Hulk #30 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Ed McGuinness (pencils), Dexter Vines (inks), Morry Hollowell (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

A-Bomb back up by: Parker (writer), Tim Seeley (art), Matt Milla (colors), Dukeshire (letters) & Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Red Hulk and Green Hulk have to team-up (kinda) to defeat a villain who has come to Earth just to beat a Hulk.  But, which one is he after?

What’s Good: Sometimes it is kinda nice to have a “between stories” issue.  I doubt anything in this issue is going to have huge, lasting implications for anything Hulk-related.  Heck….Impossible Man shows up, so you know it’s going to be silly in a Saturday-morning cartoon sort of way.

The basic upshot of the story is that Xemnu, the Living Titan, has come to Earth just to kill the Hulk.  But of course, there is more than one Hulk now.  Xemnu, of course, runs into the Red Hulk (which he finds perplexing) and before long, both Hulks and a whole shebang of big Hulk-sized villains are also involved in the fracas.  If you like watching Hulks smash big things, this will be fun for you.

The real star of the issue is a special “team-up” between the two Hulks.  I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s a lot of fun and requires two guys who loathe each other (Banner and Ross) to work together in a very intimate way.  It’s kinda like watching two guys who don’t really like each other compete in a three-legged race.

McGuinness is on his game doing his brand of Hulk art.  It’s not really my kinda thing personally, but I know it clicks for a lot of people and it is very good art in conveying that Hulks are big and strong and smash things (which is kinda the whole point).

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Batgirl #18 – Dustin Nguyen is soooo good.  I love the way he’s mashed up the style he was using on Batman: Street’s of Gotham with his kinda Tiny Titans-esque style to make something that fits the softer and more fun tone of Batgirl.  This series hasn’t had a bad issue and this fun one-shot might be the best issue yet.  Runner-up: Incognito: Bad Influences #3

Most Anticipated: 28 Days Later #20 – This is another heavy week for comics, but the story I’m most excited about is seeing how Selina deals with a British Army colonel out for vengeance.  You should all be reading this great series.

Other picks: Marineman #3, Memoir #2, Amazing Spider-Man #654.1, Hulk #30, Spider-Girl #4

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Hotwire: Deep Cut #3 – Another fantastic outing for Steve Pugh’s awesome series and an explosive, gripping conclusion.  Alice Hotwire has fast found her place among my favourite characters in comics.  I hope we see more of her sooner rather than later.

Most Anticipated: SHIELD #6 – Honestly, there’s not a whole lot that gets me truly excited this week.  Don’t get me wrong, there are good books and more than enough reasons to head to the comic shop, but I’m just not seeing that one book this week that really gets me super pumped.  So I guess I’ll go with SHIELD, if only because it’s book that consistently surprises insofar as I never know what to expect from a new issue.  Well, other than ridiculously awesome art, anyway.

Other Picks: Amazing Spider-Man #654.1, Wolverine #6, Fables #102, DMZ #62, Wonder Woman #607, Doom Patrol #19, Brightest Day #20, Green Lantern #62

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: I’m going to call a tie between Batman and Robin #20 and Warlord of Mars #4. It’s a real apples and oranges sort of tie because I liked them for different reasons. Dynamite’s Warlord of Mars is pure fantasy adventure escapism with heroes, monsters and princesses on a strange world. DC’s Batman and Robin is a family tale set in the psychologically unhinged city of Gotham. Both quality books. Both got an ‘A’ grade, something I rarely give.

Most Anticipated: Brightest Day #20 is topping my pull list as the last 6-8 weeks have been so consistently fun, with such high quality. We’re into the home stretch and I want to see what the heck is up with Deadman, Aquaman, the Hawks, and Firestorm.

Other Picks: Batman #707, Green Lantern #62, Green Lantern Corps #57, Legion of Super-Heroes #10, Marvel Girl #1, Loki #3, Thunderbolts #153.