Kangs Private Stash
Jason Aaron's Hulk, The Indestructible Hulk and Original Sins: Hulk VS Iron Man......Jeez, it feels like I've been waiting a long time for this particular moment, but looks like were finally here. Now, right from the start when Duggan teased us with his plans, I was a little worried, albite excited. We were essentially dousing into a very tricky territory. There have been a lot of Hulks, so creating a new one might seem very hard at this point, because in some way you need to make the version believable and not too ridiculous, otherwise it'll come off as if the writer is desperately trying to difference his version from the others. With this comes yet another problem. If a writer doesn't broaden his perspective, then his creation might become a cheep knock off.
Now from a surface level, one might think that Doc Green is a reinvented version of Professor Hulk, but anyone who has read source material will know that Professor Hulks character differed in Key areas. Now obviously,we won't get all the juicy details from the first issue, but Duggan already established some very important traits for Doc Green. First of all, this isn't a combination of Banner, Joe Fixit and Savage hulk, so right off the bat Doc Green makes it clear that he doesn't see himself as the Hulk, in fact, he detests that name, because it's the name his captor gave him. This here is essentially a very important word and concept Duggan teases, because it shows us what relationship Doc green has with both HULK and Banner alike. Professor Hulk always considered himself as the main operator of his mind because he was the result of Bruce, Grey and Green Hulk merging, so there was no real dilemma or fight for control, at least, not until latter events.
What I also noticed is that Doc Green is too smart for his own good, which may explain why Duggan seems to be showcasing Hulks deviation from humanity. Professor Hulk was many things, but a monster he was not, he was very human, Doc Green on the other hand, while level headed, seems a bit detached. It's not definite, but Duggan does a lot, and I do mean a lot to establish a lot of interesting plot points that will most likely be developed later on, which is exactly what an introductory issue should be like. What I'm trying to say is that Duggan uses Doc Green as a lens through which we have a chance to take a glimpse on what will happen as time passes, which, in my opinion, is a fantastic way to both introduce a new character and to integrate certain concepts.
Moreover, Duggan knows what hulk fans like, I have to give him that much. The guy gives us some seriously amazing feats for hulk in the very fist issue. And what's great is that it's not shows us how Hulk has grown in power, but also demonstrates how frighteningly smart he has become,which I assume will become very important later on in the arc, since I have a feeling that Hulk will be facing a serious dilemma.
Now as for the visuals, the art is top notch as usual, and we have a new look for Hulk, which I like, to be honest. Sure it's not really gimmicky and it doesn't really tie itself to Hulks new personality, but I have to give credit to Bagley for making a mowhawk look classy and elegant.
One complaint though, for the most part, the characterization is pretty great, but there is a moment in which a certain character is involved, and he acts in a very surprising way. I was honestly wondering if the issue was missing a panel/page because I was caught by surprise when it happened. I mean, yeah, the events surrounding this act is not something this character expected but I didn't really expect him to react in such a brash way, especially when the opponent was being so reasonable. Also, the pacing and the flow events seemed a bit disconnected, like as if we were missing out on some of the good stuff that had been going on with Doc green, but i'm sure that won't be a problem in the future.
In conclusion, this was a very promising start, i look forward to what happens next. Gerry Duggan is off to a very cool start.
