Wins & Fails: Incredible Hulk 605 Review

Incredible Hulk 605

The return of Tyrannus! Moloids attack! Manhattan crumbles! Can Banner and son save the day?

Story: Greg Pak
Art: Ariel Olivetti
Pencils: Paul Pelletier
Inks: Danny Miki
Colors: Chris Sotomayor

Wins:

• This is an excellent way to end the first big storyline of this run of Incredible Hulk.
• Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve really enjoyed this arc. Bruce Banner can’t Hulk-out and is training his son, Skaar, to kill Hulk the next time he gets angry. I love all of the gadgets that Banner has in his infinite knapsack. His smack-talking demeanor is a clever change of pace.
• This issue is a well constructed story that segues into Fall of the Hulks quite nicely.
• Pak’s pacing and dialogue is pitch perfect and portrays each character with ease. I really love Greg Pak, and am very satisfied with his work on this book.
• Pak goes back to his days writing Planet Hulk to tie together how Mole Man came to be the leader of Moloids from the planet Sakaar.
• Olivetti’s art is lovely, as always. His version of Human Torch is unique, and I like how he draws Mr. Fantastic. I just wish that he’d do every page of every issue. I’m sure it comes down to time constraints that he can’t meet, so maybe having another guest artist helps to keep the book on time. Paul Pelletier does half a dozen pages in this one.
• I dug the Fantastic Four team-up, if you can call it that. They would have been there to battle Mole Man anyway. Bruce Banner has lost Reed Richards’ trust when Bruce nearly admits that he staged the fight to train Skaar and knew that Tyrannus had stolen the dome technology.
• I love how it’s nearly a free-for-all between all parties. If they aren’t physically battling, they’re verbally battling. Pak wrote a nifty little four-way chess match to end this story arc.

Fails:

• This is bound to be the last Incredible Hulk issue where Bruce Banner can’t Hulk-out. I was hoping it would last for a few story arcs. We now return you to “HULK SMASH!!!”. Bah!
• Some of Olivetti’s backgrounds are a bit cumbersome and lack ambiance.
• This book would be in my top 3 favorites if Olivetti did the artwork on every page.
• I prefer Giuseppe Camuncoli as the secondary artist. If Olivetti moves on, I’d love for Camuncoli to take his place. Camuncoli has some pages in Incredible Hulk 604 if you’re curious to see some of his work.
• The Savage She-Hulk sub-story is something that I could go without. The art is decent, the writing isn’t bad, but I just don’t see the relevance quite yet. Maybe Lyra’s role in Fall of the Hulks will change my mind.

Verdict: A-