I think there is little arguing against Mark Waid being comics’ reigning relaunch king. For crying out loud, the man won Eisner awards for what he did for Matt Murdock after one of Daredevil’s most maligned eras. Subsequently, Waid has been tasked with ushering in Rocketeer’s new “miniseries-after-miniseries” approach, a reboot of “Steed and Mrs. Peel”, and the upcoming “Green Hornet” relaunch. The man simply knows how to distill a character down to his or her core elements and launch a story from that standpoint.
Can he do the same for Bruce Banner?
Written by Mark Waid
Illustrated by Leinil YuHulk – Indestructible force more weapon than man. Banner — smartest man alive. Combined they are the Strongest, Smartest Weapon on the planet! And NOW! the INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK is an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.!
While Bruce Banner and green Hulk (that I even have to write “green” like that feels more than a little odd) haven’t been in a universally hated status quo, they have been on the forgotten side of things. Jason Aaron’s recent run has its fans, but neither widespread public or critical popularity to hang its hat on. Rather, in the wake of the Red Hulk uprising, Bruce Banner has been lost in the woods a bit – no one really sure what to do with him. His turn in the Avengers film put him back in the public eye a bit, but so far that has not successfully paid off in the comics to any significant degree.
Enter Mark Waid, who is giving him a clear purpose going forward, as well as a pure exploration of what makes him (them?) a compelling characters. I’ll say upfront that though Mark Waid successfully “resets” Hulk’s status quo, this issue alone is not as spectacular and exciting as where things are potentially going. Oh, it’s a good issue, but Waid’s Daredevil won awards by being a wonderful Silver Age-y return to heroic Matt Murdock while being decidedly modern in its storytelling. Waid’s opener with Hulk is far more low key than that. The first half of the issue finds Banner in a subtly tense conversation with Maria Hill regarding what he could potentially do for the world and for the efforts of S.H.I.E.L.D. weighed against the blackmail that he could potentially use against them. In this conversation, Waid highlights all the important things about the Banner character: his level of intelligence that should put him alongside Reed Richards and Tony Stark, his resentfulness toward the blunt instrument that is “The Hulk”, and his obsession with mastering all aspects of his existence. Banner has always been more introspective than Stark or Richards, and Waid does well to bring that out in the conversation. We see Banner’s resentment toward Stark boil over into well-timed little outburst.
But that’s what this issue mostly is: a talking heads issue with some clever writing and a slam-bang ending tacked on nicely. Talking heads do not a bad comic make, excepting that it’s not exactly the bounding headlong start that other Marvel NOW! titles have been up to this point. Not only that, but a beginning such as this is not as well-suited to an artist like Leinil Yu, who draws some of the most gorgeous and detailed action set-pieces you’ll have the pleasure of reading in modern comics, but who seems to clutter dialogue-heavy scenes with distracting background activity and some odd paneling choices. Yu’s art was the reason to be reading Marvel’s first, Mark Millar-heavy Ultimate relaunch, as well as the reason to read a book like “Supercrooks” or “Superior.” The massive destruction that he can render with a pencil is among the very best in the industry and as a result the best moments in the issue are in the final few pages where the Hulk is finally allowed to rampage.
In a contrast to the rest of Marvel NOW! so far, “Indestructible Hulk” in very unflashy in its announcement that this a new direction for the character. It’s good comics though, and yet another check in the win column for Marvel NOW! which has only had a 1-2 misses among a lot of pretty good comic runs that seem to be getting started here. If this issue is only solid yet unspectacular on its own, at the very least it is a step in the right direction as Mark Waid and Leinil Yu clearly have a fun plan for this character.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Buy on the promise that this is going somewhere.
