Better Late than Never?
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk is written by the co-creator of the TV show Lost, and so it almost goes without saying that this miniseries plays around a lot with narrative point of view and temporality, to varying degrees of success. This issue wavers between innovative and incomprehensible- in the larger context of the series as a whole it makes sense, but on its own this issue is a jumbled mess of barely recognizable flashbacks and flashforwards. Admittedly, it’s a bit unfair to judge a six-part miniseries by a middle issue, especially since this story is clearly being written for the trade, so to speak. That said though, Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk wasn’t released as a graphic novel, and since there were prolonged delays between issues, any one of those issues could potentially be reader’s first, so I figure it’s fair game.
Despite the muddled narrative, there is a lot to like here. Lindelof offers a good take on Wolverine’s personality, nicely balancing the character’s grimness with a dark sense of humor. There’s a nice gag when the Hulk tells Wolverine to choose which leg gets eaten where Wolverine muses about the film Sophie’s Choice, then admits he never actually saw the film. It’s a nice gag that humanizes a hero who all too often comes across like a walking cliché.
Yu’s artwork on this book is also top notch. I’ve always considered his work to be rather hit or miss, but here with Wolverine he returns to a character he helped to visually redefine in the 1990s, and his familiarity with the hero shows. Yu also does a fantastic job of emphasizing just how huge the Hulk is in comparison with his plucky mutant adversary. Add in some nicely subdued coloring by Dave McCaig and you have a book that deserves to stand up with the visual pedigree established for the Ultimate line by superstar artists like Mark Bagley, Brian Hitch and the Kubert brothers.
The bottom line is that Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk is a good miniseries, but on its own issue number three has little to offer. Either pick it up alongside the other five issues, or skip it and grab the trade paperback instead.
