World War Hulk #4

Written by Greg Pak

Art by John Romita Jr, Klaus Janson and Christina Strain

Marvel Comics $3.99

Though I hate to jump on the anti-blockbuster even bandwagon, I really am starting to miss Planet Hulk’s storytelling and interesting themes, characters and settings.   Outside of Dr. Strange letting a demon possess him, turning into a ten foot monster and kicking the hell out of the Hulk until he, of course, lost, this issue was more of the same.  Virtually everyone has known how this last issue is going to unfold, so the build up has seemed incredibly pointless and bland and even myself, an iron man hating, kill reed richards sort of reader can’t even stand the constant beat downs and unfair fights.

By showing the Sentry as a terrified schizophrenic sad guy in his apartment for four issues, they’ve made the final showdown next issue seem even dumber than it really is.  And, conveniently, at the end of this issue, he’s in his doorway looking like a bad ass and ready to fight, instead of a 8 year old girl who just saw a spider in the bath tub, like he has for the entire rest of this series.

I just hope that, when this is all over, Greg Pak is going to get back to those good Hulk stories.  This has become so stale, I can’t wait for November.

World War Hulk X-Men #3 of 3

Written by Christos Gage

Art by Andrea Di Vito

Cover by Ed McGuinness

Marvel Comics $2.99

I had thought that someone was going to be taken prisoner or something would actually happen other than non-stop action, but no, not really.  Cessily gives a speech to the Hulk about how he doesn’t get to decide who’s been hurt more and he retreats back to his ship.  And that’s it.  A lot of action sequences of X-Men, including all of the various teams, ineffectively fighting the Hulk.  After a while, it just gets really boring watching Hulk throwing the various characters off of him.  One could read this issue without actually being literate until the last three pages, because there’s virtually zero dialog with meaning to it.

Astonishing X-Men #22

Written by Joss Whedon

Art by John Cassaday

Marvel Comics $2.99

For about the fifth issue in a row, I’ve read the last page and wondered if a member of the team is dead.  Whedon has become really good with the cliffhangers that revolve around death and surprises, which is an excellent way to keep readers excited about the story, but it sucks to have to wait between two and three months to find out of such classic characters have been killed all the way or just a little bit.

I’m really curious to see how this story is going to end, which has to be wrapped up in two issues when Whedon’s run end and Warren Ellis takes over.  I think there’s a major theme of manifest destiny as far as Colossus is considered.  At this point they’ve been on the Break World long enough that I would feel overjoyed if he went on the rampage he’s expected to and destroyed their planet.  I guess we’ll have to see.

This was the book that relaunched my interest in comic books two years ago and it’s paid off big time.  I had taken about a decade away from reading comic books all together and the sensationalism surrounding this book lured me back to the comic scene and I slowly started picking up other books.  I think one of the best things I’ve discovered via this book is Brian K. Vaughan’s writing and John Cassaday’s other work(Planetary), which are really better than this actual book, but not by much.

Astonishing X-Men, the gift that keeps on giving.

World War Hulk: Gamma Files

Written and illustrated by various writers and artists

COVER BY MARKO DJURDJEVIC

Marvel Comics $3.99 

In the Marvel universe-wide crossover of the summer, I’ve been introduced to a whole army of characters that have been around for a whole lot longer than I have been alive.  Though Wikipedia has provided me with a constant onslaught of information on these new(to me) characters, but an entry can often be a long diatribe involving the history of the character’s appearances.  When a character has been around for sixty years, it can be incredibly difficult to sift through all of the history to see how this person related to the Hulk, New York and the current situation.

This alleviates that problem entirely.  A dossier of sorts, Gamma Files has descriptions, abbreviated histories, explainations of their relationship to the Hulk and usually a new piece of art showing the character in action.  There are dozens of characters, from Hercules to The Sentry, all described, explained and shown without having to get online and sift through all of the old stories.

For four dollars, it’s well worth the small investment because you get a reference book to grab every time someone comes into a scene where you don’t know what the hell is going on.

Incredible Hulk #108

Written by Greg Pak

Art by Leonard Kirk, Scott Hanna and Chris Sotomayor

Marvel Comics $2.99

Rick Jones, the Hulk’s first friend from Earth, and Miek, Hulk’s first friend from Sakaar, square off in a fight that doesn’t really seem to serve any real function other than show that Rick and Miek like the Hulk.  In the end, they both decide that they can help their mutual friend in their own ways, and stop fighting and go on their own ways, respectively.

The issue is mostly comprised of flashbacks featuring two of the three of them, usually showing how  one or the other was a good friend to the Hulk and vice versa.  Overall, this is probably the least interesting issues Greg Pak has put out on his entire Hulk run.  In the first panel, the series of allies that Amadeus Cho has assembled bows down to the Hulk, offering their allegiance, but the issue isn’t clear if they are accepted or rejected by the time the issue ends.

World War Hulk: Front Line #2 of 6

Written by Paul Jenkins

Art by Ramon Bachs, Matt Milla and John Watson

Marvel Comics $2.99

As Ben and Sally continue to cover the escalating war from the mostly evacuated Manhattan, things seem to keep getting worse for the heroes.  I liked the dialog between Ben and Sally, heated as it was, at the beginning of the issue when Sally suggests this all might be a government conspiracy to leave the poor behind.  Because only the people with money can afford to relocate outside of the city during the first day of the warbound’s invasion, she relates the situation to Katrina, adding that things are still shit in New Orleans.  That’s the first time I’ve even seen the hurricane brought up in a comic book, so I appreciated that.  The interactions between the police and the journalists is much more entertaining than that of the superheroes.  A comic book essentially devoted to showing the human aspect in a superhuman war is incredibly interesting and, I should say, rather important as well.  This is all starting to remind me of the miniseries Marvels.

In the meantime some ungrateful kids who distruste superheroes get rescued by Daredevil, which was interesting to see, and some more super-powered people get their asses handed to them.  This includes Luke Cage, who after being thrown by the Hulk across town, sails into a gas main where Sally is.  Then something suddenly happens and the entire city blacks out.  At that point, the story ends, but the issue is divided into two separate stories.

The second one is of Korg’s dealings with Detective Danny Granville, trying to figure out who killed off one of the warbound’s robots.  Demanding justice or retaliation, Granville offers to help and is pretty friendly to the giant warrior made of rocks.  An informative flashback shows a massive magnetic disturbance right before the robot was knocked out of service.  I’ll be really excited if that turns out to be Magneto.

Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #20

Written by Christos Gage

Art by Butch Guice, Dean White and Gerald Parel

Marvel Comics $2.99

This was really good, you should do yourself a favor and buy it if you’re out there reading World War Hulk. Even if you aren’t reading any of the other tie-ins, this is good, all by itself. First off, Chris Gage is a fantastic writer, check out Stormwatch P.H.D. if aren’t reading it yet, it’s one of the best superhero team books going right now outside of JSA. In addition to the great writing, the art is top notch, especially since this is a marvel book and so many of their books are populated by the formulaic mainstream comic book format that lack proper light, shading, texture and personality. Guice does all of that and more, quiet well. If you see this in the store, just crack it open and take a took at the art, that alone is worth taking a look at. The cover should grab your attention as well, it’s ominously depressing to look at, which really works with the remorse that isn’t being expressed in the actual WWH series.

If all of that wasn’t enough to excite you, in this issue Iron Man has been captured and imprisoned by the Hulk and the warbound, the Hulk storms S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ship and demands to see Nick Fury, when it is revealed Nick Fury is hiding from the government somewhere underground and it’s likely that the Fury that lead Hulk onto the space ship was an android built by Stark to deceive him and Tony has planned an armagedeon plan for S.H.I.E.L.D. to carry out in his absence. Stark manages to contact his first officer from inside of the prison, where he gives instructions to carry out some kind of apocalypse mission against the Hulk. In the lead up to this moment, about half of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been talking about how they’re glad Stark is gone and they thought he wasn’t the man for the job, but in the stark(lawlz) reality of his capture, they are willing to carry out his final, desperate doomsday plan.

Go buy this, it’s so good. And I HATE Iron Man.

The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10

Written by Robert Kirkman

Art by Phil Hester and Ande Parks

Marvel Comics $2.99

I had no idea Robert Kirkman was writing this newish comic book about a guy on the run from the law, who happens to have a suit that lets him shrink down to the size of an ant. As much as I love Bob’s writing, I still don’t care about this book or the character.

This is probably one of the most useless tie-ins I’ve read. The only reason I can see for having this center around World War Hulk is that they want to show all of the major characters in the Marvel universe taking their turn getting their asses handed to them by Hulk and the warbound. This issue takes place during World War Hulk #1, so it’s three months late, sort of. I don’t really understand why this didn’t come out when the miniseries started, but going back to issue 1 doesn’t make much sense to me. In the end, ant-man almost gets killed in the fight between the hulk-armored Iron Man and the Hulk back at the end of issue one. He manages to survive, but when he wakes up he’s surrounded and told he’s under arrest.

As much as I love Robert Kirkman, don’t buy this unless you have some major loyalty to him or this character.

World War Hulk #3 of 5

Written by Greg Pak

Art by John Romita Jr., Janson, Strain

Marvel Comics $3.99

Well, I hate to side with the nerds, but this issue wasn’t that great. In fact, none of it made much sense. After the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Avengers, Spider-man, Iron man and virtually everyone with a pair tights on the continent fail to stop him, the United States government decides to send in soldiers and shoot the hulk. Incredible.

It did have some redeeming qualities though. The confrontation with Doctor Strange was really good. I liked that he could get into his head, calm him down, but in the end, the Hulk was still so incredibly angry, he broke Strange’s hands. It’s too bad the art was so horrible, it looked horrendous, like a bad cartoon from the 70’s. I wish someone else was drawing this, like the regular Hulk artist, or anyone capable of drawing the Hulk.

Here’s is David Finch’s cover

Really cool.

Here is Romita’s variant cover.

Complete opposite.

Overall, kind of disappointing. I hope this isn’t all coming down to all of issue five being the Sentry and the

hulk fighting. I was hoping it would be considerably more complex than that.

X-Men #201

Written by Mike Carey

Art by Humberto Ramos, Carlos Cuevas and Edgar Delgado

Marvel Comics $2.99

Dealing with Rogue being shot by Mystique, the return of the Marauders, losing the Omega Sentinel and Lady Mastermind to the mental possession of Malice and then having to not be killed by the Marauders as Mystique has ordered, the X-Men divide and..well, they pretty much lose and hide. Meanwhile, back at the mansion, the New X-Men are given another grim prediction by Blindfold and, as Colossus and Kitty Pryde try to figure things out, some hostile visitors show up at the door with threats to kill. Shitty time to have an x-gene.

This issue features the Apocalypse-powered Sunfire, who looks exactly as he did in Age of Apocalypse, which is great. He’s also incredibly powerful, but lately my focus while reading this book is the usually wonderful work of Humberto Ramos. Occasionally his art just looks like silly exaggerated manga, like on the first double spread of this issue, but usually it’s flawless, beautiful expressive cartoon-style art. I can’t get enough of it. I especially like the way he draws faces, they’re colored and shaded perfect, which certainly help, but Ramos has an eye for clean lines and detail without looking too busy or crowded. The backgrounds are always incredibly simple, which make the complex action look even more in your face. I hope he stays on this title for quite awhile.

I was glad to see the New X-Men show up in a more popular title, even if it was in complete defiance to continuity(they are in limbo with demo Illiyana Rasputin right now), just because they are such great characters. It looks like next issue we might get to see Colossus, Pryde and the New X-Men throw down together, which is a rather exciting prospect.