World
War Hulk #1
Marvel
Comics
Writers:
Greg Pak, John Romita Jr.
Artists:
Klaus Janson, Christina Strain
Well,
after months of foreplay, World War Hulk is here. After having the
good life blown out from under him by the very spaceship that the
Illuminati used to eject him into space, the Hulk has finally made it
back to Earth with revenge on his mind and a small alien army at his
back. The first order of business: smash Blackbolt. Second order of
business: smash Iron Man. Third order of business: more smashing. So,
the question on everyone’s mind is “Is World War Hulk looking to
be all it promised to be or is it just hype?” Well, so far, it’s
shaping up to be everything a Hulk fan could ever want. After last
year’s epic Civil War saga, a lot of people were a little worried
that Marvel couldn’t follow up with another powerhouse storyline,
but, right now, they’re well on their way to making this one
terrific, smashtastic summer.
Pak
and Romita do an outstanding job of building up a sense of grandeur
and drama with World War Hulk #1. Everyone’s been waiting for the
Hulk to make it back to Earth to see if the drama could live up to
the advertisements, and Pak and Romita make it extremely worthwhile
by complicating the moral issues as much as possible. Nothing about
World War Hulk is very clear cut. The Illuminati thought they were
sending the Hulk to a peaceful, uninhabited planet where he could be
alone like he always wanted, but good intentions are known to fail.
But Tony Stark is man enough to admit that not giving the Hulk a
choice in the matter was wrong and deserving of the Hulk’s rage. So
who’s in the right? Who’s in the wrong? It’s hard to tell and
that makes this issue well worth the money.
And,
if you’re not much into the morality of World War Hulk and you just
want to see some good, old fashioned Hulk battles, WWH delivers on
that too. Janson and Strain really manage to bring home the action in
WWH #1. The panels are smooth and the action is beautiful. It’s an
issue full of Earth-shattering explosions, cool anti-Hulk battle
armors, a few airplanes launching missiles, and even a certain
Inhuman ruler getting beat unconscious. Janson and Strain do the Hulk
justice with this issue. Hopefully they can maintain it for the rest
of the summer and really give the fans what they deserve.
Overall:
9 on 10. A great start. What Hulk fans have been waiting years for.
