By: Jason Aaron (writer), Marc Silvestri & Michael Broussard (pencils), Joe Weems, Rick Basaldua & Sal Regla (inks), Sunny Gho (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)
The Story: Can the Hulk get some peace and quiet?
Five Things:
1. Hulk and Banner split up. The dual nature of the Hulk does make him interesting, but I personally think that these stories where Hulk and Banner are physically separated causes too many “How do they do that?” problems for me to have much fun with the story. I mean, where does the actual matter that composes the second body come from? How does the separation work? Does Hulk vomit Banner or something? I know I should just roll with it and enjoy the story (and I largely DO), but it is a little bothersome.
2. Energetic art. It doesn’t really matter who draws the Hulk as long as they can make him energetic and powerful and this team is up to the task. In the panels where Hulk needs to look fast and powerful, he looks….well….fast and powerful. They also do an nice job on the quieter scenes where Hulk is contemplating his seclusion. It could be a minor art red flag that on this #1 issue we have a person credited as “penciling assist” and three inkers. That’s the kind of thing you usually see on the last issue of an arc where the primary penciller can’t quite make it to the finish line on time. BUT, it doesn’t affect the quality of art, so it’s just worth a raised eyebrow for now.
3. Sunny Gho does a great job coloring. One of my favorite comic art performances recently was the duo of Kenneth Rocafort and Sunny Gho on Velocity. At the time, I gave most of the credit to Rocafort and while I still really enjoy his art, seeing Gho’s performance in this issue makes me realize what an important part of Velocity Gho was as well. If you’re familiar with Silvestri’s art, you know that it isn’t clean art….he’s got a LOT of lines and shading going on in a page. Gho’s art matching this complexity as the coloring is just as intricate as the linework. It almost looks like watercolors. Beautiful!
4. Frolicking with the moloids! Where does a Hulk go when he just wants to get away and be left in peace? Well, in this case he goes spelunking and is hanging out with a tribe of moloids. It’s kind of a neat concept: Hulk gets to bash the occasional mega-monster in the caves, but also be the super-big brother to the weak little moloids. It gives the story a weird Plant Hulk vibe (in a way). Of course, we all know that Hulk won’t be left in peace and some folks show up to bother him and drag him into the real story.
5. Banner is up to some screwy stuff. This was the part of the issue where Aaron really showed how well he writes as we get a couple of pages of “uplifted” warthogs trying to catch jungle creatures for Banner (who is doing some weird experiments on them). Again, I have intellectual problems with the idea of Banner being a separate entity, but he’ll make a good foil for Hulk.
Conclusion: It appears that the big green guy is in good hands. This issue doesn’t blow your socks off (unless you’re a coloring nerd), but Jason Aaron seems to have a quality story to tell and the art is pulling it’s own weight too.
Grade: B-
-Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion