Saturday, January 12, 2013

Quick Comic Reviews - The Incredible Hulk Volume 2 (2013 edition)

Incredible Hulk Vol 2 by Jason Aaron and a host of artists -- I haven't been a huge fan of Jason Aaron's run on the Hulk. The first volume was a miss for me for the most part. The story of Doom separating the Hulk and Banner just seemed weak and silly to me and Banner's personality switch after (the idea seeming to be that he's an insane madman without the Hulk) just didn't work for me. He's been split from the Hulk before and despite being a bit of a jerk he wasn't like this (though perhaps it was how Doom split them this time that made the difference). And the art in the first volume was a bit of a mess. I'm only saying this because this volume continues this story so I didn't have high hopes. I will say the art is better, or at least more consistent in this volume (the artists tend to at least be able to complete a whole issue before someone else takes over). There were a few parts where the story seemed jumpy, I'm not sure if that was the writing or the art just not telling the story. But once I was able to put all that behind me the story did have its moments. There was a decent amount of humour and seriousness mixed in. The Doombots (whether it was Bruce blasting them away or their doubts about Doom himself) were fun to read. And Banner's comment about Doom using a chainsaw to cut his head open was a bit on the nose for me. So it was a more enjoyable read than I expected. And it had a very solid ending. Of course, with all the Marvel NOW stuff being thrown around I already knew how this situation was going to play out. I need to figure out some way to filter the comic news.

So in the end, it was a somewhat interesting run on the Hulk. I guess I have to give them props for trying. But it definitely wasn't my favourite. I'm eager to give Mark Waid's run a go though (before too much of it gets spoiled for me).

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