The Worldbreaker is back
For the past few months, Pak and Loeb have seen Skaar and Banner go through the tumultous sagas Fall of the Hulks and World War Hulks. Personally, I thought both of these arcs were gigantic wastes of time and an insult to the Hulk and Banner. I have not enjoyed anything to do with the colour Red inside of a Hulk book either, but I loved Pak's Father and Son arc of Inc. Hulk, so the post-WWH Hulkverse is a little hit and miss for me, mostly miss.
And then we had #611. Wow. Just freaking wow. This issue is about three characters, the Hulk, Bruce Banner and Skaar. Everyone else; they don't mean anything. And damnit, this is issue is amazing for it. Banner's father issues are juxtaposed with the struggle that Skaar has.
His entire life, he's been raised to see his father as a monster. In this issue, Skaar finally learns the difference between a monster and the Hulk, and it is, quite frankly, beautiful.
Paul Pelletier art was just as good as Pak's fantastic writing, as the images, pardon the cliche, leap off the page. Honestly, this is the type of raw emotion that makes the Hulk so great to read. There is love, there is hate, there is rage, and there is some seriously badass fight scenes. This is the best Hulk book to come out in a long, long time. I cannot recommend it enough.
I've been a little disillusioned with Marvel lately, as their Avengers franchise has basically gone down the toilet, and I was tempted to let go of Hulk due to the stupidity that is Red Hulk and the ridiculousness of the last few arcs, but this issue has brought me back.
I would rank it in my top 5 issues of any mainstream comic book in recent memory, along with Batman #681. It is that good. In fact, it may be my favourite Hulk issue ever, and proves once again why Greg Pak was born to write the Green Goliath.
5/5 I could not love this book more. Well, maybe if the Worldbreaker ripped Rulk's head off, but nothing's perfect :)
