By Jeph Loeb (writer), Ed McGuiness (pencils), Dexter Vines (inks), Jason Keith (colors)
The Hulk is nothing like the work Greg Pak did on his Incredible Hulk run. What Jeph Loeb has done is distance himself as far away as possible. And to be honest, if I were Loeb I’d do the same thing. Pak’s run was epic, and arguably the best Hulk story ever told. Seriously, how do you top a story like Planet Hulk?
With the Hulk, Loeb strips the story away and returns us to Hulk’s silver age roots. Like an old school Stan Lee story, this book features a minor mystery revolving around the red-skinned Hulk’s identity and tons upon tons of monster fighting. It’s mindless fun and other than the aforementioned mystery, I could care less about anything else in this book. I’m completely entertained by what almost appears to be two plush dolls smacking each other around. Ed McGuiness deserves a lot of credit for this book. His visuals are visceral, earthshaking, and epic in scope.
I know a lot of people are hating this book and I was one of them initially. But understanding this book’s identity is one of the keys to enjoying it. If you can accept the voice Loeb is giving this book, you’ll be plenty entertained. It’s pure fan-service. It’s the Hulk unleashed, beating monsters and wrecking stuff. This is what made the Hulk fun! And as long as Loeb and McGuiness can keep this train rolling, I’ll stay on board. Because sometimes you go to the movies to see an Oscar worthy performance. And other times you just wanna see things blow up. This is the latter, and I’m enjoying the fireworks. (Grade: B)
- J. Montes
Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Abomination, Dexter Vines, Ed McGuiness, Hulk, Hulk #3, Jason Keith, Jeph Loeb, Marvel Comics, Red Hulk, Silver Age
Hmm, I may have to go back and re-read those. I’ll tell you what, I really could care less who the Red Hulk is at this point. Just give me more smashing!
Incredible issue, easily surpasses my initially lowered expectations, given Loeb’s less than impressive work to date.
By the way, all clues n signs point to Doc Samson as the red Hulk’s secret alter ego. A quick rereading of the first two should reconfirm this suspicion of mine.