Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Incredible Hulk #2
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Silvestri & Gho
The second issue of Jason Aaron's relaunch of the Incredible Hulk dives more into the obsession that Bruce Banner has with being the Hulk now that the Hulk has left his body. The mad scientist angle is explained a little more but the subplot where the government is trying to get the Hulk to hunt down Banner takes an odd turn. Basically, this issue has its moments but is moving at a slow pace and doesn't really flow as a self-contained comic book.
The book opens with Betty and Bruce relaxing on the beach trying to give their marriage a second chance. As odd as this scene was in terms of this issue and the overall relaunch it does help to bridge some of the gap between this series and the previous. It probably doesn't help a new reader who doesn't really need the recap but it does provide some decent background for both the new and seasoned reader. The beach scene ends with Banner deciding the Hulk is more important than Betty.
From the beach scene we get the most interesting and important three pages of the book which is done almost entirely as a narrative of Bruce's thoughts. Bruce walks the reader through what he is doing on his little Island and it ties together a lot of the behavior and the driver behind his actions. It's very good and very well written.
The issue takes a nose dive when the Hulk is recruited to hunt down Banner. He is brought to an aircraft carrier to discuss the matter. In the background some men are dropping in huge pieces of meat into the ocean. The sharks appear to sink the carrier and everyone goes into the water to battle the green sharks. If the agency knew the powered sharks were out there why did they lure them to the ship? If they were attracted to the ship because of the food why did the attack the ship? If they are, in fact, gamma powered sharks how did the humans survive? Perhaps this scene was meant to be funny as Aaron likes to do a lot in his books? I really don't get this scene at all.
The issue has an army of twelve artists on the issue between pencils, finishes, pencil assists, inkers and colorists. Unbelievably the issue is consistent. However, the art actually fails because every single character has the same expression on their face no matter what the scene is. I haven't seen a more lifeless comic in terms of emotions or an art presentation that simply doesn't match the dialogue in a while. It was a huge disappointment. Even the green sharks couldn't save it.
I don't know where this series is heading. The first two issues have done nothing but left me thinking that Aaron is putting out a rare misfire. The few pages where Banner explains what is going on are the only parts of this comic that helps the story along at all. I am hopefully that this series will pick up the pace but I'm not sure how many more issues I will give it.
2 out of 5 Geek Goggles
