The Ol' Hulk Switcharoo... Classic.
The Overview: I'm not the biggest Hulk fan and really have never been, let's get that out of the way. The only reason I am picking up this book is because of Mark Waid and how much I enjoy his work over on Daredevil. But is his writing talents character-specific? Maybe so...
In this issue we get another installment of Bruce Banner's new life working for S.H.I.E.L.D. The books have been sticking to a similar formula so far. We got some Maria Hill, we get some "Hulk Smash!", and we get some of what's going on with Banner's new lab over at S.H.I.E.L.D. This issue is pretty much on par with the last issue of the run, and quite frankly, that's not saying much.
The Good: I love how these books have so far have been, for the most part, standalone stories. We get a nice little mission for the Hulk and we get to sit back and relax while we see him do what he does best, which is smash things, naturally. In this issue, I felt that the action and fight scene didn't seem as forced as the last issue and it was actually an intricately designed mission. It's a nice change of pace seeing the Hulk pull a fast one. We're finally seeing him in this new role of being a real S.H.I.E.L.D. asset and I can't wait for the Hulk to start getting into more intese and important missions.
What's also good about this issue is that we're getting a little more setup and Mark Waid seems to be building an interesting cast for the Hulk. I like the idea of Banner having a ragtag team of fellow scientists backing him up. Just from their introductions alone they seem like a fun cast and I can't wait to see them play a more integral role in the issues to follow.
The Bad: I'm still not a fan of the art and this book. The only thing killing this book for me seems to be the lackluster penciling. Leinil Yu just has this very choppy and stiff way of drawing regular humans. His Hulk is fantastic, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents when they are in uniform are decent, the fight scenes are passable, but I just feel that he can't really draw faces or regular characters like Maria Hill. Leinil Yu can draw some pretty nice veins on Hulk, but really that's the only impressive thing about his art to me. If the art in this book changes soon, I think that's when I'll really be able to get behind this series.
The Verdict: This issue gave the series a lot of potential going into the issues to follow. I feel that we're just starting to flesh out the mission statement for this series and now we're even getting new characters for Banner to play with. This issue was fun, but just barely. The art isn't doing it for me and I feel that the book needs to start going more in-depth into what makes Banner tick. If anyone remembers the first issue, we really got to see what goes on inside the head of Banner, his thoughts, and how the character really feels. Here, it's just a fun little "Hulk Smash!" entry level mission. Let's get back to what Banner wants to do while at S.H.I.E.L.D. in the lab and how he plans on changing the world because that, I feel, is a more interesting topic. That being said, this issue is a great introduction to the series for any new readers who have yet to pick it up. I believe in Mark Waid and hopefully he can get this book to where it it needs to be soon.
3.5/5 This book has the potential to give us a different look at Banner/Hulk that we've never seen before. But right now, it's just barely enjoyable.
