The savage and soothed side of the beast.
Creative Staff:
Story: Alan Davis
Art: Alan Davis
What They Say:
Alan Davis writes and draws a blockbuster story pitting the HULK against… the X-MEN!?!?! Learn the startling secret of Professor Xavier’s connection to Bruce Banner! Guest starring the Leader and the Abomination!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Among the pantheon of characters that Marvel has, one that has always been harder to deal with for a lot of writers is that of the Hulk. While we had a good, long run of him being the savage beast that dominated stories from the beginning up until the 80’s, we got a lot of changes, twists and alterations over the years since that I have to admit I have no idea what to expect coming back to the character after twenty years away. I grew up reading the Peter David run all those years ago and adoring the character that was starting to find that there’s more to him. And that made it an accessible character through the various movie interpretations for me as well. While I can’t profess a love for the character, I’ve long had an enjoyment with the kinds of stories that can be told since there are some intriguing unexplored avenues to work with.
What made me really curious to try this book was that it has Alan Davis at the helm doing the writing and art. Davis is someone that I’ve long adored for his work on Excalibur and I find myself willing to try almost anything he does. Unfortunately, this series starter is one that has to deal with problems from elsewhere that are convoluted and confusing, particularly for a new-newbie like me, as the prologue text page goes on about events involving the X-Men (a version of which I’m not familiar with!) that are seeking out the Hulk in order to get a device that Bruce Banner has that could help Xavier recover from a massive telepathic event that he was involved with that forced him into a coma. Unfortunately, trying to talk to the Hulk is never easy and even in Vegas, things get rough and tumble until they can get him to turn back to normal and just actively talk with him.
With some exposition from The Leader as he observes all from a distance, we get caught up on some of these events but it feels like it’s not something that should be in an opening issue of a series.The time with the Hulk is good as we see him dealing with Hulkbuster attacks on him and how he’s still ahead of modern technology as well as the quieter moments where he can finally be alone in the desert and just admire the stars.Those are good moments, albeit ones that don’t really add to a larger narrative, but it helps to show who this Hulk is for someone like me that’s a returning fan. It’s just that the X-Men time takes up half the book, though it does offer some ideas as to the kind of mental strain that Banner is under in trying to keep his Hulk side in control. And understanding that, for the Professor at least, is more than enough motivation to try and help him in this quest. And that means going back to Vegas for them to try and help, though the Hulk isn’t the only gamma irradiated being out there.
In Summary:
I won’t say I had high hopes for this book, but I was cautiously optimistic because of the talent involved. I felt more like I was reading a fifth or sixth issue that was tying in to other events that I hadn’t read rather than a first issue. What we do get here does largely work well, especially on a second read, but it’s not a Hulk book at the moment but more of an X-men book. Their role is interesting, but it’s all so fast and quick with how it comes together and it feels weird with that storyline running in parallel to what the Hulk is going through. It also doesn’t help that I’m not familiar with what this X-Men team is all about since they look like they’re the 60’s version that’s back. Alan Davis’ scripting and pacing suffers here because of all of this, but I like his interpretation of the Hulk and there’s some great layouts that makes for a very fun read in terms of the artwork. I’m likely to stick around for a bit, but I’m hoping for more Hulk and Banner than what we got here or at least some cementing of Banner which was lightly touched upon here with the strain he’s under.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: June 25th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
