I know there is a Spoiler Warning in place, but I will add just one more level of warning here, this review will spoil the mystery that began in issue one and lasted until this week.


The Red Hulk and the Red She-Hulk stand revealed.  The identities?  Well that had been guessed with a fair degree of certainty long ago, I mean forget the folks who claim to have known that Nightcrawler was going to die, this was TRULY a non-mystery.  Why then did I find myself shaking my head in disbelief and excited to read the last page of this issue?  Because even though I saw it coming, I didn't see it coming.

Wait, don't go away, let me explain.  I knew it would be these two, I knew that because it made sense.  It makes total and complete sense for Red Hulk to be who he is, and for Red She-Hulk to be who she is.  If it had been anyone else it wouldn't have rung true, and therefore would have been a let down.  The problem facing the writers then, was how to make the payoff of the reveal actually feel like something.  Especially in this day and age, where previews and solicits give away almost every damn thing...  The answer throw us a curve.  The next issue has been solicited as the origin of the Red Hulk, and those of us who have been reading for the past two years have gotten used to being told we're getting the reveal only to have it be nothing.  That's what made this work, this issue didn't have a big splash on the front cover or a solicit screaming, "Here it is the moment you've waited for, the Red Hulk revealed at last!"  No.  Instead they put the Red Hulk into a position where HE has to save Banner and just as he is about to do it, we find out that he is in fact General Ross, Banner's oldest enemy, now dependent on freeing his foe in order to save the world.  And to make matters worse?  The woman who stands between him and his nemesis turned partner, his enemies lover, the woman who has stood between them for years... Betty. 

I won't say this issue justified the past two years.  I won't say that this will make others want to join on the series.  I will say that I'm glad they didn't screw it up by making these two some random character from a back up story in the 60's, just to give us a shock.  No, when it makes sense to use the obvious, use the obvious.  I just can't believe they didn't fuck it up.