REVIEW: The Incredible Hulk #1

Incredible Hulk #1

The Incredible Hulk #1

Written by Jason Aaron
Pencils by Marc Silvestri
Pencil Assists by Michael Broussard
Inks by Joe Weems, Rick Basaldua, Sal Regla
Colors by Sunny Gho of IFS

A wise puppet once said “It’s not easy bein’ green,” and we’ll often nod when we hear it, ignoring the fact that there’s a dude’s arm all up in that. While the line’s been appropriated by any number of groups or creeds–civil rights activists, Rudy Huxtable reprimanded for trying to wear a summer dress to a brisk autumn party–it’s likely never been more contextually apt than when applied to the Hulk.

A founding member of the Avengers, he’s been forced to go into hiding more often and in more disparate corners of reality than the most reviled terrorists and despots. Where many of Hulk’s peers boast theme music or even a John Williams score to herald their heroics, the lick we most often associate with this character is a sad piano tune about hitch-hiking along lonely freeways. He’s slummed it in a traveling circus as a bona fide clown. His best friends packed him up in an actual rocket and shipped him to the far side of the galaxy, like Nermal bound for Abu Dhabi. He won a crown, but only after Russell Croweing it to the top of the heap, and only to have his kingdom and queen blown to smithereens. Snap back to reality. Oh, there goes gravity. The father of his main squeeze has hunted him for longer than many fans have been alive, and adding insult to injury, the old man is now playing the same game in the complementary color scheme.

No, it’s not at all easy being green. Even in 2011.

If you lost track of the Hulk within the coils of Fear Itself and his subsequent tussle with Dracula, just remember the song from the swamp. Suffice to say, shit happened and now the Hulk is camped out with the Moloids, miles beneath the earth’s surface. He’s grown a scraggily beard and spends most of his day asserting himself against tentacled horrors as the Strongest One There Is. With Moloids. Separated from his human alter ego, the Hulk is a 24/7 repository of rage and remorse. The very planet is his prison, and without the companionship of Red She-Hulk or any of his extraterrestrial bug buddies, the mighty green titan is left only with the fellowship of Moloids. That is of course until a government agency and its armored agents descend upon the Hulk and his subterranean sanctuary for a favor they likely don’t deserve.

From Incredible Hulk #1, art by Marc Silvestri

If he seemed an ideal match for the ongoing saga of Wolverine, incoming writer Jason Aaron is perhaps even better suited to the Hulk’s travails. When looking at Aaron’s catalog of work, the strongest element is likely his ability to straddle that line between all-out brutality–even depravity–and poetry. There’s something of Robert E. Howard in Jason Aaron, though Aaron’s prose is far less purple. There is though that quality of brunt force trauma and the thoughtfulness to articulate just what that aggression means and what forces drove it home. The Hulk is a force of violence and he’s at his best when Smashing. But the writer also brings the precise level of melancholy and introspection to elevate the proceedings. When the Hulk defeats a nightmarish leviathan, he takes a moment to reflect on the death and the absurdity of it. He doesn’t speak like a professor, but he thinks like a sage warrior. A reaver with experience and insight.

As for Silvestri, an artist who’s never swayed me with previous Marvel outings, the mechanism truly clicks into place here. He’s a great match for the Hulk, especially in this savage iteration, and for big monster battles as well. As was my criticism with a previous Avengers-related project, human characters come off as a little too severe, too furious in expression and chiseled in their musculature. There’s a distinct moment, a human character reveal, that strikes as purely 90s in the same way as last month’s Hawk & Dove #1 or an issue of Savage Dragon. That’s a referential thing, but I think it will ring true for most other readers. But given that the bulk of this issue centers on the subterranean happenings and on monsters and mutants of all sorts, the pairing of artist and subject is hugely appropriate.

Solicit information has insured that the split and conflict between Hulk and Bruce Banner is hardly a secret. The theme of this first arc, “Asunder” gravitates around this rift between man and monster. It’s actually the Banner plot that felt most surprising and inspired. And as interesting as Aaron’s take on the Hulk is, the status quo he’s established for Banner and his Island of Dr. Moreau base of operations is the fuel providing the most momentum. Simple as the concept seems, the Hulk is many things for many readers. For casual fans of the character, this new direction seems like a return to the clear objective and focus of the celebrated Planet Hulk, finally delivering the green Hulk to the status and level of quality enjoyed by Jeff Parker’s red Hulk offering. Recommended.

Story: 4 / Art: 4 / Overall: 4

(Out of 5 stars)