Indestructible Hulk #4 Review

It’s the Indestructible Hulk vs. Attuma!

Indestructible Hulk #4

Bruce Banner wakes up in his home in a quiet suburb where he’s the only inhabitant.  The other “people” of this town are the leftover mannequins from the old days of neutron bomb tests.  Hollowed out below this town is his very own S.H.I.E.L.D. funded lab where he meets his assistants who are there to put him back on the map as a respected scientist.  He’s interrupted by Maria Hill who shows him footage of Atlantean attacks on ships in the Pacific led by Attuma.  Quickly he’s placed aboard a Chinese super sub.  When they are attacked by Attuma’s forces, he’s gang tackled by the ship’s sailors and shoved into the torpedo tube where he’s fired out against Attuma as the Hulk.  The Atlanteans, though, get the drop on him and he’s forced into the depths of the ocean where the pressure and lack of air start to weigh on the behemoth.

You know what makes Mark Waid such a great writer?  It’s his ability to take a character who’s been around for decades and put a new spin on him.  He’s done it with DC’s pantheon for Kingdom Come.  He’s done it with Captain America.  More recently, he’s given Daredevil a brand new lease on life as an A-list character.  Now, he’s at it with the Hulk.

With the Hulk being such a major movie star now with his scene stealing moments in the blockbuster Avengers movie, it only makes sense that his role in the Marvel Universe proper will be heightened to a slightly more “heroic” stature.  Sure, the Hulk has never meant to do harm to good people, but he’s always been hunted and feared.  Now, he can still be feared, but as a weapon for S.H.I.E.L.D.  It’s a damn cool idea and Waid nails it with each issue.

Each issue has had a really cool Hulk moment.  This one is no different.  This time around, it’s his use as the ultimate torpedo.  As soon as the Chinese sailors started taking Banner down, I immediately thought to myself, “Oh god, please put him in the torpedo tube.  Please fire him out of the sub as the Hulk.”  I’m positive that I am not alone in that thought.  Sure enough, Mark Waid gives us what we want.

Leinil Yu’s work on this book has been phenomenal as well.  I’m not one who’s a huge fan of his style, but this style fits the bill for the Hulk so perfectly, he’s made me a believer in his abilities.  He actually manages to make the scenes with Banner just as visually interesting as the scenes with the Hulk.  However, his action shots with the Hulk are simply out of this world.  The money shot in this issue isn’t the cliffhanger or the aforementioned Hulk torpedo, but the surveillance shot of Attuma’s monsters of Atlantean lore attacking the shipping boat.  Any fan of monsters (like myself), will love the two page monster goodness.