Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

World War Hulk Aftersmash: Warbound #3
Marvel Comics
Pak, Kirk & Sandoval

The middle act of the five issue arc puts the “heroes” in a no-win situation. This issue has a lot of character interaction and limited overall plot development. Thus far, I have felt this mini-series could have been condensed. While I liked the character dialogue in this issue I didn’t feel like a whole lot happened. On top of that I wasn’t a huge fan of the backup story about Korg told by Miek.

The issue begins with the military showing up outside of the gamma bubble. The Leader and his creation, called the Horde, are battling the Warbound and the military inside the bubble. So it becomes all hands against the Horde. Eventually Hiroim flushes the Horde out of the bubble and the Leader disappears.

While the Warbound debate how to save the remaining humans inside the bubble, some of the military starts shooting at the Warbound. Of course they would, seeing as how they are a) fugitives and b) alien invaders bent on assisting the Hulk kill others. Makes sense to me.

Eventually the Leader shows his hand by revealing how he unleashed Hiroim’s power. Basically, Hiroim is out of control. He even grows his hand back.

Hiroim and Korg go on their mission to use Hiroim’s power to save the world from the Leader. It’s a death trap. One of them or both of them will die. Kate, the SHIELD agent, gives Hiroim a good luck kiss.

Kate, Brood and Elloe create the distraction that allows Hiroim and Korg enough time to find the spot where they will foil the Leader’s plan and, presumably, die.

The back-up story that Miek tells about Korg is not as embedded in betrayal and murder as the others. Korg has a very “Hulk-like” existence. He’s living alone in the mountains and occasionally he helps the littles out. I would have liked to have seen the story about Korg invading Earth or something else from his past. What the story gives to us was not in line with the previous two Tales of the Warbound.

You might assume I wasn’t overly excited about this issue. This is not the case. The interaction between Kate and Hiroim was good, if not, great. The interaction between Hiroim and Korg was excellent. The battles were good. The artwork was good as well. Especially the way the Leader looked.

However, there was a down side. Some of the problems with this issue were the unclear motive and power source of the Leader and of Horde. Also, the lack of help (either other heroes or even SHIELD agents) in helping out with the massive Gamma bubble in the middle of the desert. The story just felt like it had holes. Add in that I disliked the back up story and we have a very mixed bag.

The bottom line is that I was entertained and there were quite a few elements that I liked about the issue. That said, I am not dying to find out how this arc ends and that’s not cool. Hopefully the next issue will raise the overall interest level.

3 out of 5 geek goggles.


World War Hulk Aftersmash Warbound #3