Weekly Comic Book Review

By Greg Pak (Writer), John Romita Jr. (Pencils), Klaus Janson (Inks), and Christina Strain (Colors)

Let me preface by saying that I’ve never been a huge fan of the Hulk, the character, the comics, the movie, even the concept. A guy who gets really angry and turns into a big green smashing machine has always sounded rather silly. That said, there are only three words to describe World War Hulk: insanely friggin’ awesome! This isn’t just a bunch of senseless smashing and fighting, it is a story of revenge, misunderstanding, and disaster combined with an array of epic battles.

The story is extremely well told in many facets. Some of my favorite examples include the effect of destruction. Many times, big superhero fights cause destruction to parts of the city, but this is often left in the background and we as readers really don’t care. Here, the destruction is catastrophic and blatant. Greg Pak and John Romita Jr. make it obvious that WWH is the worst thing New York City has seen since 9/11. I actually cringed every time I saw a building destroyed.

Another great part was the theme of revenge, and its effects. This is the story of how revenge left unbounded can literally ruin everything around you. True, Hulk had credible reasons to be angry, but he lets his anger cloud his judgment and quickly steps onto the path becoming the very thing he is fighting against. The ramifications of this are both tragic and beautiful.

Lastly, and perhaps my favorite part of this series, was the good writing of the Sentry. Don’t get wrong, I like the The Sentry, I like Brian Bendis, and I like Mighty Avengers – but I don’t like the way that Bendis writes The Sentry in Mighty Avengers. This, however, is just as much a perfect Sentry tale as it is a perfect Hulk tale. Events like these are the reason that I like The Sentry in the first place. His character is so complex and frightening here (as he should be), not just a big deus ex machina, like in Mighty Avengers.

Romita’s art is perfect for the story and matches the epic script. I’m not the person who gets insanely fanboy excited when “JR Jr.” is announced as a project’s artist. His art is certainly very good, but I wouldn’t rank him in my top five artists. I’ve really never understood what the buzz around his work was all about. With that out of the way, I loved his work here. His depictions of the action, the fighting, the destruction, are magnificent. I could just stare at the artwork from this book for hours. Truly, I have no complaints about his work, or anything in this book for that matter. I cannot recommend this enough – comic book fans: Read this! (Grade: A)

-M. Staples

Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: Comics, Comics Reviews, Hulk, Marvel, Marvel Comics, World War Hulk