By Mark Waid, Walt Simonson, Matteo Scalera & Bob Wiacek (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-562-8
Once upon a time, Bruce Banner was merely a military scientist accidentally caught in a gamma bomb blast of his own devising. As a result, undue stress could cause him to transform into a gigantic green monster of unimaginable strength and fury. As both occasional hero and blockbusting brute he rampaged across the landscape for decades, becoming one of Marvel’s most popular characters and earliest multi-media titan.
Thus, he has often undergone radical changes in scope and format to keep his stories fresh and his exploits explosively compelling…
In recent years the number of Gamma-mutated monsters thundering through the Marvel Universe has proliferated to inconceivable proportions. The days of Bruce getting green with anger at the drop of a hat are long gone, so anybody taking their cues from TV or movie incarnations would be wise to anticipate a smidgen of unavoidable confusion.
By the time of the game-changing Avengers versus X-Men mega-crossover relaunch there were numerous Hulks, She-Hulks, Abominations and all kinds of ancillary rainbow-coloured atomic berserkers roaming around, but now with that house-cleaning exercise concluded, the subsequent MarvelNOW! event saw the Jade Giant in a stripped-down, back-to-basics version which should find favour with new and old fans alike.
But it’s definitely not your old Hulk anymore…
This stunning guest-star packed second volume details the next cataclysmic chapter in the ever-eventful life of Banner and his raging Emerald Animus (collecting Indestructible Hulk #6-10, cover-dated June-September 2013) wherein scripter Mark Waid pushes the boundaries even further whilst providing a breathtaking procession of astounding action and compelling drama…
The big transformation began when S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill was convinced to provide Banner with resources and funding to sanitise his scientific reputation in return for her utilising the Hulk as a living weapon of last resort in the agency’s armoury…
One of the smartest men on Earth, Banner had lost years of success, progress and peer renown whilst trying to destroy the Hulk. Concerned about his legacy, the fugitive genius had decided to make future headlines as a scientist, not a devastating force of nature.
For the foreseeable future and as long as possible he would manage, rather than seek cures for, his affliction. Moreover, in return for a S.H.I.E.L.D. lab and trained assistants, Banner would also give the agency first use of many of his discoveries and inventions…
Fast-paced and furious, ‘Gods and Monster’ – illustrated by Walt Simonson with Bob Wiacek – opens at the- isolated facility of Nuclear Springs, Nevada (AKA “Bannervilleâ€) where Bruce and his team use a sliver of mystic metal Uru to open a portal to Jotunheim.
Banner theorises that the icy realm contains the most efficient superconductor in creation and, leaving climatologist Melinda Leucenstern to monitor the gateway, leads the rest of his people – biologist Patricia Wolman, renewable energies researcher Randall Jessup and molecular engineer Daman Veteri – into the frozen wastes in search of new breakthroughs… and to teach one of his staff a much-needed life-lesson.
The Uru sliver came from Thor‘s hammer Mjolnir and, soon after finding the sought after Eiderdürm liquid metal, the away party are greeted by the Asgardian Thunder God himself, come to warn them that the inimical indigenous Frost Giants don’t like trespassers.
He also mentions that he has not seen Midgardians in ages and doesn’t recognise Banner…
As the frozen monsters attack, Banner “Hulks out†and joins the Thunderer in routing the horrors. However, during the protracted battle, one of the Jotuns discovers the portal and attempts to cross into the Earth plane.
Thanks to Melinda’s quick thinking and Hill’s honking big gun, it fails, but the team are now trapped on the other side…
When Banner resumes control of himself, he realises the portal has not only spanned dimensions but also dropped them in the past, something the S.H.I.E.L.D. boffins are also keenly aware of as they try fruitlessly to repair the device…
Stranded in Jotunheim, the voyagers finish their mining and ponder a way home, unaware that the Frost Giants, hungry to invade the warm mortal lands, have magically substituted one of their own for a mortal trespasser…
When Hill and a squad of agents finally reopen the gateway the monsters attack en masse and only the shattering power of Thor and the Hulk can prevent utter disaster…
Matteo Scalera then illustrates ‘Blind Rage’ – a superbly dark, high-tension thriller which reveals how Banner has a Plan B in effect should S.H.I.E.L.D. welch on their deal…
One of the few people the Hulk – as opposed to his intellectual alter ego – trusts is lawyer Matt Murdock, the sightless sentinel Daredevil, and the attorney holds papers that will reveal the pact to the so-judgemental public if Hill oversteps herself.
Thus, when a mission to stop an illicit shipment of super-weapons takes Banner to Manhattan, he takes the opportunity to link up with the Man without Fear whilst the brutal mop-up is ongoing…
Unfortunately one of the Euro-trash Agence Byzantine mercenaries escapes with an ultrasound bazooka capable of flooring the Hulk, forcing the mismatched allies to track it down before it reaches its intended purchaser – one of the vilest villains in history…
Bombastic, hilarious, revelatory and vicariously rewarding, the Red and Green crusade through the bowels of the Big Apple is sublimely entertaining and even offers a brooding portent of a rift between Banner and his “boss†in the days to come…
Sharp, refreshingly straightforward and gloriously addictive, this latest stage in the conflict-packed life of the world’s most iconic split personality offers incredible adventure, smart characterisation and intoxicating excess for fans of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction, and includes a stunning cover-and-variants gallery by Simonson, Paolo Rivera, Dale Keown & Stephane Roux plus the now-customary AR icons (Marvel’s Augmented Reality App: printed portals giving access to story bonuses and extras for everyone who downloaded the free software from marvel.com onto a smart-phone or Android-enabled tablet doohickey).
™ & © 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.