The Incredible Hulk #8 (Stay Angry Part 1)
WRITERS: Jason Aaron
ARTIST: Steve Dillon
COLOR ARTIST: Frank Martin
LETTERS: Chris Eliopulos
COVER: Michael Komarck
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jake Thomas
EDITOR: Mark Paniccia
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Axel Alonso
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Joe Quesada
PUBLISHER: Dan Buckley
EXEC. PRODUCER: Alan Fine
Release Date: May 30th, 2012
Published
monthly by Marvel Worldwide, INC.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
Price – $3.99
(23 Pages,
single-issue, color)
INTRODUCTION: (From page 1)
For years,
Bruce Banner and the Hulk were linked by rage and anger. But when that link was
broken and the Hulk split from Banner, the scientist went insane. Hulk hunted
Banner to his secret island retreat where the monster and the man battled it
out. In the midst of their fight one of Banner’s gamma bombs detonated. Hulk
survived, but Banner…well…
The Hulk
hoped to finally find peace, but he should know that things are never that
simple. After the explosion, it is now Banner who is in Hulk’s head, and the
tables have turned: when the Hulk calms down, he turns back into puny,
criminally insane Banner. Now the only option for Hulk to keep control and
defeat Banner is to…STAY ANGRY
WRITING:
Jason Aaron
continues his run on “The Incredible Hulk” by launching the new story arc
titled Stay Angry. It appears that the Stay Angry arc will play out somewhat
like a Groundhog’s Day type of story in that Hulk goes through a series of
events over and over again attempting to stay transformed into the green
monster. Aaron’s writing in this issue feels different than the first seven
issues of the series. It feels darker and much more like the guest character of
the issue…The Punisher. It is no coincidence that Jason Aaron recently wrapped
up with acclaimed work on Punisher MAX, telling a grittier and more violent
story about Frank Castle.
Frank’s
character seems to step into Hulk’s work very well but he disappears just as
quickly and silently as he entered it, with very little explanation as to why
Punisher was in the story in the first place. I am assuming that this will
happen in a similar fashion over the course of the Stay Angry arc.
I personally
like this type of story from Aaron. As a monthly reader to his Hulk series, I
have felt that it lacked Aaron’s style. This issue definitely brings his style
back.
Rating – “B+”
ARTWORK:
Steve Dillon
re-teams with Jason Aaron once again to work on this cross-over issue with
Punisher. Dillon worked with Aaron on the Punisher Max series and the two
collaborated together very well.
Unfortunately
for this issue, Dillon’s work doesn’t work out very well. Dillon does a very
good job with Punisher and some of the small tertiary characters but he does a
horrendous job at drawing super-heroes. It saddens me to think that the first
time since of the end of Punisher MAX that Dillon and Aaron have worked
together didn’t work out very well. Aaron delivers but Dillon doesn’t.
Rating – “C-“
STORY: (POTENTIAL SPOILERS)
This issue
launches a new arc where Hulk wakes up in the middle of Mexico and he has no
idea where he is and how he got there. He begins to realize that the only way
that he can stop himself from transforming back into Banner is to smash
anything he can get his hands on to.
Hulk
randomly comes across Frank Castle, who is in Mexico hunting down a gang of men
who look like wild dogs. Hulk tells Frank that he wants to come with him on
Frank’s mission to be an agent of destruction.
It works out
pretty well as the rest of the issue is Frank and Hulk taking out everything in
their path until the two of our protagonists meets the leader of the gang. Hulk
battles it out with the leader to uncover a puzzling twist about what Banner
may be up to. Hulk begins to realize that the Banner inside of him may have
more control then he originally thought.
Rating – “A-“
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:
The issue is
highly entertaining. It is intriguing the way that Aaron is setting up the Stay
Angry series as to just what the readers may discover with Hulk throughout the
Arc. There are pieces of the issue that lack believability but it is fun and it
has the Punisher! We get a few great moments of dialogue between the two of
them and an interrogation scene where Punisher tortures a Hispanic man J
Rating – “A”
OVERAL RATING OF ISSUE: “B”
