INCREDIBLE HULK #34
"The Morning After"
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Bruce Jones
Pencils: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Studio F
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
I knew I was going to enjoy Romita Jr.'s art, but Bruce Jones is a completely new name to me. I've read none of his previous work outside of comics, so he represented an unknown quantity. Though I enjoyed the intelligence of Paul Jenkins's and Sean McKeever's recent writing stints on this title, Bruce Jones has come along and breathed new life into it. His strong debut on the book is no fluke either; I read a preview copy of another upcoming issue last week, and it was just as powerful as this story.
Bruce Banner is on the run from the government again; fortunately, he has a mysterious ally with whom he keeps in touch via coded messages over the Internet. He rents a room in a flophouse in a St. Louis slum, and soon gets to know his neighbors. A single mom is enraged her gifted son is now wrapped up in a gang and its drug-dealing activities. Bruce tells himself to steer clear of trouble... to do the smart and safe thing rather than the right thing.
I first remember recognizing Tom Palmer's inking style on John Buscema's pencils in the 1980s on Avengers v.1. I found his exaggerated approach to be distracting, and that's proven to be true often over the years. Fortunately, his inks mesh perfectly with Romita's powerful, exaggerated pencils. Since there's little of the title character cutting loose in this script, Romita doesn't get to either. Fortunately, he brings an intensity to the quiet tone of the book. Adding to that mood of tension are Studio F's muted, even depressing colors. With those as the background, the glowing green of the Hulk stands out as a beacon of hope.
Incredible Hulk as conspiracy-theory story... not a bad idea. Jones captures an X-Files riff here, and the format of Banner roaming the country is bound to appeal to fans nostalgic for the 1970s Hulk TV show featuring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. I love the genuine sound of the dialogue. When a gangbanger refers to the clean-shaven (head and face) Banner as "Moby," it brought a smile to my face. There's a real-world strength to Jones's script.
Jones is hardly exploring new territory with his take on Bruce Banner and the Hulk, but it's nevertheless a pleasant change of pace. It would seem Jones plans to explore America and Americans during the course of his run on the book, and I look forward to how it progresses.
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