Me Geek, You Geek: Hulk #4 Reviewed!

So we've had the Red Hulk since World War Hulk occurred. We still don't truly know who he is, although I think they are trying to mislead us into thinking it's Doc Sampson.

But do we care? I have to admit I have never been that big of a Hulk fan. But being a Marvel fan has definitely kept me abreast of what is going on with the old green giant. And I would say that I care less now than I ever have.

On to the issue at hand.

I have to say that I like the art in the book. I do like Ed's interpretation of the Hulk, it seems his style is perfect for a Hulk book. Hulk is supposed to be huge. Hulk is supposed to be veiny (woot!). Hulk is supposed to throw down and all of that! So the art works for me.

The writing though, it seems "dumbed down" to allow Ed to have some fun with the fight sequence. This issue is another Marvel two minute read. You just flip through the majority of the pages reading dialogue such as "Hulk is the strongest there is" and "The madder I get the stronger I become". Yeah yeah. Heard it before.

What makes the Hulk character an interesting read (as we have seen in the past with the writing of Mr. David and Mr. Jones) is the extent of Bruce's life and him trying to stay off the radar.

Part of the reason these issues irritate me so much is I still have in my craw something that Jeph Loeb has said numerous times in interviews. He writes for the artist he is working with. The first time I heard it I thought, "That makes sense", but the more I think about it...does it? Shouldn't you write for the characters? Write for the plot?

Now I know what he means is that he wants to make sure to hit the strengths of the artist (much like Brian Bendis wrote in a fully nude. curvy, busty, female Ultron for Frank Cho) but three issues of fighting now? We get it. Ed can draw two huge, brawny, veiny men fighting in splash page shots. Ugh.

Let's write for the characters Loeb. Let's move them forward. Bring the fights...its comics so that's needed. But he's basically saying that all Ed is good for is drawing splash pages with no backgrounds, which if I was Ed I wouldn't take as a compliment.

Also, there is a cliff hanger at the end that will make you think "cool" but then you'll immediately snap back to reality when you realize issue #5 is now set up to be another all out brawl and that's it.

Sadly, this one page story (look left!) written by who I assume is Jeph Loeb's daughter is better than the "real" comic book story that's attempting to take place in this issue.