It may surprise you to hear this, but I am probably the only person in the entire comic book fandom that didn’t actually rate the Immortal Hulk. Now, this new series, along with a new creative team face the challenge of taking the Hulk through to the next stage of journey.
The premise of this story is quite simple; what if Hulk wasn’t the monster, but Banner was? This question should change everything we think about both Hulk and Banner. Yet, Donny Cates seems intent in trying to out Ewing All Ewing! For me, as someone who disliked Ewing’s run, you can assume how this book is when I say, that for me, this book tries too hard and delivers too little.
Donny Cates prompts a question and then seems to go all Doctor Who in order to demonstrate one side of his psyche driven equation. One of the aspect of recent Hulk is that the jolly green giant version is supposed to be considered as a child. Therefore, everything that is done to him should be thought of as child abuse? This thought then gives me pause; I has lucky enough to be on a recent No Prize Podcast and postulated my thoughts on using mental health as a crutch for this character has actually become old and doesn’t do anything to actually change peoples perception of people with mental health issues. Maybe I am being to sensitive, or maybe Cates is trying to change it up for Hulk as much as Nick Spencer tried (though ultimately failed in my opinion) tried to change it up after Dan Slott. How long can this “change of pace” be maintained and will it intrigue Immortal Hulk fans? Those questions are probably more important than who is the monster Hulk or Banner.
Ryan Ottley provides the art for a book that feel chaotic from the outset. Truth be told, when Spidey (which Spidey by the way?) states he is confused he is truly speaking with the voice of his friendly neighbourhood. I quite like how Ottley draws the main Hulk, though other characters tend to get the Ed Guinness treatment. Where there is a Hulk and the Avengers, you know you are going to get a Hulk Buster or four. From there on in things dramatically worse in pace and plot sense. One of the redeeming factors of this book are the gorgeous colors from Frank Martin who uses a shed load of red to demonstrate the dangerous elements and I love how the Hulk character is colored. Martin does well to add some consistency to the action in the final act. Letters are provided by VC’s Cory Petit who does a great job of showing the emotions on show, after all emotion is one of the key parts to the Hulk story. There are a raft of covers to choose from, as always buyers choice prevails.
I was looking forward to this book, moving away from the Immortal era and maybe moving back to the superhero world. In truth, I am massively disappointed that in place of the horror vibe of the previous run, we have fallen into a Doctor Who sci-fi stance of no explanations of key story points and if things were explained, I am not sure that they would any sense!
Writing – 2.5 Stars
Art – 2.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
Overall – 3 Stars
Written by; Donny Cates
Art by; Ryan Ottley
Colors by; Frank Martin
Letters by; VC’s Cory Petit
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.
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