Finally! A comic we can enjoy on its own terms. Good old Hulk. The story of mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner, caught in gamma bomb explosion and mutated in the rampaging green monster, the Hulk. Yeah, Hulk Smash! Simple enough for anyone to understand and gloriously timeless to boot.

What’s that you say? He’s RED now? Well, that’s sort of interesting. Oh, and he’s not Bruce Banner? That’s… well that’s a bit weird, but okay. Sorry? He’s NOT rampaging anymore, but instead he’s shooting the Abomination in the head with a pistol? Excuse me, I think I may have picked up the wrong comic, just let me check the cover a second. Nope, nope, definitely says Hulk #1 on the front… What’s that smaller word there?  Something like lo…loed…aha! It’s LOEB. This comic is written by JEPH LOEB!

Oh.

Yes, friends, the man who recently brought us a solid contender for the most widely mocked comic of 2007 has somehow found time to work his magic on the Jade Giant (or should that be Crimson Colossus?) Much like Ultimates, it’s hard to list Hulk #1’s faults because it’s so brainless. Perhaps the funniest thing is that Loeb has used the same assassination mystery in both Hulk and Ultimates, as both titles now set about investigating who just shot their long-standing cast member. One assumes Loeb simply phoned the scripts in during coffee breaks on the Heroes set.

Even John Byrne’s famously stalled reboot (the last time we saw a Hulk #1) was better than this - trust me, I was there. When the next Hulk movie comes out this year and people flock to the stores to buy the latest Hulk collection, they are going to find the TPB that starts with this issue, and then they’re going to come back the following day and punch their bookseller in the ear.

The mystery behind the red Hulk appears to relate to the Cold War. Well, as Calvin Harris once said, it was acceptable in the 80s. The new Hulk is red like a Soviet Socialist and chances are he’ll be a Russian Super-Soldier of some kind, hence the appearance of Marvel’s generic Russian superheroes, the Winter Guard. In fact, the new Hulk isn’t even IN this issue, only the supporting cast. That nonsense might fly over in Captain America, but Loeb’s no Brubaker.

The good? Well… Rick Jones is back, and he’s been absent for too long. Okay, last time we saw him he was speared through the gut, but I assume that’ll be addressed. There’s some nudging for us to infer that he’sthe Red Hulk, but I’m not buying it even a little bit. McGuinness’ art may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is pleasingly chunky, which is good for a title that relies on the sheer scale of its lead character’s appearance.

And… that’s about it. This is indeed a rare thing - a Hulk comic for people who don’t want to read about the Hulk. Loeb spent most of 2007 demolishing his reputation with some high-profile misfires and only one genuinely decent series (Fallen Son) to his name. 2008 isn’t off to a good start.

Or rather, Incredible Hercules. Yes, folks, this is the issue where the title changes hands in all but name (that’ll be happening next month) - the Hulk has disappeared from his own title. Standing in his place are World War Hulk survivors, the demi-god Hercules and child genius, Armadeus “Flex Mentallo” Cho.

Now, it’d be very easy to hate this book. I’ve previously yammered on about how I think changing the cast and title in this way is a horrible and cynical marketing idea, but since I’ve already covered that, I’ve decided to give it a chance and consider it on its own merits.

And, well, it’s pretty good. Pak and Van Lente take the time to really round out Hercules as a man trying to do the right thing but who all too often lets his emotions cloud his judgement, illustrating many examples of this throughout existing Greek legend. After being denied the pardon extended to any other supporters of the Hulk due to their destruction of a Helicarrier, Hercules convinces Cho that they should hand themselves in, following his sense of honour.

While Cho is asked to use his super-brain to co-ordinate the cleanup of New York, Hercules discovers that his half-brother, god of war and Mighty Avenger Ares will be his new commander in the Initiative. Enraged by his goading, Hercules breaks free of SHIELD, taking Cho with him. Cho suggests that the two join forces and take down SHIELD together.

The dynamic between Hercules and Cho is remarkably compelling. Cho is the impetuous brains of the outfit while Hercules represents the much slower, if easily-led brawn of it. There’s plenty of potential for comedy and the use of Ares as the first arc’s “villain” makes a lot of sense, given how Hercules was previously an Avenger and now finds himself on the outside. It’s not a perfect comic, of course - the main question is whether or not anyone wants to read about Hercules and Cho trying to take down SHIELD - but at least it’s got direction. Either way, it’s going to sell more comics than if they cancelled it in favour of the new Hulk series…

The final issue of the Warbound arc takes place before, during, and slightly after the events of World War Hulk #5. There’s a small amount of danger in this, because going into it, we can already feel like it was largely irrelevant in the main story, but fair enough - this arc has always been the “Behind the Scenes” part of WWH.

The bulk of the issue features Cho, Wong and the Hulk-supporting renegades tracking down the demon Zom, who after being expunged from Strange after his defeat, has transferred his essence to Iron Man’s discarded Hulkbuster armour. Er, okay, sounds a bit strange, but I can deal with it. After clearing that mess up, they arrive just in time for the climax of WWH which honestly isn’t improved much by being shown from a different angle.

The high point of this issue certainly isn’t the plot, which is fairly generic background-filler for WWH, skirting around the main story but not actually interacting with it. Instead, the best stuff is the character interaction. A heavy focus obviously goes on Hercules and Cho, but Angel and Namora also get plenty of good material. In fact it’s quite damning to the X-Books that my favourite appearances for Angel - in this arc, and the time his guest-starred in Thunderbolts - didn’t even come out of the X-Office.

Ultimately, the Warbound arc is a fun one with great writing and art (Kirk’s pencils remind me of Mark Bagley, circa Thunderbolts, which is a good thing.) even if the sense of irrelevance permeates it all. Cho has been an interesting character to me since his introduction in Amazing Fantasy #15 (er, not that one) so it’s nice to see Pak making use of him. However, it’s not entirely nice to see how he’s going to in the future…

When I started this blog, I promised it would be about the comics, not about industry drama and celebrity. I got about 350 words into the entry for this issue before I realised I’d barely talked about the actual story at all, so I decided to be fair to the comic and to the creators, and I wrote the above review. If you’re actually interested in seeing what I have to say about comics marketing and politics, concerning the re-titling and re-casting of this series, click more to read it.

Continue reading »