Gigantic #1 – Review

By Rick Remender (writer), Eric Nguyen (pencils) and Matthew Wilson (colors)

The story: Five thousand years ago, an alien race created the Earth to be used as an extraterrestrial version of Big brother. Cut to present day San Francisco, and an enormous robot has appeared out of nowhere, pursued by intergalactic bounty hunters. After a throwdown involving Lava dogs of doom and ending with a massive explosion, two aliens are presented, both proclaiming it to be the best ever episode!

What’s good: A unique idea by Remender, and truly great art delivered by Nguyen make Gigantic the comic of the week for me. I mean seriously, who doesn’t like to see giant robots battling it out against monsters?

What’s not so good: There is very little to complain about here. One thing of note though is that Gigantic’s size seems to fluctuate between various panels. Distracting, but not near enough to spoil what could potentially be a great comic book.

Conclusion: A very interesting first issue, I’ll definitely be back for the second. I’m interested to find out who Gigantic is and where he came from, for now Remender and company have me hooked.

Grade: A+

-Conrad Flanigan

Hulk Vs. Hercules: When Titans Clash #1 – Review

By Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Khoi Pham, Paul Neary, Dennis Calero, Eric Nguyen, Reilly Brown, Carlos Guevas, Terry Pallot, Chris Sotomayor, Bob Layton, and Guru EFX (artists)

I’m always wary of annuals, “Giant-Size” issues, and “One-Shots”. Usually if a story ends up in an annual it’s because it has no clear place in continuity, and can usually be safely ignored. (The exception is weddings. For some reason superheroes love to get married in annuals.) Plus the publishers usually pad the book out with reprints so they can charge a higher cover price. So I always think twice before I pick one up.

The Hulk Vs. Hercules one-shot seems to exist to serve as a sort of a bridge of the “Incredible” book from Hulk to Hercules. It starts with Amadeus Cho, Hercules, and Athena in a diner somewhere in the mid-west. When Hercules leaves the table to buy some beer, Athena asks Cho why he stopped helping the Hulk and now follows Hercules. Cho replies, “Because regular Hulk readers would buy the book by default, thereby increasing sales.” Just kidding! Cho’s answer is that during World War Hulk he recognized the Hulk’s true savagery and decided to switch his allegiance to someone more deserving of his friendship. This launches Athena into a rambling tale designed to show that Hercules is not the teddy bear he sometimes seems to be. Her story begins at the dawn of time, with the war between the Titans and the Olympians, moves to the recent past, with the Hulk fighting the Avengers, then on to a wresting match between Hercules and the Thing (nicely illustrated by Bob Layton), and culminates in a chaotic battle involving Hercules, the Hulk, the Olympians, the Titans, and a primal uber-god known as Demogorge, the God-Eater. Things get nasty, and Hercules gets a chance to demonstrate his inner barbarian. He may be better than the Hulk, Athena says, but Hercules can still be a monster.

All in all, it’s a decent story, but certainly not a turning point in the lives of any of the characters involved. So should you buy it (along with the Tales to Astonish reprint that fills the remaining pages)? Offhand, I’d say no, but a “special preview” insert seems to indicate that Demigorge (whom old-timers may remember from Thor Annual #10) will be coming back soon, so the story might be an important part of continuity after all. (Grade: C+)

– Andrew C. Murphy