This week: Capsule reviews of Blackest Night #5, Detective Comics #859, Hulk #17, Ms. Marvel #47 and Ultimate Comics Avengers #4! (continue reading…)

Okay, this time I’m not going to complain that this The List book is actually nothing to do with the Dark Reign meta-arc and instead focus on it for what it is: a one-shot that has a lasting impact on the parent title’s continuity, presumably as a marketing device to draw people into the series’ ongoing plot threads. In that sense, it’s still a bit of a failure.

This issue, Osborn gets to “Neutralising Bruce Banner” on his list of things to do. The Hulk, of course, is already neutralised, so Osborn goes to great lengths to explain why Banner needs to be taken out of the equation too. Apparently, it’s because he’s the fourth smartest person on the planet, though why that’s a good enough reason to go after Banner and not, for example, Reed Richards, isn’t particularly clear.

The plot has the unlikely pairing of Moonstone and Victoria Hand going after Skaar and Banner. Moonstone makes sense, because she’s an old Hulk villain, but much like Osborn, Ms. Hand is so over-exposed, one wonders how she’s got the time for field operations. Still, it leads to some enjoyable battles-of-wits between her and Banner, while Moonstone deals with Skaar. Pak has always understood the need for a psychological dimension to the Hulk, so it’s good to see that continue here, as the fights are resolved not by punching, but by smarts.

The payoff to the issue – Banner being partially re-irradiated – is either a major part of the ongoing arc of Incredible Hulk, or a ridiculously weak cop-out, depending on how it’s followed up. The idea is that being irradiated by Osborn’s plan has will mean that Banner becomes the Hulk much sooner than he would’ve. Of course, since we had no time frame on that anyway, it’s hard to see how this’ll have any consequences. I’m giving Pak the benefit of the doubt, but I’d be lying if I said I was wholly convinced.

Whether this one-shot becomes anything more than a throwaway piece of continuity will ultimately rely on Pak himself. As a story itself, it’s fairly enjoyable, but not enough to make it worth buying if you’re not already reading Incredible Hulk – and for a one-shot that’s supposed to appeal to people who aren’t, that’s not a good thing.

This week: Capsule reviews of Batman: The Widening Gyre #2, Gotham City Sirens #4, Hulk #15, Wolverine: Weapon X #5 and X-Men Forever #8! (continue reading…)

Having this week resisted both a takeover bid from a major media conglomerate and the suggestion that we should change the site’s name to Entertainment Daily, we continue unabated with your weekly batch of capsule reviews. Under the microscope this week are Amazing Spider-Man, Booster Gold, Hulk Team-Up and Thunderbolts. (continue reading…)

In a list of things wrong with Incredible Hulk #600, the fact that any serious attempt at counting up issues of Incredible Hulk can only come up with 598 in total* is way, way down the list. But that does indicate the level of competence we’re dealing with here. In a week where Spider-Man #600, flawed as it was, managed to offer a story-bonanza the likes of which we will almost certainly never see again, Incredible Hulk #600 looks almost like a joke by comparison.

For those wondering, this is an issue of the regular Hulk series in all but name. Loeb and McGuinness are the creative team, and bring with them everything that entails. Splash pages. Nonsensical plot developments. Cringeworthy dialogue. As a matter of considered criticism, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Or perhaps someone else can suggest why “Rulk” suddenly decides, after repeatedly encountering the Hulk, to absorb the gamma energy from him. Makes all the gun-toting of the earlier Hulk issues seem a bit redundant, doesn’t it?

The story does serve to tie together some of the more incomprehensible threads of Loeb’s Hulk run – apparently, A-Bomb, Rulk and more besides are all part of some Gamma-Soldier program being developed by AIM and MODOK. It’s incredibly hard to see this as anything more than revisionist storytelling, since there wasn’t anything to suggest this in the previous year’s worth of stories, at least. We’re also once again teased with the suggestion that we’ll learn the identity of the Red Hulk, and once again, we don’t. It wouldn’t matter if the mystery were compelling, but the longer it’s drawn out, the less sense it makes. Personally, I want to know just so I can see how well the “clues” stack up – right now, the smart money is on General Ross, but only because Rulk uses a gun and keeps calling Banner a “milksop”, which is a word that literally no-one has used since the 1960s.

But let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that Rulk comics are your cup of tea. I like Frank Miller’s All Star Batman in an ironic, deconstructionist way, so I appreciate that there’s room for people to read Loeb’s Hulk too. Issue #600 of Spider-Man treated fans to multiple backups and a massive lead story. Does Hulk #600 do the same?

Not as such.

The lead story is a hair longer than a normal issue. Stan Lee’s short is a demented highlight, but a backup about the new She-Hulk comes over as a transparent marketing exercise. A reprint of Hulk: Gray #1 does, again, make sense if your goal is to shift more copies of the TPB collection, but in an anniversary spectacular, it feels rather cynical and half-hearted. If you’re a big Hulk fan, the issue itself is decent value that, had it could out before Spidey #600, might feel acceptable. But the bar was inadvertantly raised, and if you’re a casual dip-in, dip-out Hulk fan, you probably won’t be pleased with the results.

* Tales to Astonish/Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 – 474 issues.
Hulk/Incredible Hulk Vol. 2 – 112 issues before becoming Incredible Hercules.
Jeph Loeb’s Hulk – 12 published issues
474 + 112 + 12 = 598. Which makes #600 the, er, 599th issue.

After so long waiting for the conclusion to this series, it’s hard to know what to say. Was it good? Well, yeah. In fact, it was really good a lot of the time. If it hadn’t been good in the first place, it’s fair to say that no-one would have actually cared when it disappeared off the schedules for 3 years. A better question at this point is to say “Was it worth the wait?” – and that’s harder to say. It delivered a Wolverine Vs. Hulk story, and it delivered a better one than the “real” Marvel Universe has done in years – but it does so just as the Ultimate Universe is about to lose all semblance of relevance. For most of us, 3 years of waiting will have soured the memory of the series irreconcilably, but future generations, enjoying the collection edition, will applaud our patience. Probably.

Strangely, Issue 6 is one of the more muted instalments. Perhaps Lindelof suffered a bit trying to wrap up the arc. Perhaps it just changed so much from the original plan that he wasn’t sure what he was doing with it. Or perhaps this was always the intentional ending, and it’s a 3 year wait that’s making it seem a bit hurried. At this point, it’s hard to look at it with an objective eye.

The climatic moments in the issue are predicated on the rather strange idea that Wolverine wants the Hulk to die, rather than Banner. A tough decision to get on board with, and one Lindelof doesn’t really manage to convince me of in the issue. Likewise, the Nick Fury “twist” at the end seems a bit of an afterthought. It’s not his strongest plotting, that’s for sure. However – there’s good dialogue throughout, and Yu’s artwork is so far beyond his work on Secret Invasion that it’s not even funny. Generally speaking, it’s an entertaining comic, despite its plotting flaws.

Whether or not Lindelof has redeemed himself with the tail end of the series remains to be seen. Either way, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll actually show his face in comics again at all, although there is a chance – Kevin Smith has proven that there’s a way back in, after all. It’d be sad to lose a writer as keenly capable as Lindelof altogether, but if we’ve learnt anything from Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk it’s that, well, he should probably stick to one-shots.very bad things dvd download girl happy divx online download dead buried dvdrip far off place a download

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