Book of Doom: Incredible Hulk #106

Welcome one and all to the weekly roundtable o’ Doom, in which we villainous folk tear apart a book. In this second week of our guest star extravaganza (read on to see which blogger is joining the fun) we’re looking at the kicker-offer to World War Hulk. Would it shatter the senses as billed? According to our panel, no.

The book follows Jen Walters (aka She-Hulk) as she’s been tossed aside by Tony Stark and meets up with Doogie Howser Amadeus Cho, a smart kid from some series I don’t read. Cho is a fan of the Hulk, or something, and he’s recruiting Jen to help him help Hulk, or something. Stark and Reed Richards sniff out the plot and use Doc Samson to try to rein in Cho. It doesn’t work, and then it does, and then it doesn’t, and then…

I’ll take the honors of going first here. There are several problems with this book as a lead-in to World War Hulk, and they start with what I (and I think most) expect from this event: Hulk, smashing, and maybe a plot. Now, the last issue of this series was a very effective conclusion to Planet Hulk and an obvious lead-in to some serious smashing. Hulk was just about to earth when it ended, and he was ready to kick asses. It was a hold-your-breath-what’s-gonna-happen conclusion. This book, then, is more of the let’s-take-a-deep-breath-and-calm-down variety. We get no Hulk (except a middling flashback) and minor smashing. Those sins are unforgivable but only are exacerbated by the plot, which is just incomprehensible in an overall sense. Why is Cho so dedicated to helping out Hulk? Why did Stark let Jen go if he was just trying to keep her under control? Where is Hulk? Why aren’t people a little more busy manning the freaking battle stations if they know a super pissed off irradiated freak is about to rain down upon them?

Beyond that, there are lots of smaller problems. The art is crap. Cho is like a less interesting Layla Miller. Jen says, “He plugged me good,” in reference to Stark, which seems like a bad choice of words given their recent (pointless) tryst. And Reed comes across like he’s still the jerkwad from Civil War. Apparently on that vacation with Sue he grew fond of the Colbert Report but didn’t learn that he shouldn’t be too trusting of Stark.

This book didn’t convince me that World War Hulk will be terrible, because this issue seems like it’s just throwaway, a little time-filler before the main event. But it does make me wonder if WWH will end up being as bloated and all-over-the-place as Civil War was. Now, Civil War wasn’t my favorite event, but it had a right to be overly complex. WWH needs, as I said before, two things: Hulk and smashing.

A fellow Doomer who’s experiencing event burnout is Fin Fang Doom, who had this to say:

“I’ve really been on the shelf about this whole World War Hulk thing. On the one hand, it’s Hulk vs. the Marvel Universe. On the other hand, it’s an over-hyped Mega Marvel Crossover, so it will almost certainly disappoint. I was very, very tempted to at least buy the mini-series, maybe even the Frontline mini and Incredible Hulk itself. I’ll certainly be buying the books I already buy that are crossing over (Ant-Man and She-Hulk maybe? I haven’t been paying attention), so it’s not like I could avoid it entirely.

With Incredible Hulk #106, I was finally able to decisively choose yay or nay on the subject. Because it was sold out. At both comic stores in town. The gods must be telling me something. They don’t want me to read World War Hulk, and I’m more than happy to oblige.”

Luckily, this week’s guest star, Rokk Krinn from Comic Book Revolution, was able to find a copy. The results, though, were pretty similar:

“I must admit up front that I am not by any stretch the imagination an expert on the Hulk. I have not read a Hulk comic book since I was probably about eight years old. Having said that, the World War Hulk event intrigues me. And I’m a sucker for any major story event that impacts the entire 616 universe. Since I’m not a regular Hulk reader, I decided that I would approach this review from the standpoint of whether or not a non-Hulk reader should bother to pick up the Incredible Hulk. So, I’ll keep a keen eye open to see if this issue is new reader friendly.

There is no denying the talent that Marvel has assembled for this title. Greg Pak is a good writer and I was a huge fan of Gary Frank and John Siebel’s artwork over on Squadron Supreme. My friends who do read the Hulk have had nothing but good things to say about what Greg Pak has been doing on the recent Planet Hulk storyline. Of course, talent doesn’t always equal a quality read and, unfortunately, Incredible Hulk #106 is proof of that. We got very little action in this issue. Basically, all we got was a brief and unexciting brawl between Doc Samson and She-Hulk and that’s about it. So, if you are going to skimp on the action then you’d better have some riveting drama and/or strong character study. We got neither with this issue.

Hulk #106 is slow and rather uneventful. I could be generous and say that Pak is deliberately trying to lay a sound foundation and move all the various players into place for the upcoming World War Hulk event. However, Pak doesn’t really even do much of that either. Instead we got a lot of boring inner monologue from She-Hulk that does nothing to advance any character or plotline. Throw on top an uninteresting debate between She-Hulk and Doc Samson and that is about all you get in Hulk #106. I was stunned at what a pedestrian read this issue was. I really expected more.

Incredible Hulk #106 has “World War Hulk” plastered across the top of it. This issue is supposed to be the big issue that kicks off the World War Hulk excitement. I was expecting a huge issue designed to pull in new readers and to energize non-Hulk comic fans about the upcoming World War Hulk event in order to encourage them to purchase the World War Hulk mini-series and as many tie-in issues as possible. Well, this issue definitely failed in that regard. Instead of a bang all I got with this issue was a whimper. Incredible Hulk #106 was not a good effort by Pak to try and hook new readers into reading the Incredible Hulk. This issue was far too plodding. It is a bad sign when at the end of the issue the reader realizes that not a single plotline was advanced.

Pak keeps the tradition alive, which was started with the prelude to Civil War, of making sure that Iron Man and Reed Richards are portrayed as a completely unlikable dickheads. Since I’m a long-time Iron Man fan, I find this less than pleasing. Iron Man acts in an incredibly underhanded and nasty manner toward She-Hulk who has been a long time ally and friend. It just isn’t consistent with the Tony Stark that I have always known.

It was hard for me to accept Pak’s version of Reed Richards. Reed ordering Doc Samson to use the loss of Cho’s family against him was too heartless for Reed’s character. Pak’s version of Reed was just way too sinister for me and didn’t mesh with the Reed Richards that you get over on Fantastic Four. I rarely enjoy purely derivative heroes so I’ve never been much of a fan of She-Hulk. So, having Hulk #106 center on She-Hulk didn’t get me excited about this issue. And Pak doesn’t do anything special with She-Hulk to get me to change my opinion about her character.

And, unfortunately for me, I have also never been a real big fan of Doc Samson either. Of course, I did enjoy his guest appearances over in X-Factor #13 and #14. However, that is the exception and Pak doesn’t do anything in this issue to get me interested in Doc Samson. Of course, there are some positive aspects of Incredible Hulk #106. I thought Pak constructed some pretty solid dialogue. Pak manages to generate some decent chemistry between the She-Hulk and Cho.

I did like Pak’s little reference to the Hulk TV show where She-Hulk is standing alone on the side of a road and comments that she finally understands how Bruce has felt for so long and the she can practically hear the music right now. Who doesn’t love that piano theme music from the Hulk TV show!

I absolutely love the character of Amadeus Cho. He is an incredibly intriguing character that has loads of potential. As long as Cho is in the storyline, I’ll keep coming back for more. I dig his personality and I like the unpredictable nature of his power. Cho’s power is a wonderful literary tool that can be very entertaining when properly employed by a writer. Much like how over in X-Factor that Layla’s power can lead to some very interesting situations. I like the cat and mouse game that Cho and Reed Richards are playing with each other. These two geniuses have egos to match their intellect and are certainly enjoying this match of wits. It should be interesting to see where Pak takes this and which man prevails in the end.

Pak does a good job giving the new reader enough back-story to Amadeus Cho and why he is so fixated on helping the Hulk. It is important in order for new readers not to feel overwhelmed when trying to join the party known as World War Hulk. And you absolutely have to give major props to any writer who manages to work the Champions into a story! I have always been a Champions fan and am probably the only one on the planet Earth. It was great to see the Champions back in action in the short flashback scene.

Pak delivers a solid hook ending to this issue. We see Cho meeting with two ex-Champions in Hercules and Angel while Reed and Doc Samson are both watching Cho’s every move. I’m definitely interested enough to return for the next issue in order to see what in the world Cho is planning to do next.

Overall, Incredible Hulk #106 was a disappointing issue. I was expecting a more exciting issue to properly kick off the World War Hulk storyline and to try and capitalize on the World War Hulk event to attract new readers to the Incredible Hulk. If you are a big fan of She-Hulk then you will probably enjoy this issue more than me since she takes center stage in this issue. However, I wouldn’t recommend this issue to anyone else.”

Color our own Doom DeLuise unimpressed as well:

“For being the seventh smartest person on the planet, that kid sure gets outsmarted a lot in this issue, not to mention the fact that he talks like an idiot, doesn’t seem to have any real idea of what is going on around him or why he’s doing what he’s doing, and uses more cliches than even yours truly.

Before I tell you all the reasons why this issue bored the heck out of me, let me first say that I have never read a single issue of the Incredible Hulk. He’s a silly, one-dimensional character, and I never thought for a second that there could possibly be justification for having a regular ongoing series revolving around him. I mean, what would they fill it with? Hulk smashing things? Ooh.

That personal qualifier aside, this issue still sucks, almost completely. The cutesy little pop-culture reference to the Colbert Report was enough to make me write this off entirely, but the sheer lack of anything even remotely entertaining or engaging is what really hit me the hardest. This is supposed to be the big lead-in to World War Hulk, right? It’s set up so that the Hulk is going to be angry and want to fight the Illuminati, correct? How does that fight encompass the entire world? Why not just call it Civil War Hulk and be done with it? It’s a stupid idea, and its set-up is mind-numbingly boring and awful.

Thanks, Marvel, for making sure I know not to spend any money on this upcoming “event.” I was afraid there for a second.

Oh, and for an issue with his name on the cover, you have to wonder why they don’t show the Hulk inside the pages whatsoever (except in flashback form). So stupid.”