Beware Spoilers Ahead!

My reviews do contain spoilers about the main stories but I do attempt to keep them at a minimum. I will not reveal any major plot points or twists unless stated at the beginning of a review.

Sunday 20 August 2017

Hulk #1


She-Hulk is great, Volume 1 Law and Disorder by Charles Soule is a fantastic read that can be both serious and funny. So when I found out That Jennifer Walters was taking over the mantle of Hulk rather than She-Hulk I was pretty excited and thought I'd pick up on the new series and oh boy, was it not what I was expecting.


Hulk is written by Mariko Tamaki, art by Nico Leon, colours by Matt Milla and published by Marvel Comics. The issue follows Jennifer's return to work after the events of Civil War 2, which involved falling into a coma after a fight with Thanos and waking to the news of  the death of her cousin Bruce Banner (the original Hulk). Jennifer's return to work at her old law firm is anything but a joyous occasion as she struggles with anxieties about getting her life back together and taking on cases again. Her first case back that should be a simple eviction case for an inhuman named Miss Brewn but, of course, this is not a comic about easily solved and simple court cases so we can expect more drama here in the issues to come.



Hulk is an understatedly beautiful comic, with a dulled colour pallet and nothing particularly spectacular or interesting in the first issue its easy to not appreciate how pretty it is. The facial expressions are nice, if a little cartoony, and Jennifer's hair just looks great and great hair always wins points with me. One criticism is how the background characters either have no faces or dot smiley faces, its like an army of 2004 msn characters :) :) :) :).

:-O

Hulk deals with some very serious and hard hitting issues such as grief, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder by dressing them up in a superhero costume and it works extremely well. Watching Jennifer trying to ward off an unwanted transformation is harrowing and is a great demonstration of how horrible a panic attack or the like can be for the person experiencing them. Most of my exposure to She-Hulk comes form A-Force, Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat and the 2014 She-Hulk comics in which Jennifer is happy, friendly, supportive and a strong leader so seeing her as a broken woman trying to recover a traumatic event and no longer in complete control of her transformations is just straight up depressing.


Hulk issue #1 really wasn't what I was expecting but something I thoroughly enjoyed and I hope the series will maintain its high quality. I do worry that like a lot of books that deal with mental health as an important plot component that the story can become stale if there is no development or that the character's mental health issues will be completely solved with a single event, a trope I loathe.

I give Hulk Issue #1 4 out of 5 cupcakes

cupcakes are story relevant I promise
Find out more about Hulk issue #1 here.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from anxiety or depression please seek help at your local doctor or at Beyond Blue.