by Jeph Loeb (writer), Ed Mcguinness (artist)
The Story: World War Hulks comes to a close as the Red Hulk faces off against the Green Hulk (who’s in his Planet Hulk incarnation) in a fist-fight to end all fist-fights! Meanwhi– Er, wait. Nope, that’s it.
What’s Good: Take as many digs at Loeb’s Hulk run as you want, but the one thing that cannot be disputed is that as long as McGuinness has been at the art reins, it’s been freaking beautiful. McG is a “big” artist whose artwork thrives in splash and double splash page form, and while that mode of pencilling can sometimes be frowned upon, it works wonders here with this particular set of characters. What is essentially twenty something pages of punching, head-butting, and kicking just sings. The weight and energy he throws down in every panel is palpable. The artwork alone makes this issue a must-buy. If they sold this in a non-Loeb edition with just “silent” artwork, I would be all over this. Can we please get a Hulk series penciled by McGuinness and written by Greg Pak? Pretty please?
What’s Not So Good: Surprisingly (for a Hulk comic written by Jeph Loeb), there’s a lot going on here. Possibly too much. Not only do we have a big knock down, drag out fight between the two Hulks, but the two behemoths have a pretty wordy argument that runs alongside the fisticuffs. Conversations that run parallel to battles are par for the course in comic book stories, but then you throw in not one, but two, series of captions detailing what each of the sparring partners are thinking while they fight and talk, and you are approaching overload. I sort of enjoyed this wordier issue of the Hulk, but I do have to admit that it became something of a chore to follow, especially when it came to their thought captions. Sometimes too much information can be a bad thing. Another negative to the issue is, despite the impressive action illustrated by McGuinness, that I’m calling bullshit on the Red Hulk being defeated by the Hulk giving him a proper sonic boom to the face. While I’ve disagreed with the seemingly-infinite power levels they’ve given the Red Hulk in past issues, it bothers me just as much to see him laid low after the big deal made about him. It ends up giving the story a lack of closure, as if they couldn’t think of a better, more clever way to defeat him. Considering that this issue has the Red Hulk facing off with not Banner or the savage, dumb green Hulk, but the Planet/World War Hulk version, you’d think that’d give them an easy plot device to show one brilliant tactician defeat another, but nooooo. That’d be expecting too much, I suspect. Sonic boom to the face us much easier. And on a nitpicky note, where is Skaar? All the other Hulks are accounted for, but Hulk’s son is MIA. Is he still crying in kiddie form after the last chapter? Did all the Hulks just ditch him in some field? Did they Hulk-finger flick him in the head and throw his unconscious body into the backseat of a car like my friends and I used to do to my friend Kevin who couldn’t handle his liquor? I need to know, Marvel!
Conclusion: A beautifully illustrated piece of popcorn fun. Seriously worth the price of admission just so you can ogle McGuinness’ bigger than life pencils. The plot has its flaws, but it’s so damn pretty!
Grade: B-
-Joe Lopez
Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Comic Book Reviews, Ed McGuinness, Hulk #24, Hulk #24 review, Jeph Loeb, Red Hulk, Weekly Comic Book Review, World War Hulk
