I know, I missed posting reviews last week. It's been a tough couple weeks for me but I won't go into it. So instead, I'll just apologize and move on. :)
These last two weeks have been pretty slow for me comic-wise. Last week was just Marvel Adventures Hulk (which I said that I wasn't going to buy anymore but with no other books I had to get something) and this week was World War Hulk. I also picked up two more volumes of the manga series Monster (haven't read them yet) and the Superman: Doomsday DVD (enjoyed it). So let's get to the reviews:
Marvel Adventures Hulk #3 -- So in this book we have Bruce run into one of his old colleagues who just happens to be the Radioactive Man. And of course he attempts to use Bruce for his own personal agenda (by soaking up Bruce's radiation). But in the end, even Radioactive Man can't deal with the energy of the Hulk. This is a kiddy book, no doubt about it. You can't really be too analytical with it and you have to dismiss the childish taunts that Rick uses to get the Hulk angry. But overall, it's not a bad comic for the younger audience. It kinda goes back to how the book used to be before comics became more adult and political. I would have liked a little more consistent and higher level art but overall it got the job done. I would only recommend this book to the younger audience or those that want to read a simple Hulk story.
World War Hulk #4 -- And now we move to the other end of the spectrum... Sorta. World War Hulk is supposed to be a simpler story than Civil War, with just a lot of smashing going on. Nonetheless, it is travelling the same path so it's not like it's entirely shallow. But you know what, I'm kinda tired of debating the whole Civil War thing so I'll leave it out of this review. The problem I had with this issue was that it was two stories that just didn't seem to have a nice connection. You start with the Dr Strange battle and as soon as that's over you're pretty much thrown into the gladiator fight (with a quick interlude by 4 people who argue that the Black Bolt, Tony, Reed, and Strange should be held accountable for their actions). It just didn't seem like a smart idea to have these two things in the same book because both seemed kinda rushed through and shoved together into the one book. I would have had one issue end with the 4 heroes captured and the next issue containing the gladiator fight (including the discussion as to why they supposedly deserve it). And Romita's art was actually a bit of a miss with me in this book. Some things he does amazingly well and then there are other panels where the Hulk's face looks distorted or "smooshed". And the Gladiator fight really didn't seem to have any oomph to it. I think he needed to play around a bit more with the panels and spread it out a little better. If the first half of the issue hadn't been taken up by the Strange fight, that might have helped. I anxiously await the next issue to see where all this is going though. I just hope it has a better payoff than Civil War. Despite the complaints, it still makes my recommended reading list. Though in typical fashion for a penultimate issue to a series, it's not the strongest of the bunch.
So that's it for this week. If I get a chance I may write up a review for Superman: Doomsday but the quick version of that is: I'm a bit of a stickler so the deviation from the comic was something that came up a lot for me but I was able to enjoy it a lot and thought it was rather well done. It does go on my recommended viewing list. And the Kevin Smith joke (an in-joke for the really big comic geeks out there) is darn funny.
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