Comics Review: "World War Hulk"

After his banishment to Sakaar, and following the death of his wife, Hulk is angry. Very, very angry, and he returns home to take revenge on the illuminati: black bolt, dr. strange, iron man, and mr. fantastic. First stop, the moon, where he beats black bolt to a pulp. Then it's down to earth, where he beats the avengers, defeats Tony in his hulkbuster suit, and even destroys strange's hands when strange enters his mind. Plus, he has his friends from Skaar with him, called his warbling, who are totally on board with him seeking revenge. Thunderbolt Ross comes in after the other heroes are taken down, but even the military might cant stop hulk. Hulk then takes over MSG, making it into his own personal colliseum, complete with the obedience bands that the gladiators were forced to wear on Sakaar. Before that, though, Strange unleashed the power of Zom on Hulk, but still lost. Finally, Sentry decides to overcome his agoraphobia and face the Hulk, after remembering Tony's plea for help. Unfortunately, he is even in less control of his true might than Hulk, and Hulk has to save everyone from him. Then, his friend Miek from Sakaar reveals that the followers of Sakaar's evil ruler, the red king, planted the warp core that killed his wife, but Miek allowed it because he wanted it to bring out Hulk's true nature. Of course, Hulk got angry, and killed Miek. At the end, Hulk still remains angry, and Tony, using what I think is his extremis abilities, summons some laser to zap the gamma out of Banner, who's then taken into SHIELD custody. It turns out that siphoned-off gamma hep creates Red Hulk. Meanwhile, Skaar is born on Sakaar.

 

Theres a lot of cool stuff in this series. Tony uses the hulkbuster suit! Takes place right after civil war, with cap believed dead. Zom? "Strange Smash?" insane! Zom is insanely powerful, but uncontrollable. Having the heroes fight as gladiators was a great contrast to what hulk went through on sakaar. The scene with people recounting the bad the heroes did, in issue 4, was also stellar, showing that heroes aren't perfect. But the commoners are so bad, just looking for a fight, giving into basal human nature. Sentry is an interesting character, so powerful yet limited almost completely by his own agoraphobia and possible schizophrenia.

 

The artwork is very angular, kind of the opposite of what I like. It's very opposite of the realistic approach of McNiven, but the fights still looked rather cool.

 

Is Ronin Echo? Because he seems to be someone else here. I have to read those issues of "New Avengers" with Ronin son.

 

What's up with the sound effects? "VJJJWOMMMWWWB"? How does that even sound? They overused the sound effects wording throughout this series, and the end left me a bit confused. Did they somehow save banner but transport hulk back to sakaar? Nope, looks like that's actually skaar, the son of hulk who somehow survived even though his wife died. Gotta love comics, comic book logic is so illogical, it makes sense.... or not.

 

Overall, this was an enjoyable series. It showcased how powerful Hulk truly can be, and how the combined might of all the heroes of Earth may be hard pressed to stop him. I wish the artwork was better, but other than that, very enjoyable, and I liked the focus on Hulk.