Indestructible Hulk #5 – Review

By: Mark Waid (Writer), Leinil Francis Yu (Penciler), Gerry Alanguilan (Inker), Sunny Gho (Colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (Letterer)

Review: If you can believe Sebastian the Crab from The Little Mermaid then life in the ocean depths sounds pretty hunky dory. “Under the sea/Nobody beat us/Fry us and eat us/In fricassee,” he sings (quite improbably) underwater, “We what the land folks loves to cook/Under the sea we off the hook/We got no troubles/Life is the bubbles/Under the sea.” What rubbish. I’ve read Indestructible Hulk #5 and while you might avoid getting fried and eaten you still face the abject horror of being dissolved alive by highly corrosive magical sea goo. “Life is the bubbles”? He’s talking out of his carapace.

Proving himself to be more trustworthy than your average warbling crustacean is Mark Waid, Indestructible’s chief architect. This issue is the final chapter of a two-part story, the first half of which I thought was a little weak and the series’ first faltering step. I should have known better. Waid has ably corrected the ship’s course, and though I went into this installment somewhat fearing the worst I left on an absolute high. This is a really enjoyable issue filled with great action, characters and dialogue, all helped along by some pretty groovy art; the shortcomings present last month have pretty much all been addressed.

Fear Itself #4 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Stuart Immonen (pencils), Wade von Grawbadger (inks), Laura Martin (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: The Serpent shows a massive growth in power, and Thor returns to Midgard to make plans with some old friends.

What’s Good:  While I’ve been fairly positive about Fear Itself thus far, I really did feel that with this issue, the plot has really showed momentum.  I think a good part of this development has to do with the fact that over the last three issues, Fraction has really spent a lot of time scene-setting and creating the status-quo for this event.  He needed to show that our heroes had their backs well and truly up against the wall against massive odds.  Last month, Bucky Barnes’ death was truly the final nail in the “shit just got real” coffin, and the scene setting was complete.

So when we see Fury, Thor, Black Widow, Steve, and Iron Man talking tactics and plans, there’s a really satisfying and comforting sense of the story becoming better defined and moving forward.  It’s as though while we’ve seen that things are bad, it’s this month where we start to learn what the Avengers plan on doing about it.  Hence, there’s more story and character than big action and explosions.

But there certainly are big explosions.  Immonen’s art is gorgeous and characterful as ever (and includes a couple of really cool layout decisions), but he and Fraction really hit the big notes well.  Thor’s literal fall to Midgard, Steve’s being back in the Captain America uniform, the Serpent’s transformation, and the holocaust inflicted on the Atlanteans all really hit home and come across as truly large and epic in scale.  There aren’t just blips in the plot, they’re the big occurrences that are the bread and butter of a successful comic book event.

Then there’s Tony’s sacrifice to Odin, which is certainly a surprise and striking in its own way.