At the risk of turning this site into a place that does little other than eulogise about comics created by the Phonogram team (and there were some other pretty ace books out this week, as it happens, which I’ll hopefully get to covering shortly), I can’t help but want to draw attention yet again to another excellent bit of work from Mr Gillen, K. When I first heard about this project, it hardly sounded like the most appealing or worthwhile use of his talents – Hulk stories aren’t generally my cup of tea at the best of times, and I’d hardly class “the best of times” as being a crossover, as part of the current Jeph Loeb run on the Hulk books, in which various heroes become “hulked-out” versions of themselves. So while I’ll always pay attention to anything Gillen puts out at the moment, this didn’t look as if it was going to be that good.

It is, though. In fact, it’s kind of great. The same lightness of touch that Gillen has expertly brought to his Marvel work so far – most notably on S.W.O.R.D., and any Thor scenes involving Volstagg – makes him perfectly suited to exploring what would happen if Peter Parker turned into the Hulk. The surprising answer is: instead of going and smashing things, he’d go and try to read about dinosaurs in the natural history museum. I mean, obviously. Oh, and he’d still crack jokes – just, not particularly subtle or witty ones (”Thor is the bluest one there is”). Meanwhile, ThorHulk – being far more of a proponent of the “smashy smashy” approach – doesn’t particularly want to waste time trying to pronounce “TEE-RANN-O-SAAAAURUS”, and wastes no time in making his feelings clear to Spider-Hulk. You can probably imagine what ensues.

But what really makes this work is that instead of simply presenting us with this diametric conflict, Gillen shows us why these characters behave like this when reduced to extremely simplified brain functions. Charming flashback scenes (very nicely rendered by Jorge Molina, who also does a great job in the “present” by having a mass of hulking muscle in a Spider-Man costume still somehow inherently feel like the real Spider-Man) show just why Peter has such a connection to the museum – and, perhaps more impressively (since the nerd is always the easy one for us comics readers to identify with), give a compelling reason for why the idea of stopping and reading, instead of fighting the imminent threat, irks Thor so much (you probably don’t need telling that it has something to do with Loki).

In other words, you tell Gillen to do a story where Thor and Spider-Man both turn into the Hulk and pound the stuffing out of one-another… and he gives you a mildly thought-provoking, and often very funny, character piece. I can only wonder what he would have done if asked to turn in a mildly thought-provoking and often very funny character piece, but in the meantime, it’s yet further evidence of just how on form he is with this stuff at the moment. Cracking.

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

Review: Blackest Night #5
Alright, look – I only bought this to get a free Green Lantern Corps ring. I know. What does it say about me that I’m a big enough Green Lantern fan to want a shiny plastic ring, but not enough of one to otherwise be buying the big event book that centres around it? Anyway, I have been keeping an eye on the crossover, and I’m pleased to report that this is the best issue so far – it’s done that classic thing that DC events of recent years seem to, in that after a stream of relative incomprehensibility, you suddenly get an issue (around #4 or #5) that neatly exposits what’s actually happened so far, and is itself much easier to follow. Pleasingly, the fact that the very question of there being such a thing as a “Bruce Wayne corpse” is far from clear cut is dealt with rather promptly, and the closing-page cliffhanger is a nice subversion of the way events have gone so far. It’s still terribly obvious how it’s all going to end (i.e. with Hal Jordan making like Tommy-out-of-Power Rangers), but it’s not half bad, this. [SP]

Review: Detective Comics #859
And this, meanwhile, is spectacular. From a story point of view, probably the best issue of Rucka’s run so far – filling in the pieces of Kate’s background, her military history, her relationship with Montoya, and turning her into a character (better late than never, I suppose) working wonders for the experience of reading about her in the present day. What really makes it, though, is a sequence that might even make a late challenge for my “Moment of the Year” nomination – it’s Kate’s “bat crashing through a window” moment, and it features some really quite bravura visual storytelling as Williams actually combines the artistic style of the pre- and post-becoming-Batwoman sequences within the individual panels themselves. The ability of colourist Dave Stewart to assist in pulling off the trick can’t be underestimated either, but this is experimental stuff of a nature you rarely see in everday, continuing superhero books – and it demands attention for that alone. [SP]

Review: Hulk #17
Hulk has come far from its catastrophic opening arc, but as a book, it still leaves much to be desired. Since being inexplicably and inexpertly transitioned from villain to protagonist, Red Hulk has struggled to build a character, and what little he is assigned usually comes out of narrative captions, told not shown. His powers, meanwhile, have been hastily lowered, with the man that once went head-to-head with Thor and beat down the Green Hulk finding himself blinded by Wolverine and paralysed by a single sai. Such muddled portrayals might be forgiveable were it not for the plot, which is frantically trying to weave a web of conspiracy that encompasses previously unrelated arcs. The result is a several-page sequence of nonsensical, largely retroactive exposition that would trip up any comic, let alone one which already has such poor footing. [JHu]

Review: Ms. Marvel #47
With “War of the Marvels” mercifully behind us, Reed finally pays off his Ms. Marvel annual by having Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel go on the date they arranged way back when. After the convoluted nonsense of the previous storyline (which the creative editorial basically admits and apologises for in this issue, by including a detailed, in-story recap) it’s nice to get back to a simple, reasonable straighforward story that plays up to the book’s strengths. Particularly nice is the fact that Reed manages to side-step the usual tendancy writers have of bringing Spidey in as a guest star so that they can do an audition for his solo title. Here, Reed casts the web-slinger firmly in a supporting role, and the issue is all the better for it. Ms. Marvel is a frustrating book, where months of poor writing and plotting will be balanced out by one or two excellent issues before it disappears into the mire again. Although ostensibly cancelled with #50, there’s a strong chance – assuming that Carol isn’t the token Seige death – that Ms. Marvel is heading towards a relaunch. If so, let’s hope it re-energises the series so that it can turn out this sort of issue a little more routinely. [JHu]

Review: Ultimate Comics Avengers #4
You wouldn’t want every comic (or even every Mark Millar comic) to be one in which a single character kicks an awe-inspiring amount of ass in a fashion that’s by turns clever and… well… kick-ass. But it’s hard to deny that when these things are put in the Scot’s hands, he does them very well. And even if the idea of a rogue Captain America being hunted down by Nick Fury and fighting off a group of fellow heroes that massively outnumber him only to succumb at the end has already been done exactly the same in Ultimates 2, it doesn’t make this any less thrilling. I actually like this version of Steve Rogers, and I honestly never thought I’d see the day. Meanwhile, “Nerd Hulk” is brilliant. This is still all a bit one-note compared to the layered intricacies of Ultimates 1 and 2, but it’s very strong nevertheless, and Pacheco is simply on another level compared with everything he’s done before. [SP]

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!

Review: Batman: The Widening Gyre #2
It’s weird that Kevin Smith chooses to bring back late ’70s love interest Silver St. Cloud. It’s even weirder that he chooses to bring back obscure early ’90s villain Cornelius Stirk (with Walt Flanagan rendering the cannibal and his surroundings in far grislier fashion than Norm Breyfogle ever used to). But what takes the absolute biscuit is the fact that the early scenes see Batman fighting Fun Land. Fun Land. You know, the fat paedophile from Sandman. No, seriously. It’s honestly the strangest narrative choice I’ve seen in a comic for a very long time – it’s almost as if Smith just wanted to point out that he’d read Sandman, but didn’t get the memo about the confused relationship between Vertigo and the DCU proper nowadays. Not a bad comic, incidentally – this mini is already miles better than Cacophony, not least because Flanagan seems to have taken some intensive art lessons in the interim; and the flashback scenes are particularly cute – it’s just that it clearly exists in its own little world, out of any semblance of proper continuity, and it’s hard to know quite what to make of it. [SP]

Review: Gotham City Sirens #4
You know, if DC really are just going to decide that continuity is to be entirely ignored from now on, it’d be nice if we could get an official announcement. Because to have a proper, in-continuity DCU book – set quite clearly at a particular time (i.e. post Batman RIP) – that manages to completely ignore the fact that Morrison reinvented and restyled the Joker, instead having him run around with his “classic” personality and accoutrements (or, more specifically, writing him as the Animated Series version), just takes the piss. I already suspected that Dini was doing little other than paying lip service to the wider Bat-continuity by virtue of his insistence on making the books all about his pet character, Hush – but this is clear proof of that. As an issue on its own it’s actually quite a bit better than this series has previously been – it’s quite fun, and it’s largely about Harley and the Joker but in a way that hasn’t really been done before, and Dini writes both of those characters (even when doing completely the wrong version) very well. But – and I will retract this if it turns out to be an “all is not as it seems” trick, which could be the case as the character doesn’t even appear on the cover despite not having been seen since the ambulance crash in RIP – for a title that’s obligated to fit into a wider context, it’s unforgiveably lax. [SP]

Review: Hulk #15
Casually flicking through Hulk after so many issues away is a sobering experience for the poor innocent who had assumed that, given that the book still existed and yet people weren’t really talking about it so much any more, it might have hoisted itself up towards being an almost mediocre read. So, let’s see… the Red Hulk is now a tortured anti-hero? And he gets to narrate the book? And the Punisher is on his side? And, because he’s a tortured anti-hero, he now needs to be flawed all of a sudden – so he’s defeated by a process so simple you wonder how all the earth-shatteringly powerful figures he’s previously smashed into the ground didn’t think to try? So, no. It isn’t getting any better. Especially when you’ve got Ian Churchill trying out his new Ed-McGuinness-ripoff style – and I’m sorry, shoulder injury or no shoulder injury, this book simply looks wretched. Oh, and then Red She Hulk turns up. Make. It. Stop. [SP]

Review: Wolverine: Weapon X #5
Some people complain about Wolverine being over-exposed. As I realise that he’s currently in ALL of the comics we’re doing capsule reviews in at the time I write this (Seb probably will add some that he isn’t in later. DC titles should be a reasonably safe bet) I can’t help but wonder if there might be a grain of truth in that assessment. Even so, if only one Wolverine book deserves to exist, this is the one. Weapon X is the only title currently doing Proper Wolverine Stories, in which he acts like himself, against threats pertinent to himself, and doesn’t spend time agonising over crazy conspiracy elements retconned into his life. Jason Aaron gets Wolverine more than almost any writer has in years. Between his writing and Garney’s art, this series has finally managed to reclaim a level of centrality to Wolverine’s character much like his solo series used to have in the old days. It’s just a pity it’s doing quite poorly, sales-wise. [JHu]

Review: X-Men Forever #8
It looks like we’ve got a bona fide classic on our hands, with Forever managing to feel exactly as it should: an entire franchise distilled into one book. The way that Nick Fury has been integrated into the team is a perfect example of how non-mutant elements of the Marvel Universe can be meshed with the X-Men mythos, while Chris Claremont’s perfect grasp of each of the regular characters is for once the window dressing on an expansive and coherently-plotted epic, with the writer’s long-running plot for once not being turned into a pinball table by commercial concerns. Only some rather lifeless colouring spoils a superbly enjoyable book. [JHa]

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.

Review: Amazing Spider-Man #604
Fred van Lente’s Chameleon arc has had its moments – a particularly chilling reinterpretation of the villain chief among them – and continues to do so in its closing chapter, with some good Jameson/Spidey material (”Look at his moustache!”) and in finally giving us the much-promised conversation between Peter and MJ (although frustratingly doing little to clear up what’s now supposed to have happened between them, and where they stand – particularly as regards MJ knowing his identity, given that nobody was supposed to know it post-Mephisto). But it’s never really recovered from that unconvincing attempt at a shock cliffhanger – and if you have to spend two pages on the character explaining through narration just how they escaped the death trap, then your storytelling’s lacking a bit. And as for the last page, well… lord save us from yet more Kraven the Hunter offspring, frankly. [SP]

Review: Booster Gold #24
Okay, first things first – if anyone can tell me why this issue is an “epilogue” to the current storyline, I’d be grateful. As far as I can see, it’s simply another chapter – and not even the last one, at that. Still, that quibble aside, this is relatively entertaining – if unchallenging – stuff. The Black Beetle may be turning into DC’s equivalent of the Red Hulk – disappointingly all-powerful, with the drawn-out mystery of his identity and origins becoming ever more tedious by the month until you just wish they’d get it over with – but while the ongoing mythology stuff falters, there’s still a fun little alt-history story here. Any sort of promised throw-down with Trigon fails to materialise (he’s merely an already-victorious background presence, rather than a foe to be challenged), but there are good touches throughout – Hal Jordan’s power ring seeking out its new owner years after it should have done, Booster taking the place of Deathstroke in order to make the events of that Titans issue pass as they should have done (and throwing in a retrospective reference to Morrison’s Batman at the same time), and Luthor being forced to team up with the heroes (despite the fact that his voice feels oddly wrong, and indeed that he’s forgotten about halfway through the issue). The backup strip, meanwhile, brings the Blue and Black Beetles together, and makes for an interesting development in the relationship between Jaime and the scarab – but it still feels like ten pages in the back of another series simply isn’t the deserved place for Blue Beetle. [SP]

Review: Hulk Team-Up #1
The X-Men and the Hulk don’t really seem like a natural pairing, but somehow, Hulk Team-Up #1 (optimistically described as a one-shot by the indicia) really makes it work. It’s certainly advantageous that the story is set definitively in recent Hulk/X-Men continuity (Hulk issues #4-6, in fact) and that it uses the X-Men’s San Francisco setup to full effect, giving it a relevance in continuity that many team-up books lack. There are plenty of things to like, though. The use of “X-Men” to mean characters other than Wolverine, Emma Frost and Cyclops, for example. The fact that the story loosely builds off a classic Hulk annual which also featured Angel and Iceman. The fact that there’s a thematic link between the Hulk and Angel. Sure, it’s never going to set the world on fire, but it’s enjoyable and inoffensive. Well, mostly, anyway – the Dazzler-meets-Bruce backup strip would be enjoyable and inoffensive, were it not for the art. Chin draws a very good Hulk, but her ridiculously-proportioned Dazzler looks like she stepped right out of a saucy 1970s Playboy comic strip. [JHu]

Review: Thunderbolts #135
Diggle’s run on the title might be nearing its conclusion, but much like Ellis’ appearance, it’s going to make for a surprisingly complete arc – although we probably could have done without the Deadpool crossover mid-way through. Although the return of Songbird and the former Thunderbolts cast has probably been the most fan-pleasing element of the title, it’s good to see Diggle moving new characters forward. Just as the original Thunderbolts managed to take a team of mostly c-list villains and turn them into characters capable of appearing in Marvel’s flagship Avengers title and computer game spin-offs, so Diggle has done stellar work on turning c-list villains into credible characters here. This issue sees Mister X posing the kind of threat he never could’ve over in Wolverine, while Ghost gets another moment of morally ambiguous brilliance. If there’s any problem, it’s that the stakes feel far too high for a book of Thunderbolts’ profile, and that sucks the credibility out of the final few pages. Even so, it’s a great read for those that have stuck with it through the constant reworks and creative shuffles. [JHu]

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.

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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This issue immediately shows it as the spiritual follow-up to World War Hulk, involving not just the Hulk, but the Warbound, She-Hulk and the Fantastic Four in its pages as they race to find Skaar, newly arrived on Earth and looking for his father. Pak writes the situation with believable gravitas and each member of the wide cast has their role in the story. It’s not without a light touch, and there’s a brilliantly comedic moment at the start involving Ketchup, a Waitress and the Hulk that’ll appeal to the diner in all of us. If there’s any barrier to overcome, it’s that Skaar, as a character, has very little in the way of a discernable personality or motivation, and perhaps that’s why the book doesn’t focus on him too much.

The art on the series comes from Dan Panosian, and if we’re being honest, it’s not his best work. It’s never so bad that it threatens to undermine the story, but any extended examination of the art reveals its ugliness, with lumpy, jagged anatomy and malformed faces all over the place. Any artist would struggle when compared to Romita Jr.’s work on World War Hulk, but Panosian’s underachievement is all the more palpable from it.

Other than that – an intriguing start to what looks to be kicking off a soft-relaunch of the Hulk’s franchise in the coming months. It’s strange to talk about a “line” of Hulk books, but that looks like what’s going to happen, and it largely looks to be spinning out of Planet Skaar. One final piece of advice for Marvel editorial, though – try not to blow your ending twist on the cover in future?

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The introduction of Betty Ross as She-Hulk, for example, was a curve ball of the sort that the Ultimate books used to throw all the time – and indeed almost feels like the last hurrah for the line’s original sense of divergence from the regular MU – and worked as a genuinely interesting development, even though it shifted the book’s dynamic and subject matter away from that which the title would suggest. This issue does similar, by focusing almost entirely on Wolverine, but it works well as a “solo” book – Lindelof’s version of the character is well-defined, and as with his Fury, rather Bendis-ish. And in much the same way as Betty shifted the character balance last time, here we get an appearance from the barely-ever-used Ult version of Forge, who despite being the most ludicrously plot-devicey character in the history of comics, interacts amusingly with Wolverine.

You suspect that Lindelof’s taking the piss a bit with the way he’s been constructing the issues around flashbacks, framing devices and even dream sequences (a particularly funny one of these opens the issue) in such an arch, knowing way – but it suits the tone he’s established, with wisecracks littered throughout and even some gentle mocking of his lead. And it’s hard to deny that a book’s enjoyable to read when it looks as good as this does – moving away from the slightly exploitative nature of some of his She-Hulk art last issue, Yu is on better form than he’s been since Superman : Birthright. It’s an elaborate, considered piece of visual work (despite one slightly sloppy instance of storytelling, when only narrative caption tells us that Banner is throwing Betty through the air, given that the image looks like he’s ripping her in half), so streets ahead of the cluttered jumble of Secret Invasion that you’d struggle to identify them as the same artist. In particular, two instances of panel construction, cutting the borders around full-page Logan shots, are superbly conceived and realised.

If there’s a criticism of the book’s content, it’s that the story doesn’t feel desperately significant – we know its ending can’t really change anything, as it represents a fixed point in the long-since-past of the universe in which it lives, and as such you suspect it’s all going to turn out to be a load of fuss and bluster over nothing. Nevertheless, and despite feeling inherently uncomfortable about recommending a book whose publishing schedule feels like a direct insult to those bothered to read it, this is a classy and entertaining, if ultimately rather lightweight, piece of work.

Review : Deadpool #8
Following on from his Secret Invasion tie-in, the schizophrenic mercenary now mounts a single-handed assault on Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign setup, launching him into another crossover. While there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with Daniel Way’s policy of constructing situations around the gags he has in mind for ‘Pool, it does leave the book extremely weak when the punch lines fail to deliver. Add a cartoonish art style that manages to be entirely dependant on the colourist to introduce vibrancy, and it’s hard to see the book attracting the following Marvel is obviously hoping for on the back of the character’s forthcoming film appearance. [JHa]

Review: Hulk: Broken Worlds #1
The Hulk’s many incarnations and interpretations have left him with more alternate universe counterparts than any Marvel property besides the X-Men. Strangely, by exploring some of these stories and universes, Hulk: Broken Worlds offers an unlikely antidote for the depressingly uncomplicated Loeb era. Readers can expect to find a story about Hulk and Jarella in the microverse, a tale from the recent House of M run, a Hulk 2099 story and the crown jewel, a Peter David-penned “Future Imperfect” vignette which, if there’s any justice in the world, will be collected alongside its parent series in the future. It might be a glorified What If? comic, but even so, it’s far more entertaining than the parent series right now. [JHu]

Review : Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #3
I can’t help but feel that finally getting round to finishing this, given how much the Ultimate universe has since moved on (thanks, Loeb) is a staggeringly pointless exercise. But it’s as much of a fun little bonkers story as the first two issues were, despite barely moving the plot along a single iota until an intriguing final page reveal, and a reminder of a time when the Ultimate books were actually, you know, good. It’s also almost worth the cover price alone for Leinil Yu’s art, banishing memories of the cluttered Secret Invasion with work that challenges Superman : Birthright in the “career best” stakes [SP]

Review: War of the Kings #1
The oddly successful relaunch of Marvel’s cosmic properties continues with the beginning of the third major crossover, War of the Kings. It’s strange to see such recognisable supporting characters as the Inhumans and the Imperial Guard thrust into the spotlight with only a smattering of interaction with more A-List characters, though the plot, which sees the most recent Shi’ar Mad Emperor, Vulcan, gate-crash the Inhuman/Kree society event of the century feels oddly charged with gravitas. It’s never going to engage me as much as any story set on Earth, but as cosmic events go, it’s a nice example and a good start. [JHu]

Film Review : Watchmen
For those of you who are interested in the Comics Daily take on Watchmen, you can find the thoughts of both Seb and Julian over at Noise to Signal, where they each manage to give the film an identical rating despite having almost diametrically opposed opinions. If you want to know what James thought of it, however, you’ll have to first try and come up with a way to make him actually interested in seeing it.