Weekly Comic Book Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciller), Klaus Janson (inker)

The Story: Apparently, General “Thunderbolt” Ross has been killed by the Red Hulk. Unanswered questions keep Doc Samson, Captain America and the Intelligencia guessing. In the meantime, Ross’s funeral must be held.

What’s Good: On the writing, Loeb did some nice character work with the personalities in and around the Hulk stories. Doc Samson’s feelings about Ross come out differently in three different places, which is pretty cool (read: in two of them he’s being insincere). Ben Grimm talks behind Samson’s back. Rick Jones goes out on a limb for a surprise guest, who is received very coolly by the ceremony. The Intelligencia have their own arguments as well. So all in all, some good character work and building of tension.

What’s Not So Good: Can we still take shots at Marvel management for screwing up Captain America Reborn? I won’t read “Who Will Wield the Shield?” until after issue #6 of Captain America: Reborn (which is already an imperfect solution to the scheduling disaster at Marvel), so seeing Steve Rogers attending Ross’s funeral with Bucky Cap nearby really had me confused. It was also one more spoiler to my trying to enjoy my investment in Reborn.

Artistically, I’ve never cottoned to John Romita Jr.’s art. His 2-year run on the Uncanny X-Men around #175-200 almost drove me away from that series. He can tell a story competently, but the draftsmanship, which is something I really appreciate. I love being lost in the fine detail an artist can capture, but I never get this experience from Romita’s art. Klaus Janson was an interesting (and old school) ink choice, but not even he can make Romita’s pencils work for me. I know Romita is well-regarded in the field, so I won’t argue that my opinion is anything other than personal taste.

Editorially, I have to say I’m growing a little impatient with one-shots. When I ask myself if they’re worth the money ($3.99 US, more in Canada) and to do the math, I have to ask what I miss if I don’t get this issue. Fall of the Hulks: Gamma was a reflective, retrospective of Thunderbolt Ross. Now, Ross casts a big enough shadow over the Marvel Universe, but his role as persecutor/prosecutor of the Hulk means my feelings about him are pretty mixed. He’s not sympathetic, or heroic (most of the people speaking at his funeral didn’t even seem to like him or had never met him), so do I want a whole issue about his funeral? A few other things happen, but nothing that won’t be explained in the next issue of the Fall of the Hulks arc. I think this is the danger for Marvel in pursuing these one-shots: people will vote with their pocketbooks, which will ultimately make Marvel artistically risk-averse – bad outcome for everyone.

Conclusion: If you really care about Thunderbolt Ross and what different people thought of him, you should rush to your local comic shop now. Go on. I’ll wait. If you want a complete Fall of the Hulks collection, go to your comic shop tomorrow and pick this up. If you care about neither of these things, you can probably skip this issue and pick up the Fall of the Hulks arc in Hulk #19 and Incredible Hulk #606.

Grade: C-

-DS Arsenault