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INCREDIBLE HULK #35
"Silent Running"
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 |
Though the reason for the silence in this issue is not as compelling as the ones to be found in Thunderbolts or Peter Parker, Jones and company make excellent use of
the silence to tell a powerful story. There are some very nice and subtle
moments in this issue, as well as the first full-fledged Hulk sighting of the
Jones run, which comes across as just as frightening and powerful as it should
be. This is a more subtle and quiet story than I'm used to seeing with the Hulk,
and all too many artists would have been unable to handle the quiet normality
and the loud action as well as Romita Jr. does.
Though the story comes from
the point-of-view of Bruce Banner, the silence fits in very well with the
supporting character this issue, an autistic girl. Her understanding of the
world would seem to be very simply based, built more on visuals than on
language, and in that respect, the silence works as a story point rather than
simply a gimmick of the month.
Jones cheats a little by
using text messaging instead of vocals, but the intensity of the chase and the
strange dreamlike feeling of Banner's encounter with the autistic girl both come
through loud and clear, more effective without words than it would have been
with them. He and Romita Jr. use visual imagery to tell the story, with visual
symbols such as a clock or the beautiful woman haunting Banner's dreams, to tell
us more than what a book on autism or a bit of email can tell us.
While credit should go to Jones for the imaginative direction he has taken the Hulk in and the very solid script, John Romita Jr. deserves the lion's share of credit this month for bringing that vision to life. He uses a lot of reflected imagery, reflected in mirrors or sunglasses or the eyes of the young girl, to give us a somewhat skewed view of what's going on, a borderline surreal imagery that helps to make the Hulk feel like a haunting suspense book rather
than a super-hero book. And Studio F continue to show dominance in the field of
colors, turning in an impressive and subtle piece of work on the book.
Although Jones clearly has something in mind with the continuing story of Mr. Blue and the "death" that has sent Bruce Banner on the run, he is also doing a terrific job of keeping the issues self-contained and accessible thus far. The Incredible Hulk, at least right now, is a book that anyone can jump onto
easily, and at this point, it's looking like a great book to jump onto.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
