A thrilling, action-packed issue has Hulk rushing closer and closer to his goal of getting his hands around the crazed-neck of Bruce Banner, and the history behind their split is revealed.
The Good
Well... The team-up between Amanda Von Doom and Hulk makes perfect sense now, which is something I complained about with last issue. I should have been more patient. This issue has a great balance of the past and present as Hulk races to get to Banner and we find out how Hulk and Banner were separated. As you may have guessed by now, Dr. Doom was the man who split the two. It was a tad hard to swallow, at first, but by the end of the issue, not only did it make perfect sense, but it was incredibly natural.
I love how elements from other works of fiction work their way into this book: Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Island of Dr Moreau, and now a dash of Frankenstein. It's incredibly familiar and brand new all at the same time. Jason Aaron is killing it on this book. Can Marvel just put him on a whole bunch of other anti-hero books and revamp the character completely? I'm thinking he'd do dynamite on a Dr Strange book or maybe a Johnny Blaze book? Eh?
The Bad
Well, it's not Marc Silvestri on art duty, once again. Whilce Portacio took the reigns for another issue. My biggest complaint is that Bruce Banner looks nothing like Bruce Banner. He looks a bit like a skinny Guy Gardner circa 1996. Also, a radioactive monkey throwing poop in Hulk's face? That's a bit too much for me, at least with this book.
The Verdict
While I am really not digging the art on this issue, I can look past it because I love this series. Jason Aaron has completely stepped out of the shadow of Greg Pak's run and made Incredible Hulk his own, unique book. I love the mixture of ideas from other works into this story, and I really enjoyed the origin between the Banner/Hulk split. You really should be reading this series. This story just keeps getting better and better. I highly recommend this issue.