I was dangerously close to giving up on this book after two less than stellar issues. But with only two issues left in Greg Pak’s remarkable run I decided to grab this book. I’m glad I did. After previously wandering off in several different directions, Pak finally gets back to the meat of his final story, Hulk versus Tyrannus and Betty. This is what I’ve paid to see.

While all of the recent issues have had loads of large-scaled action sequences and Hulk smashing, for the most part this one features it from cover to cover. Sometimes Hulk action can be a little numbing but here it feels like the big payoff I’ve been waiting for. While Pak doesn’t deliver many of the well written character moments that we’ve seen, he moves his story along in a frantic, break-neck pace that never feels meaningless. There’s just enough humor and heart interjected and Pak’s ending leaves plenty of questions unanswered.

This issue shows whyPaul Pelletier is a perfect fit for a Hulk book. His gorgeous splash pages and creative panel layouts give the action sequences a fun, energetic cohesion. I did run into a problem close to the end trying to figure out what I was seeing, but otherwise it’s exactly what you would want in a Hulk book.

I had a lot of fun with this issue. It’s not going to bowl you over with it’s slick dialogue or complex character development. But it’s loaded with Hulk smashing and sets up an action-packed finale. What more could you want?