, Thor and the red Hulk team up to take on the Intelligencia’s operations in space. This is some pretty fun, wacky stuff that you can only find in superhero comics, with a Norse god smashing asteroids alongside a red-skinned monster in space. In scripting this issue, Jeff Parker is showing us not only that the red Hulk can be written well, but is also highlighting the reason why the excuse of, “It’s got good art and some cool action” doesn’t hold water as a legitimate defense of the previous run on this title. Not only do we have equally good art and the same cool action here, but the characters are written well and the protagonist isn’t nearly as annoying as he has been for the past few years.

The backup story gives us some adventures of A-Bomb, aka Rick Jones. Parker is very hit and miss with Rick, and this story is no exception. He seems to be at his best writing the character when he’s dealing with Rick’s more serious guilt-ridden side, but not so much when he’s dealing with the fun, devil-may-care part of the character. This backup story is the latter, with A-Bomb having wacky adventures and generally just enjoying his power. The humor falls a bit flat here, but not so much as to be unbearable.

Overall, despite a slightly weaker backup story, this is another good issue that continues a promising start for the team of Parker and Hardman. The pacing and characterization is great, the art is very good, and the overall issue is well worth checking out, whether you have been a fan of the red Hulk or not.

Hulk #25 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 182013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #25

Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Gabriel Hardman

Published: November 2010

How long does it take the red Hulk go from being a boring character with terrible dialogue to him becoming legitimately interesting? About as long as it takes for Jeph Loeb to turn the title over to Jeff Parker, who in a single issue manages to undo a lot of the damage done by Loeb over the course of several years.

Hulk #25 is Parker’s debut on this book, but not on the character. He also wrote many of the Fall of the Hulks tie-ins, which on average were pretty good. Here, he has the task of taking a character who has been obnoxious since his introduction and making him interesting. He does this thanks in part to the fact that the “mystery” of the red Hulk’s identity is no longer the central point of the plot, meaning that Parker can write about a guy that many comic fans have known for decades: General Thunderbolt Ross.

In terms of plot, the red Hulk is recruited by Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner to defeat a failsafe program of the Intelligencia’s designed to destroy Earth if their plan failed. During the briefing scenes, we see some great interaction between Ross and Banner. Ross, despite having been definitively beaten by the Hulk, still has an ego on him and really dislikes the idea of the milksop Banner telling him what to do. When Banner disables his energy draining abilities (which supposedly would have killed him had they remained on), Ross responds with the attitude that Banner is looking to give himself an edge. This is a guy who still sees Banner as an enemy even when Bruce’s intervention is the only reason he’s not in prison right now. For Banner’s part, his response to Ross’ accusation is that he doesn’t need an edge – he’s the Hulk. This shows how Banner and the Hulk have grown more accepting of one another and are now closer in terms of personality, which will be explored more over in The Incredible Hulks.

Part of what made the red Hulk so annoying was the way he showed up to beat down superheroes and did little else for the first year or so of his existence. In an attempt to give fans a measure of payback, Parker seems ready to allow the tides to be reversed a bit. The red Hulk is supposed to be teamed with Iron Man here, but due to a miscommunication, Iron Man instead attacks him. There is something both amusing and cathartic about the red Hulk trying to explain what’s going on while being pummeled by Iron Man. Ultimately, it’s also a nice way to show the consequences of Rulk’s earlier actions – he spent the first few storylines of his existence acting like a villain, and now he’s being treated like one.

Combined with good art from Gabriel Hardman, Hulk #25 is a sign of good things to come for this big red monster. The quality of the writing is a huge boost from previous issues, and the art is solid enough to keep us from missing Ed McGuinness too much. The only possible problem is that for people who didn’t like the red Hulk, the wounds might still be too fresh to dive right into a book that is more exclusively about him than ever before, regardless of the current quality.

Hulk #24 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 132013
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #24

Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Ed McGuinness

Published: October 2010

Hulk #24 is Jeph Loeb’s last issue on the title, and it’s supposed to give us what many Hulk fans have been waiting for: a chance for the Hulk to return and beat down the red Hulk. Unfortunately, the writing is typical for Loeb’s run on this title. If you ignore the dialogue and stick to the pictures, though, it’s a very satisfying tale.

There are several issues with Loeb’s work on this issue. There’s clumsy dialogue such as, “I’m Doctor Bruce Banner. I was caught up in the wake of a weapon of my own mass destruction.” This leads me to believe that the editors didn’t do much more than give the book a cursory glance before sending it to press. There’s Loeb’s return to his Superman/Batman writing style where he uses two different color narration boxes for two characters talking about the same thing – a cool gimmick in concept, but in execution it just means he gets to add a lot of repetition into the script. Most of all, there’s Loeb’s apparent misunderstanding that just because the Hulk doesn’t speak in the third person anymore doesn’t mean that he’s suddenly got Bruce Banner brain. In short, the Hulk does not really appear in this issue. It’s all Bruce Banner in the Hulk’s body for no explicable reason.

The fight between the red Hulk, who has just attempted to conquer the country, and Banner-Hulk, who is fresh off a battle with Skaar over in The Incredible Hulk #611, is good for the most part, thanks to excellent art by Ed McGuinness. However, there is no explanation of why the Hulk is suddenly much more powerful than his red counterpart. He completely dominates the fight, practically never breaking a sweat as he dishes out payback. Similarly, the original She-Hulk and the red She-Hulk have a little scuffle (that pretty much completely negates their character development in the Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks mini-series) in which the very powerful red She-Hulk, who has proven to be a match for an entire Avengers team, is taken down in a few punches. As a whole, the issue reads less like it was something well-prepared and more like Marvel told Loeb to wrap up his story and get it done.

By the end of the book, the red Hulk is defeated and Banner-Hulk brings in Steve Rogers in an attempt to get him working for SHIELD. Banner’s reasoning is that he’s doing it for Betty, but I’m not sure why Rogers is agreeing to it – it’s usually not a good idea to have somebody who attempted a government coup to then work for that same government. Either way, this sets up the entrance of Jeff Parker, who will be taking up this title, hopefully with better results than Loeb had.

As a whole, this issue at least delivers a cathartic beatdown of the red Hulk. That’s been coming for a long while. It also cements the Hulk’s return to being unquestionably the strongest one there is, even with so many other Hulks around now. The story is weak, and any good that Loeb had built up during Fall of the Hulks seems to have evaporated over the past two issues. But that run is finally over, so now we have a new day dawning and hopefully some better red Hulk stories coming in the future.

Hulk #23 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 312012
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #23

Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Ed McGuinness

Published: August 2010

Hulk #23 begins the wind-down of Jeph Loeb’s run on the title, with the next issue being his last. While Loeb’s run picked up a bit during Fall of the Hulks, now it reverts back to the nonsensical mess it began as. The issue does give a nice recap of the career of Thunderbolt Ross, aka the red Hulk, but raises way too many questions if the reader actually puts some thought into it.

Last issue, Ross was at the mercy of the red She-Hulk, aka his daughter. Now, she’s nowhere to be found. Apparently she just left him there and ran off to get stabbed by Skaar over in The Incredible Hulk, then healed, then jumped out of the helicarrier in Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks, then…oh, who knows. Her absence here is never explained, and nobody on the Hulk team seems to have made the effort to explain how things are supposedly working out.

Ross runs across the cosmic Hulk robot, which had previously dominated him in a fight, but this time Ross Hulks out and defeats him easily. How is this possible? It just is. We’re never given any explanation at all.

Most of the rest of the issue is filled with flashbacks about Ross’ life. This is admittedly pretty well- done – Loeb has added some nice tidbits to the old man’s history, and the art is done by a variety of different artists to match the era the flashbacks come from. On the downside, these flashbacks retcon some things that cause other stories to make less sense. For example, it migrates Loeb’s Hulk: Gray miniseries into canon, despite the fact that the Hulk from there had gray skin but the child-like intellect of the classic green Hulk – a combination which never happens and which ignores pretty much every Silver Age Hulk story. It also establishes that Doc Samson has been in MODOK’s pocket from day one, which invalidates every heroic thing that character has ever done. As a fan, I think I’d prefer to just imagine that Ross is suffering some delusions due to blood loss rather than remembering things accurately.

Ross suddenly goes from being in the helicarrier to the White House lawn. How does this happen? Who knows? It never gets explained. Notice a pattern? The Leader is also there, for no explicable reason. Why the smartest man on Earth would put himself directly in front of his old foe without any defenses is also never explained. The red Hulk drains away the Leader’s gamma radiation, rendering him normal again. Why anyone thought this was necessary is beyond me. It would have made more sense just to have the Leader escape, because we know the next time he’s needed as a villain he’ll be brought back in full gamma-irradiated form.

Ross then kills the Talbot robot that is standing in the White House and delivering an address to the public about the country being put under military control. Again, this makes no sense for several reasons. The Leader states that they had to use the Talbot robot because General Ross was presumed dead at the hands of the red Hulk. Why, then, did they use a robot likeness of a man who had been dead long before that? Heck, his death even got brought up at Ross’ funeral, and Steve Rogers, the current head of SHIELD, knows he was dead. And then there’s the issue of why Talbot is a robot when Bruce Banner’s own tech confirmed that he wasn’t, but I’ve mentioned that plot hole repeatedly in other reviews.

The issue ends with the red Hulk declaring himself in charge, which marks the second time General Ross has committed treason. It’s also very unlikely that anybody is going to accept the rule of a giant red monster who is a confirmed murderer, but that’s to the side of the point.

This issue is a great encapsulation of Loeb’s entire run on this book, in that it only makes a single degree of sense if you completely turn off your brain and look at the pretty pictures. But if pictures

were the only reason we read comics, then they’d be books of art rather than sequential storytelling. Overall, while this issue does bring some resolution to the red Hulk’s storyline of the past few years, it does so in a spectacularly unsatisfying manner.

Hulk #22 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 182012
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #22

Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Ed McGuinness

Published: July 2010

Hulk #22 reveals the big “secret” that Marvel has been building up to for about three years: the identity of the red Hulk. Unfortunately, this whole mystery has had about as much of a buildup as a Scooby Doo mystery. Naturally, the red Hulk and the red She-Hulk wind up being the exact people almost everybody has suspected all along.

There’s not a lot of plot here, but it’s still better than most of what Loeb has done with this character. Since the “mystery” is solved here, we can stop with the attempts at misdirection and allow us to get into the head of General “Thunderbolt” Ross as he tries – and fails – to defeat the Intelligencia. The moratorium on this issue is the same as so many red Hulk stories in the past – great art, thin plot. Luckily, having some internal narration from Ross helps a bit.

Now that Marvel has finally dropped the charade that this was ever a mystery, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the rest of the story. From day one, Marvel has built up the red Hulk’s identity as some important secret, but the fact is that it was never a secret. We knew all the important facts right off the bat – he was a military man, he had a long history of hating both the Hulk and Bruce Banner, and he even called Banner “milksop.” All the clues only pointed to General Ross. In an attempt to throw the reader off, Marvel made it seem like the red Hulk had killed Ross and reintroduced another military man, Glen Talbot. The problem was that we already knew the Intelligencia had a bunch of LMDs, since that had been introduced earlier in the story, and Talbot was shown to be working with the Intelligencia rather than against them. In short, Talbot could have been a good suspect except for the fact that the circumstances of his reintroduction obviously ruled him out right away. There’s also the problem that Loeb always kills off the lead suspect in his mysteries only to bring them back later. It happened here, it happened in Hush, it happened in just about every mystery Loeb has ever written.

So why the dragged out storyline? Because Marvel fell in love with sales. Loeb’s red Hulk series soared despite terrible writing initially, and Marvel seemingly attributed that to the mystery rather than other factors like Ed McGuinness’ spectacular art, the fact that World War Hulk had left the Hulk as a very popular character, or the constant hype the company fed readers about this book. What we have here is an unsatisfactory ending but an ending nonetheless, and we can all rejoice and move on with our lives.

If the red Hulk’s identity was a bad mystery, then the red She-Hulk’s identity wasn’t even a mystery at all. From the moment she was introduced, there was literally only one suspect: a resurrected Betty Ross. We saw MODOK and the Leader plan on bringing her back to life, we saw the Leader’s ideal conclusion to World War Hulks wind up married to her, and we saw the Leader hitting on the red She-Hulk. To nobody’s surprise, the red She-Hulk is revealed to be Betty Ross, and it is only because she is so unstable that she is unable to finish the red Hulk off. In the end, it will be the Intelligencia’s manipulation of Betty that will partially prove to be their undoing.

Hulk #22 kicks off World War Hulks, which is unfortunately pretty unsatisfying in this book but a much better story over in The Incredible Hulk. If you’re looking for completion of the whole storyline, this is an issue that is neither good nor bad but which does advance the plot. If you want official confirmation of what you knew all along, this is the book for you. Beyond that, focus your attention over on The Incredible Hulk, where a much better story is unfolding.

Hulk #21 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  1 Response »
Nov 212012
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #21

Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Ed McGuinness

Published: May 2010

Hulk #21 features the red Hulk’s defeat in Fall of the Hulks, leaving the Intelligencia with wins over both him and Bruce Banner. The story is decent, but feels like a bit of a reversion from the previous character-building issues for the red Hulk as Loeb gives in to his desire for big action and shiny lights. Not that such a thing is a problem in a superhero comic, but the red Hulk still has not developed quite enough as a character to make readers care all that much about him.

The basic problem for the red Hulk from the start has been that he’s existed for action set pieces and little else. He was positively obnoxious in his early issues, racking up stupid victory after stupid victory while spouting the same trite clichés every issue. Starting at the Code Red storyline, he became more of an interesting character as he learned that he did have to rely on others. Fall of the Hulks features an alliance with his hated enemy Bruce Banner, which Rulk concludes was a failure by the end of this issue. Still, the slow development of this character is put on pause for this issue as we watch him take on the Intelligencia’s robots and monsters. Ultimately, Rulk is captured and the energies he’s been absorbing since his creation is used to transform the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and other Marvel heroes into mindless Hulk-like creatures – hence the next storyline, World War Hulks.

Ed McGuinness, as always, provides some great art here, which has been the saving grace even when the book gets a little stale. Some of the penciling veers toward the cartoonish, but overall it fits the feel of the storyline’s big action scenes. And despite not getting a lot of character development, Rulk is still somewhat interesting, with the big problem that the “mystery” of his identity is still played up when we should be getting inside his head more.

If the story has a major weakness it’s that after all this time we still don’t know the Intelligencia’s plan. Nor do we know why Banner and Rulk are taking the strategy they are. The story brings up Banner’s statement that, “General Ross has to die,” but doesn’t explain how that benefits them. The Intelligencia creates a bunch of Hulk-like creatures and then releases them in their own air fortress, which just means that they’re allowing their own base to be torn apart. There is a certain degree to which we aren’t supposed to understand what the supergeniuses are planning, but leaving the reader in the dark for too long becomes a problem.

Overall, Hulk #21 is a decent ending for Fall of the Hulks, despite its flaws. Whether this even can be considered successful overall depends largely on the next event, World War Hulks, which is coming next issue. The two are basically just the same storyline split into two titles, so we’ll see if the second act delivers a satisfying conclusion to this tale.

Hulk #20 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 272012
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #20

Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Ed McGuinness

Published: April 2010

Hulk #20 is about the importance of purpose, of planning, and the conflicts with a person’s nature. We see that on display here as Jeph Loeb, usually a guy who lets his imagination run wild and throws logic – and often good storytelling – to the wind, is forced to play along with the complex chess game that is Fall of the Hulks. Given some boundaries, Loeb actually does a decent job, which continues to make this event worth reading in full, even as it is slightly convoluted.

This time, in setting out to kidnap the eight smartest people in the world, the Intelligencia get a two for one, kidnapping both the Black Panther and the Beast in one mission. The red Hulk shows up to attempt to stop the heist, although why he is constantly running these missions is questionable since we know he and Banner are letting the Intelligencia succeed.

There is, naturally, the unnecessary fight scene that has become a hallmark of Fall of the Hulks. At least it makes some degree of sense, as the red Hulk popping up in Wakanda gets the X-Men to assume he’s the bad guy. The more important part of the story is Rulk’s musings on strategy and alliances. A paranoid man, we know he’s a military type who hates Banner. And yet he’s forced to ally with Banner, which is just what the Intelligencia wants for some reason. Both sides are playing the other is a battle whose goals we do not see yet, but it is interesting and shows Rulk placed outside his comfort zone, which is a vast improvement from where things once were.

There are, as always, unanswered questions that pop up here and there. Rulk makes an enemy of the Crimson Ghost by killing one of his apes, and the Ghost goes ballistic, attack Rulk’s heart. This knocks Rulk out, and it’s a wonder the Ghost didn’t kill him in his rage. Apparently, he’s acting under orders from the Leader, but in the middle of a blind rage it’s weird he’d remember those orders – especially when he’s outspoken against them.

In terms of presentation, Ed McGuinness continues to deliver some excellent art. The art here actually has an advantage over its counterpart in The Incredible Hulk, as Paul Pelletier’s art there is solid but a bit messy, possibly due to the inking or possibly due to having so much superhero action on a page at once. McGuinness handles his layouts well and delivers some crisp panels, so it’s very easy to follow what’s going on even when the whole of the X-Men plus the red Hulk plus the Crimson Ghost all get going.

As another entry in Fall of the Hulks, Hulk #20 is very good. As an entry into the general character arc of the red Hulk, it’s even better, since we’re seeing some growth and internal struggle with the character rather than the mindless smashing he was previously doing. Overall, Hulk #20 is a good, fun issue that furthers the cloak and dagger game that is Fall of the Hulks.

Hulk #19 Review

 Posted by  Issue Review, Marvel Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 242012
 

by Charlie Brooks, CMRO Contributing Writer

Hulk

Issue #19

Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Ed McGuinness

Published: March 2010

Ed McGuinness returns to deliver his usually high-quality art, and Jeph Loeb manages to put together a solid script for Hulk #19, which highlights the Intelligencia’s plan to kidnap the eight smartest men on Earth.

Maybe it’s because he’s collaborating with other writers, or maybe it’s because he’s managed to tone back his fanfic-like tendencies with the character, but Loeb’s red Hulk is slowly turning into a decent character. The script still has its flaws, specifically Loeb’s desire to write the Fantastic Four like they’ve just come straight out of the 1960s rather than a group that has grown and changed over the course of the past 40-plus years, but there is now a feeling like the story is moving in a specific direction and not just trying to convince the reader that Rulk is cool.

Story-wise, the issue deals with the Wizard leading a new incarnation of the Frightful Four in an attack on the Baxter Building. The goal: kidnap Reed Richards, one of the eight brightest minds in the world and thus one of the main sources of competition for the Intelligencia. This plot succeeds due to two reasons. One, he masks it with an attempt to pull the entire Baxter Building into the Negative Zone. Two, while the red Hulk shows up to save the Fantastic Four, he doesn’t provide any aid to Richards and allows him to be captured. According to Rulk, he wants the bad guys to carry on with their plan.

There are a couple of other intriguing bits of this story. We find that Lyra is doing an admirable job as a member of the Frightful Four, which is a major reversal from the hero role she had previously been trying to play. We also find that Negative Zone energy hurts Rulk when he tries to absorb it – a fact that Banner knew but didn’t warn his ally about. This adds some nice tension to the Banner/Rulk relationship. There’s a sense that maybe Rulk made a mistake in draining Banner of his gamma energy so he could be the puny scientist full-time. After all, Banner is the guy who has developed more anti-Hulk weaponry than anybody else on the planet. If Rulk steps out of line, who better to take him down?

This issue overall exhibits some of the flaws of the rest of the Fall of the Hulks event, specifically the tendency to spend lots of time babbling about pseudo-science and have too many things going on at once. Compared to earlier issues of the red Hulk, though, it’s a gem. The character is finally getting some direction, and we are piece by piece learning about what the Intelligencia want to accomplish. If you want to keep up on Fall of the Hulks or at least see the red Hulk show something other than an irritating boastful streak, this is a good issue to check out.

 Older Entries
/* ]]> */