World War Hulk # 3

I think that World War Hulk might be Marvel's way of making it up to everyone that was disappointed in Civil War. Personally I liked Civil War and I'm greatly enjoying World War Hulk thus far. They are two different beasts and I really don't think you can compare them. With that said WWH seems to have delivered with every issue thus far, and is giving fans exactly what they were expecting. The fact that there's no signs of delays is something else to cheer about as well. Could John Romita Jr. be a mutant?

Now we have General Ross on the scene. Some people rolled their eyes when they saw Ross was going to be in WWH, but really... how could you do a cross over like this and not include General "Thunderbolt" Ross? It wouldn't have made sense if he hadn't shown up. In this case, even though we've seen this fight a thousand times before, Greg Pak manages to make it interesting. He does something simple with the character. Even though Ross is obsessed with the Hulk, Pak doesn't write the character as an idiot. Too many of these "classic" confrontations are usually written exactly the same way time after time... good writers realize that these characters would either avoid another confrontation, or learn from the past and try something new.

As great as Ross is, the entire issue isn't dedicated to this fight thankfully. We get a few more hints on how this event might end. While it involves a powerful character, I'm not sure if this will exactly excite any readers. Instead what was really attention grabbing was what happens with Doctor Strange. There's a few subtle things going on in this series. One of which is that the Hulk seems to be becoming more and more disconnected with his surroundings and is going further away from any reasoning with even his closest friends. The other is we're seeing what desperate measures the heroes will take to stop the Hulk. Do they all see him as a menace and danger to the world?

I have no doubt that this issue was great, but there's a few things we've been shown for what could be coming in the next two issues that I'm a little concerned about. Then again Greg Pak has given me no reason to doubt his writing abilities, and with Romita's art work my concerns might be for nothing.

The Hulk is going to use Madison Square Garden as an arena for the captured heroes to fight in. He fought T Bolt Ross and defeated him. He fought Dr. Strange and broke his hands. This book is freaking awesome. His soldiers then attack and capture Iron Fist, Ronin, and Echo.

Rick Jones is about to get killed and it doesn't appear that the Hulk will do anything about it. To me the Hulk is a villain. Always has been...it is just like if a real life person let his anger push him to kill then as a society we would say punish him. I support the Illuminati's decision to send him to space. It was the right thing to do.

The art is classic and the writing is damn good. Check it out. I don't know much about this ZOM being but Dr. Strange drank him and is possessed to defeat the Hulk.

Spoiler warning.

With the defeat of all the major heroes, Avengers and FF included, the US military moves in, under the command of Hulk's most classic mundane foe, General Ross. This time though they're armed with ADAMANTIUM bullets and tank shells. How they obtained that much adamantium, or why they stockpiled so much of it in the shape of ammunition, I'm not certain.

While the Hulk's under the adamantium barrage, Dr. Strange uses the distraction to force the Hulk into the astral plane, where he manages to convince Banner to speak with him. He discovers though that Bruce is just as angry as the Hulk, with painful consequences. The Hulk then goes on to destroy the entire military force sent against him, adamantium ammo notwithstanding.

When Hulk's warbound go to fetch Dr. Strange, capturing Iron Fist, Echo and Ronin in the process, the desperate magician is forced to unite with the essence of the demon Zom in order to fight back on the Hulk's own terms

An important element here is that this is the first time an member of the Illuminati denied planning the explosion that destroyed Hulk's new home and killed his queen.

Also presented here are the opposing points-of-view of the Hulk's two closest "friends," Rick Jones and Miek (carried over from the latest Incredible Hulk issue).

Overall, the book does a great job of maintaining the violent elements of the previous two installments while promoting the underlying plot elements which motivate the green goliath. All this while promising a greater smashfest to come.

I didn't read World War Hulk, I picked this up in a stack of freebies, maybe they put it there for us fence sitters to get up and buy some back issues. I can honestly tell you it has worked with me. This is really some intense comic book goodness. From General Ross and his pontifications on the Hulks relationship with mankind, to the showdown between Dr. Strange and the Hulk, this was just tons of fun. The art is a little off, sometimes it is hard to tell who is who on the Hulks side of the battle, but that could be my ignorance of the storyline. All in all, for jumping in at the middle of the story, this is a strong book.