In this episode the big topic of discussion is IRON MAN. (Three weeks late.) I also talk a very little bit about the new DARK KNIGHT and INCREDIBLE HULK trailers and TV spots. You can check out the new DARK KNIGHT trailer here and the new INCREDIBLE HULK TRAILER here.

Here is the latest INCREDIBLE HULK TV spot:

And you can watch the latest DARK KNIGHT trailer right here.

To catch up on your Iron Man reading check out these items over at Amazon and help support the site:

 

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Upon reviewing the second issue of Hulk by Jeph Loeb, I tended to go on about how much I love Jeph Loeb’s writing and how much I truly enjoy Ed McGuinness’ art. I didn’t delve too much into the current storyline, or give any real thoughts as to what I think is going on, or even comment on whether or not I liked it. Since that review, and since reading that second issue, I’ve developed my theories and thoughts and ideas. The real question is, “How is this book holding up as a Hulk book?”

As of issue number 3 of Hulk, I can say with some degree of confidence that this book is holding up well. Jeph Loeb knows how to craft a story and dangle the carrot in front of the reader just far enough away to keep us going after it. But, before we delve too much into that, let’s jump into a quick recap of the issue.

Spoilers are ever-present, so if you haven’t read this issue yet and you are planning to, you may want to wait and come back later.

The issue opens with Tony Stark surveying the damage done to the hellicarrier by the red Hulk. It’s a complete loss. She-Hulk wants to go after Big Red, and Quartermain, Ross and Doc Samson are missing. Agent Hill alerts Stark to a video feed he needs to see. Stark watches as Ross and Samson talk to Banner in his underground prison about this new Hulk. Banner asks Ross to stay a moment longer before he and Samson leave and tells Ross something inaudible to the recorders.

Out in Nevada, Red Hulk and A-Bomb (The Rick Jones [huh?] version of Abomination) are fighting. In fact, we are treated to a pretty amazing two page splash of the two tied up. The fight ends up taking place inside of gamma base. In a frustrating moment, the automated guard shack give Clifford the Big Red Hulk a retina scan and recognizes him as…that’s all we get. Red Hulk smashes the shack before it can complete the sentence.

The fight between Red and A-Bomb includes fists thrown, bodies thrown, and even a gun. (The gun doesn’t do much good.) Then, the Red Hulk jumps on top of A-Bomb and begins to pound his head into the ground. With each hit, the ground quakes and cracks. We see that the hits cause an tremor measuring 10.0 on the Richter Scale. Deep beneath the earth, Banner’s cell begins to be crushed as debris falls on it. Banner pleads to be let out, but contact with the walls of the cell cause him to be gassed. However, Banner can hold his breath.

In a page that got me super excited, Banner is pounding on the glass attempting to escape. We see his fist, as it repeatedly hits the glass, grow, turn green, and cause the cage to crack.

Back on the surface, a robot harpie fashioned in the likeness of the late Betty Ross Banner attacks both A-Bomb and The Big Red Machine.   Red Hulk mentions how something like that would give Banner pause…but he’s not Banner.  Both monsters make quick work of the harpie.

As Red(eye) destroys the harpie, he turns and says, “Ok Rick, let’s finish this.”  To his pleasure though, it’s not Rick standing there….it’s the Green Hulk.  Hulk is talking in classic Hulk speak.  He says, “Hulk not Rick.  Hulk is Hulk.”  Red smiles and says he’s going to love this.

Whew!  Ok, I’m gonna calm down a bit to explain my rating scale.   I’ve stolen the method used by the guys over at Superman Homepage. The reviewers on that site give out-of-five ratings in three areas: story, art, and cover art. It works, so I am going with that way of rating comics as well.

Story - 5 out of 5.

I am on board with Loeb when it comes to this journey.  This issue was exaclty what it was supposed to be.  It was a slugfest.  The first few pages were the calm before the storm, and they were used to give us a little information and introduced a few more questions. 

The fight between fake Hulk and fake Abomination was outstanding.  Red Hulk had the upper hand most of the time, and that can be attributed to his lack of concern for the consequences of his actions.  He constantly referred to A-Bomb as Rick which leads me to suspect that my initial theory as to the identity of this Hulk may be off a bit.  I thought it may end up being the Red King from the Planet Hulk storyline.  We never actually SAW him die.  However, his knowledge of people and events in  Banner’s life kind of throw that theory out the window. 

Basically, the story is the fight.  But there are some deeper issues at play too.  The Red Hulk’s retinal scans were in the Gammabase database.  He admitted to being something completely different from Banner.  Interesting.

Then there’s the return of ole Jade Jaws.   I was literally giddy as Banner began to change.  Then there was a panel where we see a green hand reaching up from a crack in the ground.  And the final splash page of the two facing off is nothing short of exciting.  Yeah, I’m on board.  Thus far, Loeb is crafting an engaging, exciting tale.

Art - 5 out of 5

Ed McGuinness was born to draw the Hulk.  His over the top musculature is perfectly suited to the character.  But, the real success of the art in this issue was the perfect use of splash pages vs. paneled pages.  McGuinness is as much a story teller as Loeb.  The scenes of the ground cracking and Bruce changing were pretty powerful, and there is a lot to take in despite the apparent simple design of things.

Cover - 4 out of 5

I like the cover.  It reflects the main happening of what’s inside the book.  I knock off a point because I really don’t like the white background.  I don’t have a problem that there’s nothing there, A-Bomb and Big Red take up most of the page, but instead of white, black and nothing would have looked better to me.  I haven’t rated any of the variant covers because I don’t have any. 

If you’re even remotely a fan of the Hulk, and have been wondering whether or not to pick up his book, do it.  It’s an amazing story and it’s loads of fun too.

I have never in my life subscribed to any comic.  I’ve always let myself be bound to having to seek them out in bookstores and comic stores, and before that convenience store and grocery store magazine racks.   Well, a few months ago, I read that Jeph Loeb was coming to the Hulk title.  This on the heels of the Planet Hulk saga and the ensuing World War Hulk.

I got to read like two issues of Planet Hulk, and my knowledge of the events of World War Hulk were relegated to recaps and reviews that I read online.  This made me somewhat sad because the Hulk has always been one of my favorite characters.  In any incarnation.

The problem with the Hulk is that I don’t know if any writer since Stan Lee (outside of Peter David) has really had a good grasp of the Hulk.   Of course, after the amazing 13 year run that Peter David intitally had on the title, it was going to be hard in the following years for anyone, no matter how talented or passionate, to come in and write compelling Hulk stories.  I think one of the best examples of this is an accomplished writer like John Byrne stepping in and producing what was a pretty poor Hulk story.  Later when Bruce Jones came in, he had promise, but I think a lack of understanding just who the Hulk is and what he’s about caused the story, which started with a lot of promise,  to drag on too much, get too convoluted and ultimately fail.

While Planet Hulk got great reviews from all over, I couldn’t help but think, “Haven’t they done this before.”  In a way they did.   Anyone remember Jarella?  Rocket Racoon?  Anyone?

Then, with World War Hulk, a lot of people thought that Marvel dropped the ball on what should have been a sure thing.   I don’t know about that as I didn’t get to read it.  However, thanks to ebay, that’s going to change really soon. 

Enter Jeph Loeb.  There are a very small handful of writers in comics today that I think can do no wrong.  It seems that whatever their imagination touches turns to gold…or in the Hulk’s case red.  Loeb, to me, is one of those writers.  I really enjoyed Loeb’s stuff on Superman, and I really liked his Batman Superman run.  His “Hush” story arc with Jim Lee proved that no matter how good the artist is, a good writer is what makes those pretty pictures work together for one heck of a story.  So, when I heard that Jeph Loeb was coming to Marvel and going to write for one of my favorites, I got excited.  Really excited.  Add to that the ole’ one two of Loeb and McGuinness and I my geek senses were tingling so much that I could barely stand it. 

As much as I like Loeb’s writing, I love Ed McGuinness’ art.  His style is cartoony, but not over the top.  In a time where it seems everyone is concerned with uber-realism and making their characters look like they stepped out of reality into the comics, McGuinness’ style boldly reminds us that this is a comic book…and there is nothing wrong with that.  His style is a fun style that seems to be lacking in othr books.  It’s got a cartoony feel, but it’s not too cartoony to be distracting.  It’s fun.  It’s what comics should be.   As much as they are compelling and dramatic and full of action…they too should be fun.  McGuinness brings that to the table with his style.

Then I heard about the whole red Hulk thing.  Wha?  Waitaminute?  Red?  I was a little iffy on this point, but I was willing to give Loeb the benefit of the doubt.

Quite frankly, as far as issue number 2 of HULK is concerned, it paid off. 

The issue opens quietly enough.  Tony Star is discussing the weapon used to murder the Abomination with a S.H.I.E.L.D.  commander and She-Hulk.  Out of nowhere, the Hulk grabs She-Hulk and the issue cranks up to 11.   The Hulk utterly demolishes the new Hellicarrier and beats the snot out of Iron Man.  The interesting thing is that while all of the action is going down, we learn that files on the Hulk have been erased from the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, the Hulk spoke coherently and rather threateningly to She-Hulk while only growling at Stark, and Leonard Samson is presumably in a bad way somewhere in the bowels of the hellicarrier. 

As quickly as he attacks the hellicarrier, the Hulk is gone.  Then we are treated to the next little surprise.  Rick Jones, thought to be dead, is still alive.  The Hulk shows up and tells Rick that he doesn’t like to be surprised, and he HITS Rick!!! The final surprise of the issue?  Rick turns into a new (?) Abomination that talks like the old green Hulk. 

Yep.  Jeph Loeb retains his place in my fandom.  (I’m sure he’s breathing a sigh of relief somewhere.)  Loeb is doing with the Hulk what he has done best in other titles.  He’s taking what we know and love and turning it on its head all the while making it feel like an old friend. 

This is also the first time that I can remember when the Hulk has undergone a significant change and we’re not really privy to all of the details.  Why is the Hulk red?  How can he be so brutal?  This goes beyond the realm of the snarky, rude, bullying of the grey incarnation of the behemoth.  This is something completely new, and I am completely sold on it.   I cannot wait until issue 3 shows up in my mailbox.  Why?  Well, there’s the new Hulk, new(?) Abomination face-off.   What more do I need? 

I have a couple of theories about this new Hulk.  I think that either:

1.  It’s not really the Hulk, which would mean that before this story arc is over we’re gonna get treated to a showdown between old Jade Jaws and Big Red.  Or….

2.  Knowing Jeph Loeb’s attention to the history of the characters he writes, the Devil Hulk could finally have made his way out of Banner’s psyche.  I know he was yellow and lizard-ish when we first saw him, but he could very well have chosen this as a physical appearance for reasons that he will reveal later. 

Both of those theories are probably wrong.  But, I’m sure I will shift and change theories as the story progresses.

Following my two fold theory, I have a two fold recomendation:

1.  If you’re a fan of the Hulk in any way, pick up this book starting now.  Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness have not disappointed and I don’t think they will.

2.  If you don’t live near a comic shop.  Subscribe to a comic.  Not necessarily Hulk, but the comic of your choice.  It’s  neat feeling to open your mailbox and find a comic book.

All in all, I have to give this issue (after reading it like three times) a 5 out of 5 whatever I give 5 of.  It’s just that good.