Incredible Hulk # 109 - Warbound - Part IV

Issue #108 felt like a waste of time, and that feeling is only further cemented when you read this issue. You could read 107 and 109 and feel like you didn't miss anything. I still question how important this series is to World War Hulk because Amadeus Cho, Hercules and the rest of the group play a very little part in the main mini series. If I recall correctly I think they only show up in one panel. Either way it's an interesting story as Cho manipulates just about everyone, and it's hard to tell what his true motives are. While Marvel did promise that you didn't need to pick up any other titles to follow World War Hulk, I think it still caught some readers off guard when it became apparent that you didn't need to read Incredible Hulk either. Greg Pak took an interesting approach to this however, he's using these issues to concentrate on some of the heroes that have a problem with what happened to the Hulk and are trying to help him.

With this issue we return to the Amadeus Cho plot and it's all the better for it. We also get yet another artist. While I don't want to complain about Leonard Kirk's style, it really did hurt issue #108 a great deal. Carlos Pagulayan's style compliments what came before by Gary Frank much better. He was able to draw some very chaotic scenes that were still clear and not at all confusing for the reader. His character models are also consistent throughout the book which is something that should be demanded by every comic book artist. We get an appearance by yet another character that was created in the pages of Amazing Fantasy (vol 2) in the new Scorpion. If it wasn't for Greg Pak I don't know if any of those characters would see the light of day. So far he's used the new Death's Head, Amadeus Cho and Scorpion... I might even be missing one or two.

While this series is more about the Renegades then the Hulk, it's still the tie-in that is most connected to WWH... which makes sense of course. So far it doesn't look like this story arc is necessary for the main mini series, but it's still a very interesting read. This issue does have a few elements that repeat them selves from World War Hulk #3, but the over all story has me interested enough to come back for issue #110.