Doomsday +2.
Yes, I know it’s the second post in a row this week leading off with a big ol’ pic of the Red Hulk, but given this is the first Red Hulk comic on the stands since, I think, Red She-Hulk ended back in 2013, I think I’m justified. It’s a tie-in to the “One World Under Doom” crossover, which is one of the few Marvel events I’m actually reading and not just kinda inferring what’s happening in the larger Marvelverse when these things creep into series I follow (like when “Blood Hunt” poked into my series).
Of course the reason this series exists is that said crimson behemoth is currently appearing on a slowly diminishing number of movie screens near you in Captain America: Brave New World. I’m very curious how the comic is going to do, given I haven’t had a whole lot of advance demand in this at the store, and I don’t know if the film is generating enough interest amongst the Wednesday regulars to get them to grab it off the shelf.
I’ve red…er, read the comic, it’s fine, it’s very obviously Part One of the story, with not as much Red Hulk action as I’d have expected. But it sets up the character’s involvement in Doctor Doom’s plans, and we get a few surprising cameos, and I’m happy to stick around and see where it’s going. The Doom event has attracted some good sales on the released tie-ins so on, so that may be what gets people trying out the title more than the Hulk his own self.
Side note: when the Red Hulk was originally introduced, the big mystery was “just who is the Red Hulk?” and my somewhat bonkers guess was that it was Bruce Banner’s paramour Betty Ross. Who it turned out actually to be was mildly disappointing, but I suppose it was no surprise. Still haven’t seen the film, but it’s pretty clear that nobody’s going in wondering who becomes Red Hulk. …Still think my idea was better.
Continues to be a complete delight, as Al Ewing channels his inner Bob Haney and makes this the most groovily-script comic on the stands. I had a good grin on my face through the entire issue, and even released a Sensible Chuckle on more than one occasion. Artist Steve Lieber ain’t no slouch either. This issue is a good focus on the relationship between Metamorpho and his boss Simon Stagg’s unfrozen caveman assistant Java, between whom no love is usually lost but find themselves just kinda stuck with each other anyway. Anyway, the book’s a blast, you should read it.
Another “One World Under Doom” event book, in which we get a look at life under Doom’s thumb, and it is very, very hard not to read the descriptions of that life, the discussions between characters about it, and so on, as an allegory for Trump, which can only be intentional. Politics, in my comics? Why, yes, as they’ve pretty much always have been since the beginning of time, but if you’re worried that it’s heavy-handed, nah, take it easy. No explicit references, but if you read this, you won’t be able to help but connect the dots.
But anyway, what I’m enjoying a lot about Ryan North’s run of scripting these books is the various grouping of characters that he does with the relatively small-ish main cast. This issue we get the Thing, Dr. Sue Storm (and I do love that North is very big of reminding us of that “Dr.”), and former member She-Hulk in a very satisfying done-in-one story that doesn’t let the crossover get in the way.
As always, whichever of the Absolute books I’ve read most recently becomes my favorite of the imprint, as the initial storyline of this title comes to its conclusion. While the main plot seems relatively simplistic (Wonder Woman helphs Man’s World fight off a giant monster), there’s a lot of solid backstory and characterization and just plain pretty art and entertaining dialogue that you get your buck’s worth with each issue. In fact, every issue of these Absolute series is dense on art and story and giving you good value. I hope this continues on in the new Absolute titles coming in the next few months.
Speaking of which, I’m hoping DC doesn’t go into overkill with the additional spin-offs for this imprint, chasing those strong and continuing sales the first three series have experienced. The fear of course is The New Thing replacing The Old Thing, and I recall one writer of a Marvel book wondering why he’s doing a regular Marvel Universe title when the “Ultimate” version was being published concurrently. The original Ultimate titles I’m speaking of, by the way, not the current iteration. Now we know what happened with the original Ultimate books, so I don’t think there’s any real danger of one supplanting the other. That said, I still don’t want too many and have them biting into each other’s sales, or into the sales of the main line.
