Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Incredible Hulk #6
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Portacio, Martinez & Prianto
Banner and the green Hulk square off on the crazy, creature, Island, filled with Hulk-ed out creatures in the latest issue of the Incredible Hulk. The one line sentence summary makes the book sound interesting and exciting. However, the comic book is a complete mess. I never like to trample on creator's work because I understand that this is a complete team effort from writer all the way down to the printer. That said, this is not only an awful book to look at, but it is also the worst Jason Aaron comic book I have ever read. I don't believe I have ever recommending avoiding a Jason Aaron comic, but this is the one.
Banner is on an Island creating little monsters in hopes of getting the gamma formula right, so that he can become the Hulk again. This is occurring because, in the Hulk form, Hulk sought out Doctor Doom to separate Banner and the Hulk. The Hulk is happy to have Banner out of his head, but Banner wants to be the Hulk again.
The book is has a lot of fighting and it has the subplot where a couple of humans are trying to detonate the gamma bomb in order to kill Banner. Presumably they don't care that there are other creatures, including other gamma powered humans, living on the Island. They just want Banner dead.
Meanwhile, the Hulk and Banner fight. However, to make it realistic, Banner enacts shields to absorb the Hulk's punches, while Banner has a stash of weapons hidden around the Island to fight the Hulk off. Of course, weapons have never worked in the past, but Banner has to try something.
The biggest problem here is the flow of the comic book is off. On the same page we jump from scene to scene without any kind of transition or any clue to let the reader know. On the other hand, flashbacks are just tossed in here and there to provide little snippets of background that have such little context that all they seem to do is disrupt the fighting. Even panel to panel we have characters getting punched then appearing upright while their opponent is looking in the opposite direction for no apparent reason. The book has these problems everywhere.
The other problem is that Banner's goal is to make himself a Hulk again. However, he obviously can make humans into Hulks, because they are here in this issue, so what exactly is the problem? Hulk's motives are equally as puzzling because he can't seem to decide if he wants to rescue Banner or kill him. This is also brought to attention in the book, which just hammers home the point that we are six issues into this launch and still have no answers.
The art is simply atrocious. I can't tell the difference between Banner and the humpback human and since they appear on the same page, though in different scenes, the book's art is calling out the fact that flow of the book is totally off. There are panels where Banner has and then doesn't have facial hair. There are problems with the line work. Some pages are barely inked while others follow the heavy inking we've seen over the art in previous issues. One of the pages appears to be under colored to the point of fading. I'll blame this on the printer. Hair color changes from panel to panel (or are we switching scenes?). Banner's shield appears and disappears depending on the panel and regardless of whether or not he is getting hit. Even the title page says "inkers" when only one is listed. It's as messy of a package as I have ever seen.
This title is a massive misfire. I'm not sure who would like this, but perhaps if you like crazy action or Hulk stories that are a little more bizarre than plot driven then maybe you would like this. Beyond that, I can't see picking this up.
1 out of 5 Geek Goggles
