A Bizarre Week of Comics....

Last week was ridiculous when it came down to the sheer volume of comics that came out (I bought 17 books!?!?!). This week falls on the other end of the spectrum (only 6 books that came out this week were in my stack). However, I did get a chance to read some stuff that doesn't hit till next week! Let's start off with the one that everyone wants to hear about (SPOILERS AHEAD!).......

Hulk #1 By Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness

• This issue is hard for me to review. On the one hand, Loeb once again couldn't resist to throw 18,000 guest stars at the wall and see which ones stuck. This issue alone features appearances by Doc Samson, She Hulk, Iron Man, Thunderbolt Ross, Maria Hill, and The Winter Guard (Russia's super team). The one positive to this is that he wasn't able to do his patented inner monologue that he loves so much. In the end it feels like he was crowding this issue with characters to artificially make it more important. The Hulk does in fact appear in this comic, but only through a series of "potential occurrences" which are surmised by Doc Samson. Also, it would be good to note that the Hulk is most definitely Green, not red. The "potential occurrences" deal with a fight between the Hulk and the Abomination, who the Hulk ends up killing with a gun........yep, that's right, a gun. The identity of the Hulk looks to be Rick Jones, but Loeb might be throwing people for a loop. Bruce Banner does make an appearance on the last page, so I think it's safe to say that this new Hulk isn't him. Ed McGuinness does his usual stellar job with the art. This guy was born to draw the Hulk (maybe not the Hulk with a gun though). Overall, this issue just seemed like a weird way to start off the story arc. It by no means makes me want to avoid the rest of the arc, because damn do I want to see Loeb explain why the heck the Hulk would use a gun. So on a scale of 1-10, this is a soft 7.

The Twelve #1 By JMS and Chris Weston

• This was very well done. JMS doesn't waste any time, and he did a great job of making this very reader friendly. These characters are most definitely z listers, but JMS makes me care about each of them in just 22 pages. The concept is very clever, and intriguing. There is a certain Captain America "man out of time" aspect to the characters as well. I think this issue is most successful because it blends story elements we've seen before together into something cumulative that we haven't seen before. Chris Weston's art is pitch perfect. This was the best book I read this week, and it will probably be the best book that comes out next week. The only thing that scares me is that it's 12 issues long. That's a long time to maintain this level of storytelling. If you want to read a good comic to wash away the taste of One More Day, then this is a good bet.

My quick thoughts on the rest of the books I purchased.......

• Detective Comics was a much better ending to the Ra's crossover. Great writing, good art, and a conclusion! What a novel idea!


• Uncanny X-Men was another solid chapter in the Messiah Complex x-over, but they're running out of installments to tie this all up......


• Countdown felt forced, and the Monitor seems to be acting way out of character. This one just confused the hell out of me, and made me wonder exactly what they were thinking when they planned this whole thing out.


• Thunderbolts needs to come out more often, because it never disappoints.


• Ultimate Human was surprisingly good. I enjoyed it, and the title at least makes sense now. Great art by Cary Nord as well.


• Teen Titans Year 1 looks like it's going to be a retread of a generic story, but this time with great art by Karl Kerschl.

What a week........