I had one of my lightest weeks ever this week, so decided to splurge and buy the first two issues of the new Hulk series. I haven’t liked the direction Marvel has been taking the Hulk for quite some time now, but I’ve grown tired of not being able to read the adventures of my first favorite character. First, let me explain where I’m coming from. There is no “Red Hulk” on Earth-J, never has been, never will be. I read every incarnation of The Defenders over the years, though, and had been looking forward to the upcoming restart… that is, until, I saw that the cover of the first issue featured the Red She-Hulk (Red Shulk? She-Rulk?) instead of the real deal. Later, I saw an alternate cover for #1 by Neal Adams which did feature the real Hulk and figured I might give it a try after all. When I saw that issue #2 featured the Red She-Hulk in a cameo role, I thought I might get batter acquainted with the character.
Where to begin? First, Bruce Banner and the Hulk (once again) exist as separate entities, and the solution of the mystery surrounding that event makes up the backstory of the first story or arc. Bruce Banner is behaving [what I would consider to be] way out of character, but I can forgive that because issue #2 reveals that he has “a brain tumor the size of a grapefruit” in his head. I’m not too fond of even the concept of multi-hued Hulks, nor of the fact that (as the origin recap points out), “The looming specter of Banner’s gamma radiation experiments have followed him for years, transforming his cousin, best friend, worst enemy, and even his beloved Betty into Hulks.”
If there is anyone reading this who doesn’t know by now, the Red Hulk (with black hair and no mustache) is General Ross, and the Red She-Hulk is Betty Banner. I don’t know how they became “Hulks” and I don’t wanna know. I would have preferred it is Betty had become the Harpy, but oh well. The Hulk is living as king of a group of (more intelligent than usual) Moloids, Banner is conducting “Island of Dr. Moreau” style experiments on an island in the Pacific Ocean, and a new uneasy ally has been introduced in the form of Amanda Von Doom (“no relation”), the head of the super-secret government task force “The Mad Squad” whose mission it is to “kill mad scientists.” She attempts to recruit the Hulk to take down Bruce Banner. Her squad is made up of “enough repurposed killer robots to invade a small country,” a giant floating brain known as B.R.A.I.N., and (least original of all), a well-dressed hunchbacked “former evil henchman turned mad scientist profiler” named Gor.
In a brief interview at the end of issue one, writer Jasob Aaron sums up his favorite moment of the first issue in one word: beard. I’m not certain whether he’s referring to the one worn by the Hulk or the one sported by Bruce Banner, but I’m glad I didn’t read that before I bought the issue. As it turns out, he’s selling himself short because the first issue has a little more going for it than that! I’ve never been enamored of Marc Silvestri’s art style, but if you’ve ever seen it before you should know exactly what to expect.
I can’t really recommend this series to anyone looking for an old school Hulk slugfest, but I plan to keep reading for the next few issues at least.
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