[quote="startrekismylife"]I never really read a hulk title before at all when I decided to read planet hulk/wwh. I enjoyed every minute of planet hulk. When I got to wwh I was pretty excited to see what was going to happen. Then I got probably 3/4 of the way through it (reading every tie in as well) and then I lost interest. [/quote]
I would say the very same if I hadn't finally decided to skip the tie-ins. But they really didn't add anything to the story. I think the approach of WWH-Frontline was okay, kinda the thing they did with Marvels (showing events from the perspective of a reporter), but then again, accompany an only 5 part issue with additional 5 issues is a stretch - not to speak of the ~30 other tie-ins. Just read the 5 part main story and you're good.
Planet Hulk took place on a planet far, far away so they couldn't fill in other titles even if they wanted to - I think besides the good writing that was already an advantage to begin with regarding a coherent quality.

I never really read a hulk title before at all when I decided to read planet hulk/wwh. I enjoyed every minute of planet hulk. When I got to wwh I was pretty excited to see what was going to happen. Then I got probably 3/4 of the way through it (reading every tie in as well) and then I lost interest. This was probably 2 years ago and I still haven't finished it. So reading only the main series is probably a good idea if you don't want to be overwhelmed with boringness

Finished it yesterday, after deciding only stick to the main series which took me about 20 minutes and it was done. I skipped through the tie-ins and they were rather boring. I'd recommend people unfamiliar with WWH to just read the 5 issues WWH after reading PH. It's a decent conclusion but is standing no chance against PH in terms of quality. It's just a big fight with explosions growing bigger and bigger. Had a slight touch of Akira which I liked.

I always thought She-Hulk would be terrible but then i listen to all these podcasts where they give that book a lot of praise and so now i'm curious to read it (whenever i get there in the order decades from now lol)

So far I agree with DOOM and Kez on the tie-ins. Also I think it's pretty lazy established in the main event. Hulk pulls a countdown out of nowhere till the fight should take place and makes room for the tie-ins in which he is fighting nevertheless. So there are some guys like the X-Men fighting Hulk and some others just wait for the end of the countdown. It's stupid. On one side I'm loving arcs in general, on the other side I hate it being forced into series I'm not caring for, especially when there isn't a logical reason established in the story. Having said that, I'm surprised She-Hulk isn't nearly as awful like I expected it to be.

I think it's worse because WWH is such a small event by Marvel standards. It's only 5 issues so how much does that really need to be expanded on?

The stuff in Frontline wasn't bad but, like you said, it's completely inessential.

The Damage Control stuff was ridiculous and the mini that followed Hulks friends from Sacaar was also pretty terrible.

Yeah, Planet Hulk is probably the best Hulk comic I've read.

I'm inclined to agree with DOOM on the mini-series point, there was a LOT of fluff surrounding the WWH story and it kinda subtracted from the main stuff that was going on. I think I would have enjoyed it more reading the main storyline from start to finish and then going back afterward and looking at what the other guys were doing at that time.

I really enjoyed the little story in WWH: Front Line where Korg has that detective help him find out what happened to ARCH-E, but again it wouldn't have mattered too much if I'd read it completely separately. The whole thing in Damage Control with the talking building was just weird as well. It was kinda funny in its own right but totally did not fit the overall theme of the event.

WWH is also helped by coming off of Planet Hulk, which was itself a pretty good arc.

I want to add on-topic that absolutely NONE of those crossover issues are necessary. you can read just the WWH issues and get a fine reading experience.
I know everyone wants to read everything, but things like reading Gamma Corps add nothing to the thrill of the story and really only grind it to a halt.

If you don't know where to start and just want to read an "in one sitting" story, read the WWH issues straight through.

I always thought the tie-ins for this "event" were less about adding to the overall narrative and more about just showing what those characters were up to while WWH was going on. The Gamma Corps and Frontline minis are completely worthless. The WWH: X-Men actually succeeds at being entertaining and adding to the story while not being at all necessary.

If you are looking for more on it, there is a good run of reviews on issues that make up WWH by Charlie Brooks. They are pretty detailed.