All The Fists, But No Heart.
I think I might as well cut to the damn chase, despite my enthusiasm and hope that this series will really pick up and force me to click the fifth star, it continuous to be a mixed bag. Now I don't pretend that this is a bad issue, nor will I allow a few bad things to completely ruin my enjoyment of the issue, but some of the events that take place here really left a bad taste in my mouth, honestly, it's to early to really judge but essentially I think they could have been executed in a much better manner.
Anyways, before tearing into what I didn't like, I'd like to mention a couple of things I found very interesting and cool. For one thing waid does an brilliant job creating a new theme around the whole mystery of who shot banner. I feel that Shield is way more involved way more than they were in the previous indestructible Hulk. I'm glad that instead of throwing Banner away like trash they are actually taking care of the situation, which includes both saving Banner and everyone around him but keeping hulk from emerging. The dialogue is again top notch and I'm really enjoying how these characters interact with one another.
Waid also does a great job of showing the formidability of these villains. Sure they are essentially normal humans who actually organize things more than anything, but keeping in mind the undertakings they have been a part of in this issue, I have no trouble believing that they can provide some interesting fights for the Hulk, because while they may not be able to move mountains, they can create or hire people to do it for them.
Bagley's art is pretty solid here, and I'm becoming more inclined to believe that with him we'll get some pretty sweet action scenes, which can be backed up by Hulk and Abomination duking it out in this issue. The fight is pretty entertaining and you get the feeling that while abomination stands a bit higher in raw power, hulk keeps coming back and catching up.
However, this fight, is part of the problem, which I hope gets fixed as the arc goes on. Abomination has been reduced to a mindless monster, sure there is a good mention of him being drawn to the Hulk as usual, but he lacks personality. Aside from roaring, he doesn't do much in this issue, well, I mean in terms of speaking because he does fight hulk, which as I said is cool. But having these Gamma powered monsters fight loses purpose when they don't banter or talk, considering that it kind of sucks out the charm. The great thing about the Emil vs Hulk fights is that they hate each other and each punch personifies this disdain, here though, they are just two monsters fighting each other, I don't want that, no Hulk wants that( and at this point I'm coming off a but selfish, I know). Still, props to waid for bringing Emil back, I'd rather have him controlled than dead, besides, this isn't the first time Emil has been manipulated, and having him as a bloodthirsty beast is much better than having him as a coward, which by the way was the only aspect I HATED during mantlos run( aside from that everything was perfect). Either ways, there are a lot of possibilities to develop the abomination from this point, I hope it's not squandered.
And speaking of devoid personalities, I thought Hulk would by now say something, I mean, come on! That's why I've been so hopeful for this relaunch, I wanted a bit more of hulk! Sure it's just the second issue, but really know, I just really want to see what kind of man-monster the jade giant would be what with banners brain damage. It's getting a bit tiresome seeing him grunt.
Overall, it's pretty mixed experience, because some parts are great, others are mediocre to the extreme. I think as a hulk fan you might find this a bit disheartening, but I think the action is a good spectacle if you like bagley.
