The Good

There's a new HULK series out by Mark Waid and Mark Bagley. The good and the bad news is this picks up from the final issue of INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK, also written by Waid.

Where things left off, Bruce Banner was shot in the head. You would think that wouldn't really be a problem because he could simply turn into the Hulk right away. Of course Waid makes it so it's not that easy. Where we begin is with Bruce Banner needing to have brain surgery in order to survive.

The whole process of the events is pretty fascinating. Who do you get to perform such a delicate operation on someone like Hulk? Along the way we get some insight into Banner's past from a different perspective along with the fact that not everyone sees Hulk as a monster.

Just be aware, there's more going on here than you might think. Waid is cooking up something nasty for Hulk (and Banner) and we do have a nice little mystery on our hands. You probably won't see the end coming.

I've been a fan of Mark Bagley for some time and it's great to see him on a Hulk title. Granted, we get some limited Hulk action here, due to the events, but what we do get is indeed cool.

I was onboard with INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK and Hulk working for S.H.I.E.L.D. but I have to say I am really fascinated by what's happening here.

The Bad

The idea of each All-New Marvel NOW! relaunch is they're supposed to be new-reader friendly. Yes, you can just dive in here and know that Hulk (or Banner) was shot but it was in INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK where it happened.

Readers looking for big Hulk action won't get quite as much as they hoped for since a lot of the story takes place in an operating room. But the mystery hanging in the air should be more than enough to get them hooked.

The Verdict

HULK is back but things aren't looking too good for him. Mark Waid continues where he left off in INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK and now Mark Bagley is joining in on the fun. With Banner getting shot, the door is opening for an interesting story and it's going to be fun to see where Waid takes it. If you're looking for Hulk action drawn by Mark Bagley accompanied with a juicy mystery and weird twist at the end, you'll want to check out HULK.

I would have been alright with these new #1's if they weren't mostly just continuations from the previous series. It just doesn't feel like a new series, but rather just a new story arc.

@maddpanda531: Some are completely separate. Others are more continuations. I'm over it. Yeah, I'd like a series to keep its numbering but as long as we get cool stories, I'm happy.

hmmm

@g_man: Yeah, I'm okay with most of the the "New Series", as long as, like you said, we're still getting good stories. It just bothers me that a few of them had hardly any reason at all for the relaunch.

^this

That ending.

@g_man: I agree with your review totally. It was a great issue, the only thing that bothered me was once again a misleading plot-line/solicitation. I remember reading that the storyline was suppose to be Banner being killed not brain damage. But I'm glad it didn't turn out to be that storyline because I remember that idea from the Incredible Hulk series from Jason Aaron which was terrible, no offense to Aaron because I like some his series. But that series was pretty bad. Anyways, I'm hooked with what they came up with for the new Hulk series.

Got to read this and I thought it was interesting. The bait and switch style of story writing was cool and that last page was not something I was expecting.