"Puny Humans, I've Come To Smash!"
World War hulk is one of the events that gets to much unnecessary hate, sure i can understand why some people would dislike this story, but calling it a crap fest is way to harsh considering it's one of the best events marvel has produced in the last 10 years, and is much better than anything that goes on currently. Take into account that there is a reason i am mentioning all of this, yes there are some Moments where the Plot Devices come in but there is only one incident where this actually happens, but i'll get to that later.
Let me first mention that i love this story, because it delivered what it promised, most people complain about how hulk is way to powerful and amped here but thats the deal, it's HIS event, he is the title character, what were you exactly expecting when you bought a book called " world War hulk"? take Age of Ultron as a Comparison. When you BUY a book called AGE OF ULTRON you expect at least that the title character will be The main villain, but in reality it turns out that Ultron hardly ever appears, he is a background character , and the main protagonist is wolverine(what!?). WWH however, sat out to do something, and did exactly that.
The story in general is awesome, because for once Hulks anger is justified, he isn't mind controlled, he isn't manipulated , he knows what he is doing because he was wronged one to many times. i mean for so long he and banner have been struggling to find happiness, and when they finely did, i was taken away. Most people don't get why hulk was really so powerful, but it's really simple. Imagine a an endless race, and you always see the finish line, the thing is that every time you get close to it, it starts moving forward and you can't ever seem to reach it, so you run and run, trying to cross the finish line, but you never can, because it just keeps slipping out of your grasp. But every now and then, the Line plays tricks on you, it makes get close enough and just moves way. That's what keeps happening to Banner/Hulk, but for once they actually got really close, because up until this point it was always " can you accept the Hulk since you love banner?" but now the tables were turned, Hulk met someone who accepted both Bruce and Hulk for they were. They got to the finish line, they were about to step over, and then " BOOM", the line moved again. THIS is why Hulk was so strong, it's one thing to be just angry when someone throws a rock at you, but it's another when someone you love dies, and the emotional trauma combined with the fact that banner and Hulk were working together , amped him like never before.
The greatest aspect of the story in my opinion is of course the fact that hulk believes that his anger is justified, and in some way it is, but in the end, it never really works out for him, hulks main aspect of character is self destruction, and that is exactly what he see here. he says himself that he wants Justice not Murder, therefore when he beats the living hell out of everyone he doesn't kill them, even though that they deserve it( from hulks Stand point) , but then there is the fact that all that goes down the drain when it's revealed that Meik had betrayed and tricked hulk. Hulk BELIEVED that for once his anger was valid, he wasn't just being manipulated , he was doing everything HIMSELF because that shred of happiness was taken from him
and in the end, after beating the hell out of everyone, he told them that he wanted justice not murder, Showing that in a way he was the bigger man, proving that he isn't the monster.
BUT WAIT whats this? it was all for nothing , the heroes had nothing to do with this, it was someone who he conspired a friend. so not only was he tricked again, he realized that there was no happiness for him, there was never any redemption for him , he would always be, a monster, everywhere. and thats the thing, he's not a Monster, he is always just pushed on the wrong side, it one of Hulks main characteristics, and greg paks Embraced that concept and did an awesome job with it.
Hulk saw once again that his biggest Enemy was he himself, and he hated that so much that he nearly destroyed everything, he finely saw that what he had done wasn't justice, and he was yet again betrayed, that's why hulk rarely if ever trusts anyone, and even then he does, we see that he shouldn't have. It was Very well executed.
As for The Other Complaints, the two major Ones are always about Black Bolt and Sentry. Black bolt sending Hulk into space wasn't really Paks choice nor did it change the outcome, because as i know BB doesn't really care about earth, but that's the fault of whoever made him apart of the Illuminati in the first place. as for the Battle, i get that Black Bolt is really tough, But just because he can doesn't mean that he will Kill someone, Hulk wanted to FIGHT him alone, he wasn't really a threat to his home, and he did thing that hulk was KO'd and dealt with, add the fact that Hulk had a major amp in his power and durability, not to mention his insane anger, he could have beaten a morals on BB. I mean just because someone has the power to do something doesn't mean he'll cut loose entirely right? hulk could tear most heroes apart, superman could do that same as well, but they don't because they have their morals.
As for Sentry, he wouldn't have fought hulk had he been sane at the moment, sentry is very unstable, similarly to the hulk, and in the end, the emotional tole drove him a little nuts. He had to fight a friend, there was no choice, because while hulk didn't want to hurt the innocent, he was doing it unintentionally. Such dilemmas do not sit well with unstable people. ( again, this characterization was because of Bendis's idiotic Writing)
as for how sentry's powers worked, It made sense to me. I mean hulk doesn't revert back to banner when punched but look at it this way. Sentry became unstable and was spewing energy , hulks anger was the only thing keeping him going, and how come no one noticed how hulk was much more calm during his fight with sentry in comparison with his other fights? it's because the energy was working and calming him, though it took longer since hulk was seriously pissed. Also Sentry reverted back to BOB because was severely injured and was exerting his energy, during a fight you get weaker the more you fight( again, not Paks Fault it had more to do with the previous writers) , the exception is only with the hulk.
However, there is ONE plot Hole which didn't make any sense, which was reed Richards. The Guy can prep for Galactus, but the only thing he could come up was a simple light show? ha, No. Had Reed Been defeated in trying to talk to that hulk it would have been much more Understandable, because he would have been unprepared, but since it wasn't the case, he could have done better, in fact i could have removed and replaced that scene.
The art is a mixed Bag here, i'll admit that the fight scenes are really cool and brutal, meaning that when hulk punches someone like the thing you'll go " that has to seriously hurt , ouch", but sometimes it gets too weird with the facial expressions, and some of the damage soaks look like a splash hack of colors. But overall it's not that bad, in fact i'd say that this is one of his Good works, unlike his current ones (captain America).
Overall this is my favorite marvel event to date, and while it's not the best thing ever and has certain flaws, it is over all a fun and a great read. plus You have World Breaker Hulk, i mean come on seriously, that's just honestly cool.
Recommendation: Yes!
