The Incredible Hulk #2 Review

Hulk goes deep sea fishing for some shark while banner contemplates building a bomb. Today I will be reviewing The Incredible Hulk #2. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

The Incredible Hulk #2

So let’s talk about the book. Banner is starting to lose it. Ever since his split from The Incredible Hulk, he has lost all sense of purpose and is obsessed with recreating the Hulk. He is experimenting on himself and anything ese he can get his hands on. So far, he has met with nothing but failure. If he does not achieve a breakthrough soon, he might have to resort to actually building another Gamma bomb. Meanwhile, Hulk and Amanda Von Doom (no relation) go to her base where she can show him some of the creations that Banner has been making. One of those creations, a gamma irradiated pack of sharks, attack the boat and force the Hulk into action. He smashes the mutations to pieces and then refuses, once again, to help in getting Banner. As this is happening, Banner’s mutates reach the Moloid village where Hulk has been hiding and start to attack it. And that’s the book.

So let’s talk opinions. The art on this book is still top notch. From the stunning cover, to the detailed interiors, each page of this issue is a pleasure to look at. Red She Hulk was really nice this issue as was Betty. Amanda looked good too. I do have a small issue with everyone’s hair being alike, but I can put that criticism to the side for now. Also, Hulk’s facial hair and regular hair always seem to be blending together, making his face look more apish than monstrous. Silvestri’s use of shadows, however, does definitely add a sense of danger to the Hulk image. The deep sea battle was pretty awesomely drawn too. That Brain character is pretty cool. Banner’s face is really well done. You can see the stress on the man’s face get more and more apparent as the issue progresses. Now let’s talk story. Compared to last issue, I felt that this issue slowed itself down a bit and actually gave us a chance to reflect on the Banner situation. You can see the way this split is affecting him. He is suffering as a huge part of him has gone missing and he is doing anything he can to get it back. Even happiness with his gorgeous wife is not enough to fill the void in his head. Still, other than that, there really hasn’t been much of a story being told here. It’s pretty much Hulk wants to be left alone. Banner wants to recreate the Hulk because he needs it to stay sane. Amanda wants to stop Banner before he blows up the world. If this is the gist of the entire first story arc, then I pretty much don’t care. Its obvious that Banner and Hulk will eventually have to reunite. Hulk without Banner’s intellect is just a force of nature. Those are pretty much one trick stories. We need Banner’s angst and intellect combined with Hulk’s raw power to make a complete character. Hopefully Jason Aaron will be able to add more layers to this tale to really get the fans interested. Art alone cannot keep a book alive. We need a behind the scenes villain or some mega threat to give this book some sort of pop factor. For now, it’s just very simple and dull. And not enough smashing. We really need some more smashing to get the reader’s adrenaline pumping. Hopefully that is coming over the next few issues. That’s my opinion folks. Take it or leave it.

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