deactivated-613e82c4b95f9's Hulk #4 - Who Shot the Hulk Part 4 review

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    The ending Matches the quality of the series

    I wasn't really expecting this series to end on a really high note, and I guess I predicted correctly, because this isn't a good ending, it's just a fitting one, and you'll see why.

    First things first, the events of the previous issue left me and some of the other fans quarreling or better yet debating on a certain subject. It seemed that during the fight Hulk was weakened, but the reasons for this was definitely unclear, I assumed that it was because that Hulk was specifically poisoned by a specific type of radiation, whereas others stated that Hulk was just weakened because regular radiation emitted by Emil, which doesn't really make sense considering that Waid actually had Hulk, really, REALLY amped because of his absorption powers. Well, it's safe to say that that little debate won't be resolved, in fact there are certain indication was I was wrong, which again, makes next to no sense at all. It's stated that Abomination emits gamma radiation as far as I understood, so why Hulk was weakened is extremely unclear to me.

    Moreover, the way the previous issue left of kind of implied that there was going to be a good battle between Abomination and Hulk, but the fight was short lived(albite for a reason but still), in fact Emil completely walks all over Hulk again. Now I don't mind this at all, Abomination is tough, but why have Emil come back at all? I realize that I sound like a broken radio but why the hell would you bring back an iconic Hulk villain and have him just basically vanish like dust without even allowing the hero to do anything significant about it? Honestly, Emil could have been replayed by any other monster/mutant and it would not have made a single difference. Also, I always thought that Banner was shot by a special bullet, so when he received brain damage I didn't complain because I thought that it would be revealed later on, and while 2 issues back I got that such a reveal would never appear, I still waited until the end to say this. It doesn't matter if Banner gets shot, Hulk still always heals, the only way for Banner to actually stay brain damaged is if the bullet actually stayed inside of his head and then, upon transformation, if the wound healed around the bullet. This has happened before, most notably Davids run where multiple Grenade fragments are stuck in Banners head and as a result Hulk starts to act unpredictably.

    Waid did resolve a couple of things but not everything..not even close. There were multiple plot points which should have been developed at this point. Like who grasped the chronarchist and Zarrko in the time-stream? who stole Banners gamma files( This might be revealed in Original sin so I hold my tongue)? who shot bruce? Why did the bad guys want the Hulk in the first place as a weapon when they clearly made a more powerful one? What was shields dirty secret? And so on and on. I hope Duggan resolves at least some of these plot points, because this point this pretty much pisses me off.
    What I DID like however, aside from the art was the little new addition Waid gave Banner as a gift. Bruce is already smart, but how much smarter did he became after the operation?(Will make sense once you read the issue). I wonder how an already mutated man will react to this specific....addition. Looks like I have at least something to look forward too.

    My verdict is pretty clear, or at least should be clear. Waid's run started off good, it had a bit of a fresh new take but kinda went down the hill as time went on. The past 10-15 issues were extremely mediocre, they weren't character damaging but they are nothing special either, which is a damn shame because waid integrated some interesting ideas but never fully developed them. It comes off as a f*cking tease in all honesty, which didn't even pay off in the end. That being said though, as one chapter ends, another begins, and hopefully Duggan can make Hulks series awesome again.

    Recommendation: Might as well...but better to read what happened on a forum.

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