"HUlk...(yawn)...zzzzzzz"
I give the creative team credit, this comic had the potential to be terrible, but instead it was marginally above average.
I'm not sure why (aside from extracting the price of another comic from the readers) Marvel decided to kick off this crossover with an Alpha issue, as though it were a major event, and not something that will be forgotten in 2 years. But, here we are.
The story is wafer-thin. Hulk and Thor hit each other. That's it. Nothing more to see here. Move along. This comic expends 2 double-page spreads, each packed with tiny panels, to catch the reader up on events in the Thor and Hulk series that led to the present moment. Mileage may vary, but to me, it reads like a highlights reel of Cates' worst ideas. I have not enjoyed Cates' Thor, and I find his Hulk unreadable, so I was a bit surprised that I didn't hate this comic, but I'd be hard-pressed to give a good reason for why it exists.
The art is pretty good. We start with a Gary Frank cover that is downright excellent. Anyone following that has their work cut out for them. Martin Coccolo gives it the old college try. His page layout is very good, but his panel composition could be better. He does a great job on facial expressions, and his close-ups are very effective. His art style feels a bit loose, and panoramic shots that should feel cinematic fall a little short. Many of the panels have minimal or no backgrounds, making the comic feel slightly unfinished.
There's not story here. Cates is just bashing action figures together in the bathtub. This comic is full of odd sight-gags; the watcher eating popcorn, the arena splash imitating a fighting game, etc. There's weird stuff too, like "Betty" being back in Bruce's head after clearly being expelled in Hulk #6. If I had to guess, I'd say this was written before the end of the first hulk arc was completed. Hulk and Thor both talking to voices in their head. I think this was supposed to be deep or funny, but I feel like it just demonstrates that Cates is out of ideas, and simply repeating himself. Perhaps it's intended to be self-deprecating humor, but it fails even at that.
A cardinal sin of comics is explaining plot elements from a main series in a tie-in. This comic does just that, explaining that Banner is thought to be responsible for 17 deaths in El Passo. Why this should bother Thor, who's thousands of years old and has a personal body count in triple digits, is not explained.
If watching someone else play Mortal Kombat is your idea of a good time, this comic is for you, I can't recommend it for anyone else.
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By: Donny Cates, Martin Coccolo
Released: May 11, 2022
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