Incredible Hulk #106
Marvel Comics
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Gary Frank

So the Hulk’s angry and the Hulk’s coming. Nothing new there. The Hulk’s always angry about something and, ultimately — in the cosmic, metaphysical, cryptic, spooky “To bend the spoon you must realize that there is no spoon” sense, the Hulk is always on his way somewhere so, in the end, the Hulk is always coming. So nothing new there either. But the Hulk’s never been well-stocked in the brains department. All that blind rage and gleeful desire to smash things has always been the Hulk’s greatest strength and weakness. So how does one manage to arrange a “world war” if you’re not the strongest thinker? Simple. You get a young, bright-eyed, “I’m smart enough to understand the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey” kid to help you out. Incredible Hulk #106 is all about Mastermind Excello — the braniac kid who’s vowed to help the Hulk — and his attempts to convince She-Hulk — Big Green’s leggy, athletic, equally green cousin — to help him fight against Tony Stark and his oppressive, government-backed powerhouse “The Initiative.”

Greg Pak does a pretty good job with this issue of Hulk. Mastermind Excello’s attempts to convince She-Hulk to fight against Doc Sampson, Tony Stark and the rest of The Initiative does a great job of bringing the reader up to speed on just how out of line the government, and those heroes who sided with the government, really are. Pak does a great job of muddling things and, somehow, arguing against himself. As Doc Sampson does the job of trying to convince She-Hulk that working with the Initiative is the only sane way to live these days, Excello is equally adept at pointing out the flaws and injustices of the program. The end result? Both sides of the argument come through loud and clear and the battle lines for the impending World War Hulk are drawn.

On pencils, Gary Frank seems to have been in the mood to have a little fun with this issue. The artwork is sound but full of what feels like references to other artists. Overall, the artwork of this issue has a “Jim Lee” feel to it—a lot of sharp lines, pointy noses and an excessive amount of distress lines. Then, in the middle of the book, there’s a panel that’s almost a photocopy of one of the ending panels of Frank Miller’s That Yellow Bastard storyline from the Sin City franchise. However, in spite of all of his likeness to other writers, Frank has still managed a well-drawn story. He’s done a great job with layout and panel arrangement and has a real knack for large splash pages that bring home the action.

Overall: 7 on 10. An overall good lead-in to World War Hulk.