Indestructible Hulk #18 – Review

by Mark Waid (Writer), Jheremy Raapack, Miguel Sepulveda, Tom Grummett (Artists), Val Staples (Colorist)

The Story: With the effect of the bomb Banner had built now understood, it would be a shame of something horrible were to happen to someone…

The Review: There are always some creators that we care more about than others. It’s a sad fact, but one that is especially true for everyone. Some prefer Jonathan Hickman over Matt Fraction, some prefer Grant Morrison over Alan Moore and other have preferences over some unpopular creators. Subjectivity and personal tastes being the key here, there are simply some creators in which we have quite a lot of faith in.

Mark Waid is one of those for me. Even though not all of his work is especially amazing, the man did produce a superb run on Fantastic Four, wrote some terrific JLA stories, made Kingdom Come and a good lot of other really great things even nowadays. With such a notable amount of work of quality under his name, I have a lot of faith in him as a writer, which can act as a curse sometimes when reading some of the materials of lesser quality even he can produce.

His tenure on Hulk and his stories, while backed by a genuinely good concept and with a really great first batch of issues, hasn’t been nearly as good as some of the previous stuff he did, to be overtly frank. While filled with some very nice ideas, the execution isn’t as good as the very concepts behind them most of the time, which doesn’t make the book the best thing he is writing right now.

This issue, however, does provide some rather interesting ideas and some potent character work from the writer. The way he present Hank Pym and how other scientists and their reaction to the discovery of just what Banner was planning with his bomb makes for some rather good moments, playing quite a bit with super-science as well as the bond between man delving into the subjects all the time. The relationship between those people as well as the quest of Bruce Banner for their respect makes for a rather enjoyable aspect of this issue.

An area where unfortunately the book isn’t nearly as strong, though, is when Waid focus on the assistants. While the idea of introducing them has been a sound one, the lack of development and their general detachment to the stories told does hurt the book, with this issue hinting at developments or personality traits that have been hinted at a good number of issues ago, making some of their action seem not as natural or as satisfying as they could be. The only one that comes near of being actually interesting with a tiny bit of development to back him up is Randall Jessup, the man who has been the focus of issue #16. The internal conflicts between some of the assistants, as much as it serves the story, comes seemingly from nowhere, making this plot point a bit forced instead of natural. Still, the development near the end of the issue, considering the tie-in to Inhumanity, is rather sound as it does give readers some exciting moments in the issue.

The art, however, is a mixed thing in this issue. With the book divided between two teams of artist as Jheremy Raapack handles the first half, while Miguel Sepulveda and Tom Grummett does the second one. The first half by Raapack is certainly not bad, as the artist is quite able to simulate the effect of stopped time very well, filling the panels with enough debris, destructions and various elements to provide a simulacrum of stopped motion, which he accentuates through the movements of Hank Pym. The way he also plays with scope and depth is also rather nice, with a nice comparisons between various elements that allows for some elements and characters to become that much more noticeable. The expressions, as far as it goes, are also rather nice, with some of them being exaggerated a tiny bit for greater effect, with a certain cartoonish notions in some aspects that work well with some of the super hero concept brought in.

The style of Miguel Sepulveda and Tom Grummett, for the most part, does it best to accommodate itself to the first half of the book, yet there is a severe difference in how they portray characters through their facial expressions and their mannerism, making them look a little stiff in the process. The general lack of detailed backgrounds in some panels, unfortunately, comes as an hindrance in some cases. While it does put the focus on the characters and their reactions, it does seem a bit lazy in when it is used rather often, not using the context provided by the environment the characters are in.

The colorization of Val Staples, for the most part, is adequate, yet it is nothing special. While there is an acceptable amount of diversity in terms of range, there isn’t any special technique to put the focus on certain elements or striking contrasts to make some of the themes and the tone resonant in the issue. There are some occasional smaller contrasts and some potent shading here and there, but it isn’t particularly visible or impressive. It’s competent, but nothing more.

The Conclusion: Giving readers a very capable first half with some good super-science and decent characterization, the second half of the book does not entertain as much with a focus on characters not exactly well-known. A decent read with some nice ideas, but not the best of executions.

Grade: C+

-Hugo Robberts Larivière