World
War Hulk: World Breaker
Marvel
Comics
Writers:
Peter David, Chris Giarrusso, Greg Pak
Artists:
Al Rio, Lee Weeks, Sean Phillips, Takeshi Miyazawa
Unless
you’ve spent the last few months catapulted into deep space you
know that the big news this summer from Marvel is the coming epic:
World War Hulk. With
World Breaker (quite possibly the coolest
sounding title in years) readers get the chance to prepare for the
summer of the big boy in green.
World Breaker is three small
stories rolled into one. The end result is a heavy heaping of
backstory and foreshadowing. The long and short of it is this: months
ago, before the mania that was
Civil War, the Illuminati
loaded the Hulk up into a spaceship and rocketed him into space like
so much unwanted spinach. Well, Hulk landed on a savage planet,
Hulk-smashed his way to rulership, fell in love and even had a baby
on the way. Then the ship that brought him to his strange, new planet
exploded killing Hulk’s beloved, his impending child, and
everything else that may have made him happy. Now, with a big, stone
spaceship to call his own, a small army of alien badasses and a
greater thirst for revenge than Batman and Ghost Rider rolled into
one…Hulk coming!
“
Casus
Belli,” the first of three stories in
World Breaker is
surprisingly well-written and does a terrific job of setting the
stage for World War Hulk. This story quickly cuts to the meat of
exactly why the Hulk is so pissed off and does a wonderful job of
profiling the Hulk’s treatment at the hands of Marvel’s various
heroes through the years. Hulk is good and angry at almost every hero
in the Marvel universe for some time or other in the past where
they’ve locked him up, tied him down, knocked him out, blown him up
or just took sides with “puny Banner” just when the infamous
“Hulk Smash!” battle cry was getting warmed up. “Round Trip”
is a pretty pointless story featuring the mostly annoying
“mini-marvels” that serves simply as a comical engine for more
backstory. “Mastermind Excello,” the third and final story in
World Breaker is more worthwhile. The story follows the life
and times of a teenager who’s been tagged as “the seventh
smartest person in the world” as he prepares for the Hulk’s
return by vowing to help the big boy in green.
The
artwork on these three stories is nothing extraordinary. “Casus
Belli” does a decent job of conveying the action sequences but
loses steam in the quieter times of the storytelling. As if fully
aware of that fact, the layout focuses on action and memories of
former battles, seemingly, as a way of avoiding the weaker artwork
that occurs when there isn’t anyone around to be punched in the
face. “Round Trip” is simply Sunday comics artwork that does
nothing new or interesting. If you’ve ever any one of the
“mini-marvels” stories you’ve seen them all. Finishing off the
book, “Mastermind Excello” is pretty barebones in its layout and
use of color. The artwork simply serves its purpose, with no attempts
to be anymore than a means of telling a story. Sadly, this is the
problem with too many stories. Still, it’s worthwhile.
Overall:
7 on 10. A concise prologue.
