Comic Vine News

47 Comments

Review: Hulk #22

Who is the Red Hulk? Well, you finally find out!


No Caption Provided
Red Hulk spends time fighting heroes within the Marvel universe who have also been bombarded with Gamma Radiation and have the same Hulk-like powers. After a confrontation with Spider-Hulk and Wolvie-Hulk, Red She Hulk finds out the true identity of the Red Hulk.
 

The Good

Without spoiling who the Red Hulk actually is, I'd say I'm happy with who it turned out to be. It makes sense to me. The issue contains the super-fun art of Ed McGuinness, and that's what this is, a super-fun story. It's pretty much just Red Hulk fighting a bunch of other gamma-charged heroes. McGuinness' splash pages are awesome. He draws overly-muscular characters incredibly well, and he's the perfect artist to have on this issue. Before we get to the actual reveal of who Red Hulk is, we get a glimpse into how Red Hulk's powers work, and I really digged that. Sometimes a character's powers are never really explained, not so much where they go them from, but how they work. I felt Jeph Loeb explained Red Hulk's powers in a way that a numskull like myself could understand.

The Bad

This storyline has just dragged on and on for me, and not the "Who is the Red Hulk" mystery, I mean the World War Hulks/Fall of the Hulks storyline. I'm tired of it, and I'm glad it seems to be over, and next to that Offenders/Defenders run, this was my least favorite issue of the series so far. I'm not a fan of the over-powered heroes fighting Red Hulk. It's tiresome, and I'd rather have this character on the run, fighting one or two characters, not the entire MU on Gamma steroids. It really just feels like this story has been dragged out much farther that it should have been, and the art alone can't keep me interested in this story.
 

The Verdict - 3/5

When it comes down to it, the last 6 pages are what you really want to read, and not just because it's a GIANT reveal many of you have been waiting for, but because they are just that good. The rest of this issue is pretty, but it is nothing more than filler for me. Don't get me wrong, the fight scenes are cool, but I wanted a little something more.
 

If you refuse to pick up the book and figure out who the Red Hulk is but still really want to know who the person is behind this beast, I'll tell you...