Man I Needed TV

I covered a lot of the Marvel and DC relaunches when they started. I haven't really mentioned any of these books lately (and haven't really mentioned much of anything at all here recently for that matter). I've narrowed my Marvel list down to three books (maybe one by the end of the year), but there is one book that I love month after month. Mark Waid is absolutely killing it on Hulk.

Let me tell you how awesome this title is: The new arc is a time travel arc where the timestream is fucked up and the only one strong enough to pull it together is the Hulk. So each issue of this arc puts the Hulk in a different time period. I open this issue up, and the first page introduces three classic Western Marvel characters. I turn the page to see a two-page splash of the Hulk punching a dinosaur in the face. And not just any pussy dinosaur but a T-Rex. If you want anything more from a comicbook than this, you're a dick.

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.

A Whole Nother New World

Marvel (who's used to being on top) has been having a little trouble keeping up with DC this past year since their line-wide relaunch. They do have a plan though. So first let me recap.

While DC lowered the page count to drop prices a dollar, Marvel followed. Only they just dropped the page count and left prices. They know that comic fans will complain about anything but will never stop buying.

Next thing, they cancelled any books that weren't Avengers, X-Men, or Spider-Man related. And all minis. Some got cancelled before they were finished, and some solicited books were cancelled before an issue came out. Then they started double-shipping most of their top selling books. 

Next is the big one. They needed a blockbuster. So they really brought out the think-tank for this one. I'm sure the meeting went something like this: 

What sells big? Crossovers. What do comic fans love? Superheroes fighting each other. Who are biggest superheroes? Avengers and X-Men. What do we call it? Avengers Vs X-Men. Brilliant. We'll double-ship it and it'll end in a line-wide relaunch.

And they promise that it's a relaunch and not a reboot whatever that means. And it's a slow relaunch. They say over twenty titles in four months. Marvel pretty much always relaunches titles, sometimes there's not even a change in creative team. So really what's the big deal with that?

While DC expanded their universe and tried to bring diversity (They gave some fringe books a chance. Some caught on. Some didn't.), Marvel's essentially playing musical chairs with their top books and top talent.

And that's not entirely a bad thing. People were pretty skeptical about DC's relaunch, but I think after its debut most people would agree that they're putting out a lot of quality stuff. A year ago I was buying no DC books, now I buy seven monthly titles. Right now I buy no Marvel books. Maybe they'll put something out worth buying. A lot of them seem interesting. They have only announced about half of the new titles so far, but as of now these are the ones I'm looking forward to:

Thor
Jason Aaron on Thor. If you don't realize how badass Jason Aaron is, perhaps you should look at this beard:

Hulk
I've loved the Hulk since I was a wee lad and he scared me on the TV lookee box. Although it's been nine years since I've read more than three consecutive issues, I always check it out whenever there's a writer change. Besides I bought Hulk #1 last year, I bought Hulk #1 in 2008, and I bought Hulk #1 in 1999.

Deadpool
Brian Posehn writing any comic and I'm there. Deadpool should be particularly awesome.