World War Hulk

To a particular sub-species of comic fans, the summer crossover is something you look forward to eagerly, the event that fuels the eternal question ”“ DC or Marvel? It is this sub-species of fans – the one that obsesses over details of which alternate reality in storyline A contradicts storyline B or who would win when Hero X fights Hero Y, that World War Hulk is aimed at. One of the prerequisites of reading it, therefore, is a familiarity of the Marvel universe. Thankfully not the kind of anal retentive familiarity DC assumes its readers have – but you would do well to know about the rest of the characters in the pantheon, and read Planet Hulk, the series leading to this one. With the number of times WWH references the story within its pages, you pick up the gist of it easily”“ by the fifth chapter, the continuous back-issue-referencing starts to get tedious.

The extremely concise version: In Planet Hulk, four superheroes trick the Hulk into boarding a spaceship and shoot him into space, the reason being the Hulk is a menace to society and is hard to control and it’s better to pretend there is no problem rather than trying to solve one. The monster lands on an alien planet, where he is forced into gladiatorial slavery along with other grotesque creatures. He then goes on to win every fight, finds true love, defeats an evil Emperor and becomes the ruler of the world. And as is fairly obvious, something goes wrong. Everybody on the planet dies, except for him and his compatriots, who head to earth for revenge against those who did him wrong. The end of Planet Hulk is an epic image of the grimacing Hulk astride a spaceship, smashing puny asteroids as he makes his way back to earth.

The first chapter of WWH almost makes you feel the series would live up to its premise. Landing on the moon, the Hulk takes on Black Bolt, and the two face each other in an epic Fanboy moment. Black Bolt, whose normal voice can destroy a world, whispers “Enough,” the force of which hurls the Hulk across the landscape. From the debris, the monster reemerges, more powerful than ever. “I don’t come here for a whisper. I want to hear you scream,” he says. The good part: the smack-down that follows happens off-screen, and when you see Black Bolt’s battered body later in the chapter, it’s awe-inspiring. The bad part: Everything goes downhill from that point.

Apparently for Marvel comics, the World is one city. New York City, to be precise. The city is what the Hulk demands, along with the superheroes responsible, allowing 24 hours to the citizens to evacuate. And this is the weakest part of the storyline, setting up everything to the crescendo of a planet-wide devastation and imploding into a city-level whimper. You know what follows next – splash pages and oversized panels of the Hulk trading blows with the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the Avengers and the rest of the Marvel superheroes. He faces off against military special operatives armed with adamantium-laced weaponry and headed by his old nemesis General Ross; he even survives a nuclear strike. C’mon, it is World War Hulk, after all. All these assaults just make our green-skinned hero angry, and as we all know, the madder the Hulk becomes, the stronger he gets.

Writer Greg Pak is no stranger to the character ”“ he handles the regular scripting duties on the monthly Hulk series and in World War Hulk, you can make out that he’s having fun playing with all of Marvel’s big guns. John Romita Jr is one of the finest mainstream artists working in comics right now, and along with veteran inker Klaus Janson, he conjures a glorious arena of destruction, a tapestry of violence and mayhem that would make action director Michael Bay weep with its splendour. If only the team could go beyond cool action tableaus and creative sound-effects, (the super-powered fights make things go KRAKABATHROOM, SHWAALUUUUM, CHTKRAAAAM, PHSKRCKROOOM, and the in-jokey JRJRKJCSSSSSS) I would be much, much happier.

The Hulk does get his revenge, and his enemies are made to pay, in the family-friendly, PG-rated manner a storyline like this is meant to function. After all, all the characters involved are flagship properties, and you cannot expect any drastic change in the status quo. There is the obligatory twist in the final chapter, and the turn of events that lead to the climax is not just yawn-worthy ”“ it is something involving a character making up his mind and”¦that’s it. Talk about unsatisfactory endings!

It’s interesting to note how the Summer Crossover, once a way of boosting sales and drawing attention to C-list characters, has now become a study of excess within editorially-mandated corporate comics. A story like this could be told within the span of two 22-page monthly comics, but obviously storytelling is the last thing on Marvel’s mind as the creators go through the motions. Sure, World War Hulk is not a continuity-ridden wreck, but it’s a wreck all the same, one you can safely avoid.