What happens when a group of self-appointed world-saviors decide to send the Hulk to another planet for his own good? Hulk gets mad. And Hulk finds a way back. and then… HULK SMASH!!
Here’s my mini-review of the Marvel Comics event World War Hulk so far….
World War Hulk mini-series, #1-5, will run through October. This is the main story and a must-read, obviously. Unlike Civil War, the stuff that happens in this event’s main mini is as interesting or more interesting than the peripheral tie-ins. Also unlike Civil War, you could get just this mini and get the majority of the story and be satisfied.
I also recommend reading the Planet Hulk series before reading this. Planet Hulk is available at Amazon in a hard back (really nice one) for like $25-30 and it is a fantastic read, one of the best run of comics I think I’ve ever read (collects a full year of Incredible Hulk #92-105). Greg Pak is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. Art was really good too. I posted more about this on my blog earlier.
World War Hulk Frontline mini-series, this is similar to Civil War Frontline in that it has 2 stories going along in it and it involves those reporters from CWF. I think it’s supposed to be 6 books. I like this one a lot so far and I also liked CWF a lot. It’s not mandatory but if you liked CWF and want to get the next story update on those reporters it’s a good read so far. Also if you’re a fan of Korg, one of the Hulk’s Warbound, you might like this a lot.
World War Hulk Gamma Corp – mini of 4 I think. This one involves a special team of hulk-busters who all have a history with gamma radiation (I think they’re all gamma-powered). So far just one issue of this and it just introduced the team. Their leader is kind of a bad guy it seems. So far this one does not seem mandatory nor all that interesting.
World War Hulk X-Men – this is a short 3 issue mini that is just Hulk fighting all (and I mean ALL) the X-Men. Very very cool so far, I’ve read 1 & 2. This is pretty skipable because it really isn’t tied into the main plot that much but if you like the X-men and cool issue-long battles you might dig it.
That’s it for the mini’s. Then there have been the following WWH tie-in issues:
Ghost Rider #12-13 – pretty lame. I think I’m dropping this book. The plot for this was terrible and the art wasn’t even that great. With the last story arc prior to this being a crappy Civil War tie-in, I’m beginning to think they are out of ideas for this series and are just doing lame tie-ins to keep sales up.
Heroes for Hire #11-15 – this is pretty cool actually. Better than some of the previous Heroes for Hire stuff. If you’re not familiar with Heroes for Hire it’s pretty skipable but if you like them you might dig this. If you like Meik and the No-Name Brood of the Hulk’s Warbound you might want to read it also.
Invincible Iron Man #19-20 – not important unless you already follow Iron Man. This deals with SHIELD and how they are handling the WWH situation.
Irredeemable Ant-Man #10 – I didn’t pick this up.
Incredible Hulk #106-110 – surprisingly this has had little to do with the Hulk and more to do with various earth-friends of the Hulk. But it’s pretty good and worth picking up IMHO. I’m probably going to be a regular “subscriber†of the Hulk book from now on based on such great runs with Planet Hulk and now the WWH books.
Avengers The Initiative #4-5 – this one is is very skipable if you’re not already reading this “avengers†book that has nothing to do with the Avengers. I’m thinking about dropping this title if it doesn’t pick up soon. It’s a whole new team of n00bie supers who are working under the Fifty States Initiative in sort of a boot-camp for supers. Something happens in it that is tied to WWH and is kind of important/relevant but not important enough to spend $6 on if you weren’t already reading this.
Punisher War Journal #12 – not out yet.
Release Schedule:
MAY
WORLD WAR HULK PROLOGUE: WORLD BREAKER #1
INCREDIBLE HULK #106
JUNE
WORLD WAR HULK #1
GHOST RIDER #12
HEROES FOR HIRE #11
INCREDIBLE HULK #107
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #19
WORLD WAR HULK X-MEN #1
WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE #1
JULY
WORLD WAR HULK #2
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #4
GHOST RIDER #13
HEROES FOR HIRE #12
INCREDIBLE HULK #108
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #20
IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #10
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #19: WORLD WAR HULK
WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE #2
WORLD WAR HULK: GAMMA CORPS #1
WORLD WAR HULK: X-MEN #2
AUGUST
WORLD WAR HULK #3
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #5
HEROES FOR HIRE #13
INCREDIBLE HULK #109
WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE #3
WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE #4
WORLD WAR HULK:GAMMA CORPS #2
WORLD WAR HULK: GAMMA FILES
WORLD WAR HULK: X-MEN #3
SEPTEMBER
WORLD WAR HULK #4
HEROES FOR HIRE #14
INCREDIBLE HULK #110
WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE #5
WORLD WAR HULK: GAMMA CORPS #3
OCTOBER
WORLD WAR HULK #5
HEROES FOR HIRE #15
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #12
WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE #6
WORLD WAR HULK: GAMMA CORPS #4
(CD) $3.99 JUN070163 OUTSIDERS FIVE OF A KIND WEEK 5 GRACE WONDER WOMAN $2.99 JUN070219 TEEN TITANS #50 (NOTE PRICE) $3.99 JUN070226 TEEN TITANS GO #46 $2.25 JUN070154 WONDER WOMAN #12 (AA) $2.99 MARVEL COMICS JUN072162 AVENGERS INITIATIVE #5 CWI $2.99 JUN072140 BLACK PANTHER #30 CWI $2.99 JUN072150 FANTASTIC FOUR #549 CWI $2.99 JUN072129 SPIDER-MAN ONE MORE DAY SKETCHBOOK OMD $2.99 JUN072161 WORLD WAR HULK X-MEN #3 (OF 3) WWH $2.99