REVIEW: World War Hulk #1

I've gotta tell you, I absolutely was not looking forward to World War Hulk. I've been less than ecstatic about the state of the post-Civil War Marvel Universe in general, and the prospect of yet another Epic Crossover, one which had been hyped and teased since last summer, didn't exactly fill me with glee. I'm not a tremendous Hulk fan to begin with, and the whole "Planet Hulk" storyline didn't look all that interesting to me. So all the ingredients were there for me to bake up a big ol' Hulk-sized batch of apathy cookies for this series.

But I grabbed it on the spur of the moment based on the couple of positive previews I'd read. And I'm really glad I did.

I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong about something, and yes, I was wrong about World War Hulk. Very wrong. This book kicked my ass almost as thoroughly as the Hulk kicked Black Bolt's. (Well, OK, maybe not that thoroughly.) WWH #1 had exactly what I want out of a Big Event Superhero comic: big fights, posturing, lots of property damage (always bonus points for property damage to recognizable locations, fictional or otherwise), and, in this case, some characters getting some long-awaited schadenfreude.

This book had several quality "oh, shiiii--*" moments in it, moments where you just knew something big or something awful (or something hugely awful) was about to happen. Greg Pak wrote both the big violent moments and the smaller, personal moments in this story well, almost like a "widescreen" story written by a Mark Millar who actually gave a damn about characterization. Pak has a great match here in John Romita, Jr., an artist long known for his ability to both the big and the small, and Pak's script gives JRJR plenty of opportunities to show off (I love the design of the "Hulkbuster" Iron Man armor).

Also, it was nice to see Iron Man acting heroically, which it seems we haven't seen much of lately during his guest appearances in every single comic Marvel publishes. (I think he was even in the latest issue of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter.) I'm not going to say that his actions in this issue redeem the dickishness he's displayed over the last year or so, but they certainly help.

Even though I'll definitely be picking up the rest of this series, I'm not planning on buying any of the ancillary World War Hulk titles with the possible exception of The Incredible Hulk, since that seems like the most logical place to assume other Big Stuff might happen. That book also has the advantage of also being penned by Pak, and after WWH #1, that means I'll give it a shot.