Hulk #43 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Patch Zircher (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Hulk of Arabia continues with all kinds of interesting characters making guest appearances.

Five things: 

1).  Love the contemporary feel of this story.  This idea of Red Hulk/Rulk and some Secret Avengers chasing down some loose warheads in the Middle East  feels like something that could be happening now.  Most readers aren’t familiar enough with that part of the world to find any faults with the depiction and with all the unrest that is always going on in that part of the world, it seems like a great place to dump some superheroes into.  Parker covers a LOT of ground (again) in this issue and he gets bonus points for making the story contemporary without making it preachy.  You know how some comics tie into “today’s headlines” and instantly offend someone (see the Tea Party outrage over that Cap issue) or just seem whiny (Fear Itself and the economic malaise)….well…..Hulk isn’t doing those things.  It just feels fresh.

Hulk #42 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Patch Zircher (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Jeff Parker cues up a new story-cycle for Red Hulk with the big guy headed into the Middle East.

What’s Good: I really liked how Jeff Parker kicked off a new storyline here.  Even though every Jeff Parker comic is very accessible, this is very clearly something new.  He took over Hulk at #25 and up through #41 was telling one big story (with mini-stories bundled therein).  Over that time, Hulk was the best and most consistent book that Marvel published.  Amazing Spider-Man was probably close, but it’s had a few crappy issues.  Ditto for Uncanny X-Force.  So, I’m really excited to see Parker do it again.

This story definitely builds from what happened during the last cycle, but Parker is so good at storytelling that you don’t need to have read that material.  The basic set-up puts Rulk in conflict with his former protégé in the military (who ironically thinks he is avenging Thunderbolt Ross’ death) and sends him into the Middle East where he gets mixed up in events that are very promising given Ross’ background in the military.  The comic also feels very contemporary as if this could be happening right now if Rulk existed in the real world.

Replacing the departed art team of Gabe Hardman and Bettie Breitweiser is no small task because comic art doesn’t get any better than those two, but Zircher and Rosenberg are mostly up to the challenge.  Zircher tells the story very effectively and also finds ways to keep the pages visually interesting (especially a few pages during a scene in the desert).  His characters also have a good bit of energy.  I think I like my Rulk a little brushier, but that’s a personal preference.  And Rosenberg colors it all very well.  In terms of palate, she’s pretty close to what Breitweiser was doing and she stays away from those god-awful highlights that some people put on Rulk where he shines like a Ferrari (ugh!).  I much prefer this more understated coloring to overly highlight crap that some colorists go crazy with.

Hulk #36 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Patch Zircher (art), Jim Charalampidis (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Yikes!  MODOK is back!

What’s Good: For an ordinary comic, the deck would really be stacked against this issue.  Hulk is right in the middle of some longer-term stories and next issue/month, it dives into Fear Itself tie-in territory.  This issue even has a guest art team, so you could easily see and almost understand this issue being kinda disposable… Which happens with monthly superhero comics.  But when Jeff Parker is writing, I think he almost relishes a chance to write a done-in-one story.  It certainly isn’t much of a handicap for him as he again proves that he is better at packing lots of events into a single issue than anyone else currently writing in Big 2 superhero comics.

So, what’s cool?  Well, remember that new MODOK with the spidery legs from a few issues ago?  He’s back.  I honestly have always thought that MODOK was kinda a dorky villain, but the team of creators here makes him really sinister and creepy.  You just know that he’s going to be trouble in future issues…

Parker also manages to drag out an old Banner-Hulk villain who I really wasn’t familiar with, but Parker does such an awesome job of recapping just the right amount of history that I never felt lost.  Bravo!