“Yesterday’s” Comic> Indestructible Hulk #1

“Hulk going to be blamed for this just because it Hulk’s fault.”

Indestructible Hulk #1

Marvel Comics (January, 2013)

“Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

WRITER: Mark Waid

ARTIST: Leinil Francis Yu (though according to the Grand Comics Database Waid credited the inking to  Gerry Alanguilan, not credited in the ComiXology version)

COLORIST: Sunny Gho

LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jon Moisan

EDITOR: Mark Paniccia

In a small Alabama town called Manchester Maria Hill is concerned about the disappearance of the Hulk and waiting to take on the Mad Thinker before he commits his latest evil plan. At a diner she’s joined by Bruce Banner, who reveals that he’s come to believe curing the Hulk is impossible and that he wants his legacy to be more than “Hulk Smash”. So he’s turned to inventing like Tony and Reed, and now offers his services in both forms to SHIELD. His audition is both a new filtering device and to take down the Mad Thinker, and he is successful at both. (Guess which one requires the Hulk.)

What they got right: This is actually not a bad approach to the Hulk after all these years. Bruce Banner is a scientist and seeing Tony and Reed, his peers in Marvel universe superscience, get praise for their creations while Bruce is only known for Hulk’s destruction gives a new way to get Hulk involved in adventures while Bruce isn’t focused on curing the incurable and instead using his brains to benefit mankind. The use of the ticking clock is also a well done metaphor not only for Mad Thinker’s new plot but the concern that Bruce/Hulk is still a ticking time bomb.

What they got wrong: Not crediting the inker if that’s the case. There are a few panels that are too close and I can’t tell what’s going on. Is Mad Thinker using mind-operated robots or wearing liquid metal armor or both? The equations used to show Thinker thinking may have sounded good in theory but in execution it’s a bit silly.

What I think overall: Waid can still write and he’s got some good ideas. How they’re executed I’ll save for someone more interested in Hulk than I am. I never got into the comics although I enjoy the cartoons, lost interest in the Bill Bixby series, and still need to be impressed by the movies.