Weeklies

Comic: "World War Hulk"
Published by: Marvel Comics
Written by: Greg Pak
Artist: John Romita Jr.

Reviewer: Protoclown
Posted: 2/4/2008

Plot: The Hulk comes back from his year-long exile in space ready to exact vengeance upon those who sent him there: Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, and Black Bolt. Smashing ensues.

Review: If you're expecting a deep, involved plot from this most recent Marvel event, I will refer you to look back at the title one more time. If you're still expecting a "thinking man's" story, then you're going to be insanely disappointed (and there's probably something wrong with you). Still, for what it is, World War Hulk is entertaining enough for a while, but eventually watching the Hulk punching guys over and over starts to wear a little thin.

I think the biggest problem with this story was that nobody reading it was suffering from any delusion that Hulk was going to succeed in his mission to kill four... well, three (sorry Black Bolt) major Marvel characters. Especially just after Iron Man became Marvel's poster boy for heroic assholes after Civil War. Because of this, the story carries little tension or emotional weight, especially when you compare it to the Planet Hulk story that led into it.

In Planet Hulk, he was interacting with a bunch of newly created alien characters, and they can and did die as the story required it. In fact, he fell in love with a woman on that planet, married her, and got her pregnant. And whoopsie, the ship that Hulk arrived in blew up, killing her and their unborn child, which is what prompted Hulk to desire revenge so strongly in the first place.

The series starts off promising enough, as Hulk beats the shit out of Black Bolt and Iron Man, but unfortunately, it quickly goes down hill from there. It turns out that Hulk's big plan for revenge involves capturing the targets of his rage and forcing them to duke it out with one another in gladiatorial combat, so they will know how he felt when he was on that alien world.

The final issue consists of almost nothing but panels of Hulk and the Sentry punching each other through buildings, with ridiculous "sound effects" that distracted me from the story. And the "twist" ending only served to annoy me and make me lose interest in following any more Hulk books, rather than achieving the desired effect of intriguing me into wanting to read what followed.

It's not all bad, mind you. John Romita Jr's artwork is as pretty to look at as it always is, and Hulk fans who enjoy even a simple story featuring the big green behemoth will be satisfied with what they get. But it doesn't offer anything new or present the same kind of interesting moral dilemma that Civil War did. I'd say it's fairly average as Events go. I've read better, but I've certainly read worse.

Overall rating: WholeWholeWhole
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)

Reader Comments

plastic bag
Feb 4th, 2008, 07:48 AM
i was a little disappointed in the face that in a book titled World War Hulk he barely left New York. On the whole it wasn't that bad, i was just expecting a bit more.
Forum Virgin
Feb 4th, 2008, 05:39 PM
I totally agree, Planet Hulk was more enjoyable though the Strange smash bit was pretty nice.
pickled
Feb 5th, 2008, 01:30 AM
The ending was absolutely terrible.
per sempre vigilante
Feb 5th, 2008, 08:34 AM
Hulks new costume is AWESOME.
Pickleman's Uncle
Feb 5th, 2008, 10:03 AM
It's funny because its all a ploy to recycle the storyline of DragonBall Z and pass it on to snobby comic book nerds who look down on anime.
Anyways still cool to read.
The Moxie Nerve Food Tonic
Feb 5th, 2008, 11:20 AM
Somebody describe the ending, don't worrt about it being a SPOILER, I'll never read it.
The Goddamned Batman
Feb 5th, 2008, 05:46 PM
The ending is basically like this:

**** SPOILER ALERT ****

Tony Stark shoots Hulk with some big satellite thing, turning him back into Bruce Banner (and apparently rendering him unable to turn back into the Hulk). At the very end, on the planet Sarkaar, we see a red-skinned Hulk-like being coming up out of the ground, apparently Hulk's unborn son, who emerges from the planet full-grown.

At least, that's how I remember it. I'm not going back and looking at it

you can't make me
Freelance Product Tester
Feb 5th, 2008, 11:26 PM
Proto, when is the inevitable Watchmen review going to come around? I just finished it, and I want to see what you think of it.
The Goddamned Batman
Feb 6th, 2008, 12:48 AM
Oh, it's in the pipeline, don't worry. Truth is, I haven't read it in years and I really need to reread it before I can really talk about it in depth.
pickled
Feb 6th, 2008, 07:29 PM
Red is just so edgy!