snaps: Incredible Hulk #610

... where Bruce Banner saves the world again, right before he destroys it. peace will never be in his vocabulary. also, goodbye, Leo?



oh, isn't that father-daughter thing creepy?


Amadeus Cho vs Modok for Biggest Egghead of 2010!!!



always the same mistake: too many dramatics, not enough action. boooooooo!!!


yes, you can also buy it in the Apple App Store for $4.99.


oh, now you want to do something worthwhile??

Red Hulk is a redneck!

oh-HO-HO, Jeph Loeb, you did not!!!



so i was partly right. it was a red herring. i had my money on Glenn Talbot somehow.

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Hulk #22

pick me ups

wandering through a bookstore chain the other day, i left it with these in hand. yes, apparently, no matter how hard i avoid the regular comicbook shops, i am not safe from plunking money for these babies. dammit.

seriously, how can you go wrong with these? World War Hulk was a far better slambang actionfest than Michael Bay's Transformers, and equally mindless. wait, not really. there was a point to all that fists flying. it was the perfect excuse to destroy New York for the nth time, and since the Hulk didn't get to pick a side in Civil War, hell, let's have everyone take on him.

then we have the much-hyped (and deservedly so), JLA/Avengers, the crossover that everyone was waiting for their whole childhood. if anything, its always a treat to ogle George Perez' pencils. always.

last but not least, i couldn't resist picking up the latest Iron Fist TPBs. these things come out much faster than DVD releases (and its no wonder the trend has been, for years now, writing a story arc that would hold up well as a collected edition). no matter how much the Revolution has been whipping Matt Fraction on his new gigs (maybe deservedly so), i always be grateful he and Ed Brubaker teamed up to bring back one of my old faves, Danny Rand, to respectability. and what else can i say about David Aja's art? wow.

hope these babies will be Hancocked in the next few Comic-Cons. hoooohaaaaaaaaah!!!

(NYCC '09 back to dead of winter? boooooooooo!)

i was just buggin'

its finally here!

having been captured by Hulk's Warbound, our odd collection of heroes get the "Alien"/Sigourney Weaver/Japanese manga treatment, courtesy of Sana Takeda. of course, the cover is a slightly askew depiction of Zeb Wells' story, used more to draw fanboys to expect something different but would end up disappointing them because Clay Mann is drawing the interiors.

also, i would advise you not to read much into this:

Clay Mann: "bestiality? what dat?


OMAC, ... i mean, Bug, seems to be slowly slipping to dark side, the way he's betraying his friends to the Brood Queen and the bugs. but somehow, his act doesn't fool me.



also, should we take this to mean this is the most exciting event for a martial artist since Ralph Macchio was about to crane kick William Zabka? he finally comes to terms to kicking ass and tapping ass! welcome back, Shang!


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Heroes for Hire #13

Hulk charged with child abuse

ok, nahh ... pictures can be deceiving. TSAKAA (the smartass known as Amadeus) is alright, proving his point that the Hulk is not a killer. which only extends this crossover before the payoff. we are about to be bored ...

how green is your planet

World War Hulk sightings:

too many insects

Humbug is now more-than-half-bug, less-than-half-human. he thinks his mission is to make this world safe for his insect friends, hence he has to wipe out this new alien infestation. trouble is, his pals are overmatched against the Hulk's pals. much worse, the Queen Brood seems to have Humbug's number, including his secret blog. lest you think this is dragging on for far too long, next month is the one you've been waiting for!

Dugan talks to objects

after the beatdown T-Stark got from the Jolly Green Giant, S.H.I.E.L.D. is in almost total disarray. where's that bulldyke Maria Hill now?? anyway, Tony manages to give instructions to loyal service guy Dum Dum Dugan via his Extremis shit on one final Hulk-beating solution, but it involves lot of collateral damage.

the friend of my friend is my enemy

Rick Jones vs Miek! or not. this one is more of a philosophical battle and not much of a physical one (guess who wins! let's just say we all hope the Miek shall not inherit the earth, heh heh). those who wanted a lot more punch in their funny books best just skipped to the next one below ...

the Hulk beats up old guys

with the supposedly-Hulk's-friend and most-powerful-being-ever Sentry not answering Dubya's summons to join the fray, we have to endure the geezers General Ross and Doc Strange (well, not really a geezer yet, but in terms of seniority yeah) taken down by the Hulk. but wait! don't count the Doc out ... he's bringing out the Zom.

so yeah. who else is left? we need Nick Fury here asap! or Thor! we need Thor! (too bad, Thor#1 seems to take place after these events)

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Incredible Hulk #108
Greg Pak, Leonard Kirk, Scott Hanna
Iron Man#20
Chris Gage, Butch Guice
World War Hulk #2
Greg Pak, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Heroes For Hire #12
Zeb Wells, Clay Mann, Terry Pallot

hulkamania 2

World War Hulk sightings:

Hulk Destroys the Marvel Universe
i mean, wow. it was almost as if, to a man, the Marvel head honchos said, "ok, how do we top our heroes kicking each others' butt? well, let's have the Hulk kick all their butts! and really good!" the Hulk has never been written this powerful and menacing, and he has control of all his faculties. means bad news for all his former friends, who wish they still had the original dumb Hulk leaping around.

She-Hulk? for once, blood is not thicker than water.


Ares? i think he has to give up this 'God of War' thing.


Human Torch? you must be kid-ding.


Ben Grimm? definitively the ass-kicking of his life.


and Mr. Smarty-Pants Reed Richards himself? well, you know what they say about good intentions. hopefully, he still has a third honeymoon in him.

that's Black Bolt, Iron Man, the Avengers (the supposedly mighty ones - how does this tie-in with New Avengers?), the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four ... including give or take a few of heavy hitters. the last remaining hope is Dr. Strange, who couldn't complete his spell, and the enigmatic Sentry (which for the life of me, i don't know why he's sitting at home watching Food Network). wait ... who's that approaching? is that General Thunderbolt Ross? seriously!?

Iron Man gets Screwed

by one of his Initiative recruits, no less. it didn't take long for sneaky government types to meddle with the super-army Tony Stark built. Hardball, an immature loose cannon who hasn't really revealed the full extent of his powers, has been coerced to sell the one thing that could have brought the Hulk down for family security. security, pfah!

New Yorkers have an Attitude. Even The Young'Uns.
if i were Daredevil, i'd have smacked the shit out of this kid. i'm just saying!


CSI Alienation

an android under the command of the AWH (aliens with Hulk) gets "killed" and the outerworlders are out for blood. what do we humans do? why, conduct an investigation, of course. easier said than done.

Ghost Rider Cops Out

and i mean the Ghost Rider, not Johnny Blaze. Dr. Strange said it well - Blaze was the one limiting the Rider's powers, because if not, you'd have a much more powerful entity unleashed on the world. however, that might be the one thing needed to beat the Hulk.

can you imagine the Hulk being mischievous? (straps a 7 train to the unsuspecting GR's chain)


after dropping a building on Hulk (cool) and expanding a huge blast of hellfire (how is NYC still standing?), it all comes to this staredown and ...


... nothing. Ghost Rider drives away because he only avenges the innocent.

which most certainly, our so-called protectors (Iron Man, Reed Richards, etc.) haven't been.

but ... but ... what about the innocents killed in this attack? you mean there's no body count? are you kidding me?

damn you, Daniel Way!


i knew the continuity was breaking down. for those who haven't read it yet, sorry for spoiling it for you, but you'd better read this thing from beginning to end when its all said and done.
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World War Hulk #2
Greg Pak, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Avengers: The Initiative #4
Dan Slott, Stefano Caselli
World War Hulk: Frontline #2
Paul Jenkins, Ramon Bachs
Ghost Rider #13
Daniel Way, Javier Saltares, Scott Hanna

upstate rumble

like the Kool Aid guy said ...
"ooooooohhhh yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"


each Wolverine/Hulk throwdown is an eagerly-awaited event. of course, there has been no conclusive evidence of a clear winner everytime, that's why rematches are always in order. with the Hulk confronting Prof. Xavier (and the X-Men), Chris Gage whets the primal fanboy urge for mayhem and may also have written canon.

it is convenient that all the X-Men are there at the mansion when the Hulk arrives, and not off fighting the Marauders (hey, that's supposed to be happening around this time too) or some alien invasion.


despite the slant of the pics above, our favorite mutants only delay the inevitable, as there's no stopping Jade Jaws. even Colossus becomes nothing more than a tin man/can.


this would've been avoided if Cyclops just followed Xavier's order to stand down (yeah, like that's gonna happen). instead we have injured X-Men all over the place (this would be a perfect time to attack, Sinister!). a telepathic distress call is placed to other X-teams, and even the Juggernaut re-sells his soul for the price to kick ass.


like that helped him too.



and what about Wolverine? let's say he just missed the Cinco De Mayo celebrations this year, and the Hulk just offered him the role of being a piñata. wait, he actually didn't offer.



more mayhem next month, as the second-tier teams get into the act. the wait could actually turn you green with rage.

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World War Hulk: X-Men #2
Chris Gage/Andrea DiVito

the light is green

World War Hulk sightings:

the scum known as Ant-Man has been swallowed by the Hulk. well, actually Ant-Man wanted to take the Hulk down from within. turns out he can't. so he settles for other extra-curricular activities.

i'm not even gonna think about that Red Zone deodorant in Holku's stomach.

pretty soon, Eric's karma comes back and slaps him upside the head. yaaaaaaaaaaay.

i'm all for Mitch shooting O'Grady right then and there. but there's something compelling about extending this story for awhile. its like watching a dangerous animal go about its business - you have to kill it now but somehow you're fascinated. until it bites you in the ass. its not everyday that you get stories within the Marvel Universe that deal with the people in between - kinda like Frontline but more fun and grating and gleefully annoying all at the same time.

let me ask you: is that General T-Bolt Ross' tongue, or his lower lip is just too protruding?

the respected Dr. Bruce Banner, a milksop? no waaaaaaaaaay. say, General, isn't that your Army being torn to pieces right now?

another old nemesis, General John Stryker (ambitious soldiers probably change their names when they know they can make it to the top - i mean does "Colonel Rudy Gay" or "General Stewie Ottum" sound badass to you?) has put-together, secretly of course, a team of Hulkbusters (a bunch of Gamma-powered nutcases). why? because he knew that the Hulk would be shot into space and would come back soon enough. yeah, sure.

whatever reasons Stryker had then for trying to capture the Hulk (to study him and use the knowledge to heal his cancer-stricken wife Lucy), there's none of them now as Stryker is a fugitive (a rich and connected one, nonetheless) and only his proposition to solve the Hulk problem saves him from a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison.

leading the team is someone with ties to the Hulk as well - the late Glenn Talbot's bro, Brian. and to shock us readers, he's called Grey and he's actually grey (a nod, of course, to the Hulk's very first incarnation). but he looks Mexican to me.

we've been promised by the head honchos during the NYCC that the Gamma Corps are supposed to be really hardcore, badass individuals (which is why they had - cough, cough - tough guy Frank Tieri writing it). we'll see. i want to see dead people, people. dead, i say.

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The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10
Robert Kirkman/Phil Hester
World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #1
Frank Tieri/Carlos Ferreira/Sandu Florea

mean green machine

this summer's big top event, World War Hulk, comes to Westchester!

the Hulk wants an audience with Professior Xavier, who was interestingly absent, when they sent Hulk to outer space. as is with costumed super types, there has to be some fighting first.

after the New X-Men's asses get handed to them, the senior team comes to the rescue. we're tired of waiting for the resumption of the Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk series, that we're glad we are treated to this:

too bad, because that's as far as it goes, and Prof. X shows up for his appointment. if he arrived a few minutes earlier, there'd be less broken bones and hurt feelings.

now the big question is ...

remember when you used to slap your bald friend upside the head? who wants to put down bets on which state while Chuck end up? Florida? Louisiana? Illinois? Arkansas? Texas, do i hear Texas?

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World War Hulk: X-Men #1
Christos N. Gage/Andrea DiVito

hulkamania

World War Hulk sightings:

overall, DC does a better job coordinating multi-titled crossover events, but Marvel earns some brownie points this time (yeah, yeah, its just the first month!).

Humbug decapitates a Miek-ling
Heroes for Hire #14, by Zeb Wells, Clay Mann, Terry Pallot
is there some kind of 90's decute-ification revival going on? y'know, fun hero morphs into tough, dark persona (Speedball = Penance; mutant postman = The Collective). to be fair, Humbug was like a Wonder Twin of H4H. now, he's ... badass. but we are now skeptical of the company Hulk keeps.


who's your god-dy?
Incredible Hulk #107, by Greg Pak, Gary Frank, Jon Sibal
7th smartest human Amadeus Cho (bril name!) brings former Champions Hercules and Angel to help out the Hulk. but of course there has to be some eardrum-shattering punching - the cover says so! we're waiting for the blow up between Namor and the Hulk. by the way, if you want to email Hercules to ask him how his face feels, drop him a line at hercules@olympus.com.


Iron Giant vs Hulk
Iron Man #19, by Christos N. Gage, Butch Guice
this issue of Iron Man expands the events prior and within WWH #1. it still ends up with Hulk kicking Tony's metal ass.


the jump
Ghost Rider #12, by Daniel Way, Javier Saltares, Scott Hanna
Johnny Blaze (another former Champion) overrides his Ghost Rider program and races to Manhattan to help out. he could have gone from New Jersey and straight to the city via Holland Tunnel, but instead for cinematic purposes he went through Staten Island and Brooklyn, because he ... needs to jump over the Brooklyn Bridge. and when he gets to the other side, the Hulk is right there waiting for him. and then of course the book ends, and we have to wait another 30 friggin' days to find out what the hell happens next.

damn you, Daniel Way!



wait ... what are the order of these events, exactly? methinks next week, all coordination breaks down. oboy.