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Hey, he started out as grey. An issue later, he became green, and he stayed that way for over 30 years. Then he went back to grey for a bit, and then went back to green. Now… The Hulk is RED! He’s not monosyllabic, and he’s a killer! He killed The Abomination! With a really REALLY big gun! Why would he do that? Well, the solution is simple, right? Just find Bruce Banner. Wait. Bruce Banner’s sitting in a cell that’s 2 miles underground and he’s been there since the end of “World War Hulk”. So, it can’t be him. So, um, who is the Hulk? Well, the star creative team of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness are on the case, and they’re smashing it up in Hulk #3.

Last issue, we had this new red Hulk attack the new SHIELD Helicarrier, smack the living crap out of Iron Man and She-Hulk, and do so much damage that he causes the crash of the eight billion dollar Helicarrier “Gold”. Then he went after Rick Jones and Rick turned into the NEW Abomination (A-Bomb for short, apparently)! Now, in #3, the blue A-Bomb and the red Hulk are going mano a mano at the Gamma Base… 2 miles above Bruce Banner’s cell. Also, Thunderbolt Ross, Doc Samson and SHIELD agent Clay Quartermain are missing, but not before Ross and Samson had a conversation with Banner in his super Anti-Hulk-Out cell. He reminds them that he and The Hulk have separated before, and then tells something to Ross that is not meant for prying ears. Naturally, Stark is pretty upset about this. But there are more things to worry about, like the rock-’em sock-’em brawl going on at the Gamma Base between Red Hulk and A-Bomb. At one point, after the Hulk-sized machine-guns fail to stop either of them, quite a few robotic ‘harpies’ (you know, the greek mythological creatures with… oh, just go play “God of War”!) are loosed on them. All of these harpies happen to have Betty Ross’ face on them; something that the designer would have put there to play on the psyche of ol’ Greenskin just in case, and for good measure, they have Adamantium claws (that SNIKT, no less!). But this doesn’t do anything for the Red Hulk. “I’m my own man. I’m my own monster,” he exclaims. But this little fracas above has also affected Banner’s cell below. To what end, you may ask? Well, let’s just say we start to see green.

Those of you who read my disdainful reviews of Ultimates 3 #’s 1 and 2 have hopefully noted that I hold quite the love/hate relationship with Jeph Loeb. When he’s hot, his plotting and writing just snap right off the page (or the screen when it comes to shows like “Lost” and “Heroes"). When he’s not, it rivals the worst that comicdom has to offer (e.g. Ultimates 3, the Batman “Hush” storyline, which I always thought was incredibly overrated). In Hulk, he’s hot. This is really good stuff here. It’s filled with slam-bang action and a few hilarious moments, such as last issue’s crash of the Helicarrier and Iron Man saying, “Oh, the humanity!”. That’s good stuff. And The Hulk seems to be the perfect place for artist Ed McGuinness to show his hyper-muscularization techniques. Nothing against the man, but he does seem to really like huge, almost disproportionate muscles. I also love the tongue-in-cheekiness of the issue recap page. That makes me appreciate the comic all the more.

Bottom line is that this is a very good showcase for Loeb and McGuinness, and if they don’t end up going too far off the rails, this should continue to be a very entertaining comic.

Hulk #3
“Creatures on the Loose”
Written by Jeph Loeb
Pencils by Ed McGuinness
Inks by Dexter Vines
Colors by Jason Keith
Letters by Comicraft

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