The Hulk is one of those characters that I rarely wind up reading. But the 2011 series by Jason Aaron featured art from Marc Silvestri. That got my attention. Having the 1990s be part of my formative years, I have a soft spot for his art and checked out the first two issues of Incredible Hulk.
Most of my Hulk reading these days have been of Red Hulk, so I jumped into this not knowing much of what the character has been up to since the World War Hulk story line finished. Apparently Doctor Doom was able to split the Hulk and Bruce Banner into two separate people. And to think we all thought he was a villain.
Hulk has been living pretty happily under the earth’s surface with the Moloids. They have a pretty sweet living arrangement; he protects them and their village from subterranean monsters. They cook the monster for him and treat him like a hero. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Hulk grows a pretty sweet beard and dresses like a caveman now. It must be hard to find purple pants under the earth’s crust.
This happy living arrangement gets interrupted by Amanda Von Doom (Aaron takes the time to make the “no relation” joke and it is very well played) who is part of a government agency that stops rogue mad scientist types. Apparently since they’ve been separated Banner has gone nuts, and they need someone to stop him.
While this is going on, Banner has been working on finding a way to recreate the original gamma ray incident that caused him to turn into the monster. He’s pulled one of the worst boyfriend moves ever; he tricked on-again/off-again girlfriend Betty Ross to vacation with him on a nearly deserted island, only because it had been exposed to gamma radiation. Once Betty finds that out, she rightfully becomes jealous, transforms herself into the Red She Hulk and leaps away. This scene was almost comical, as to how little of her swimsuit was left after she changed into her hulk form.
Hulk, Amanda and her forces are en route to the album where we get one of the most ridiculously awesome things I’ve ever seen in comics: the incredible Hulk fighting mutant sharks! I’m very sure I was smiling the whole time during this part of the story.
Unfortunately, that smile was turned to a frown. Issue #2 ends with Banner getting ready to send a brigade of his own mutant animal pals to attack Subterranea and kill all of Hulk’s Moloid buddies. Sadface.
These two issues were a lot of fun to read, and I’ll be checking out what happens next. Is it because I’m a Silvestri fan? Kinda. Is it because I like books that have giant sharks? Sorta. Fear of what will inevitably happy to the Moloids and wanting to see Hulk get his revenge? Definitely.
Ridiculously Awesome 