A Whole Nother New World

This was kind of cool, but ultimately disappointing. The art was good. It was pulpy. There were babes and dinosaurs. It was actually a lot more violent than you would expect from a Wolverine title from the past few decades. It's nice to see Wolverine take off his training bra and be a killer again.

The plot was a little thin, but that could build. I think its biggest detraction is that Wolverine is in his silly costume. It really just didn't fit the tone of the story and pulled me out a lot. I guess we're just long past a time where we can have a superhero running around being badass in a leather jacket. Or even naked with wires sticking out of him. Remember the Barry Windsor Smith Weapon X?

This is the best Marvel Now book. Crazy sci-fi action. Since John Romita Jr can keep a monthly schedule, I can't imagine the quality dropping.


















Although I've been enjoying Hulk quite a bit, I found this a little disappointing. It's pretty cool that Waid has been doing self-contained issues, all the while slowly building subplots, but this issue retreaded a lot that the first two issues already established. That being said, it was still a lot of fun and I am looking forward to see where these subplots are leading to.

I'm also very excited that Walt Simonson is coming aboard in April (and will be drawing Thor again).

Also noteworthy, I mentioned a couple months back that even though the Hulk is my all-time favorite character from my childhood, it's been now over nine years since I've liked the series enough to bu more than three consecutive issues. I will surpass that next month. I think I had a seven year run at that point, so that will be much tougher to break.

A Whole Nother New World

Before starting each individual review this week, I'd first like to mention how spectacular the art is in these particular issues. The scripts were great. Don't get me wrong. But the artist have incalculably elevated these comicbooks. This is the industry's top talent.

And before I start this Hulk review, I'm going to tell an unrelated anecdote that I will forever associate with artist Lenil Yu:

Somewhere around a decade ago, I was hanging around in a comic store that I frequented. A stranger walked in, and we got to discussing comicbooks. We started discussing artists. I mentioned some artist that I liked and he replied, "I like Yu." After a few uncomfortable seconds of  silence he followed up with, "He draws Wolverine." When everyone realized what he meant, we all had a good laugh.

So now to the debut issue of Indestructible Hulk. The Hulk is easily my all-time favorite comicbook character. That being said, it's been nine years since I've bought more than three consecutive issues to any Hulk series. I like that they've tried a lot of different things throughout the years. I just haven't liked anything they've done. I always feel he's best when written to embody Frankenstein and the Wolfman. This comic unfortunately is not that. Fortunately though, it's really good.

The tone of this book seems to take its ques from the Avengers movie. (Which makes me realize that I've never mentioned on this site. I'll have to do something about that.) Mark Waid presents Banner as a genius who treats the Hulk as a condition or handicap to be dealt with. It's a lot lighter than recent years, and looks like it could be a lot of fun action without sacrificing characters and plot. A lot happens in these 20 pages.

And while I have been complaining about decompression and the 20-page format, a lot happens in this book. It goes from the '30s to present day to Dimension Z. John Romita Jr is one of my absolute favorite artists who often works with writes who I really dislike. Rick Remender has worked on some really stellar books and this one's no exception. It's got a very Fear Agent meets Kirby feel to it. If I were to recommend just one Marvel Now book, it's this one.

Deadpool continues to be very funny.