This is
an unusual volume of The Totally Awesome
Hulk in that, while all the stories inside do center around Amadeus Cho,
only two of them are actually from The
Totally Awesome Hulk (and even then, they don’t neatly follow one
another.) The rest are issues from other
comics featuring Amadeus. There is a certain
level of continuity between them, at least thematically, but the overall result
does feel a little jumbled, which detracts from the impact of the volume as a
whole.
Basically,
we see a lot of Amadeus/the Hulk bouncing from place to place, interacting with
other heroes and fighting various threats.
He’s attacked by Weapon X, infused with the DNA of Wolverine and several
other mutants. He meets the super-smart,
pint-sized Lunella and the Devil Dinosaur she accidentally brought into our
time. He fights a monster in South Korea
that plays with his mind and challenges his perceptions. An unexplained encounter with an old friend
forces him to face up to himself, and with the help of some of his friends, he
confronts his Hulk once and for all.
An
interesting collection of titles here, most of which I hadn’t really known
about before. I’d never heard of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, but, while
it seems pitched too young for me on the whole, I enjoyed it quite a bit and
loved young Lunella’s complete impatience with Amadeus. Monsters
Unleashed provides the South Korea story, which is neat, and I’m intrigued
by the idea of Generations, which
seems to be a means of bringing characters together regardless of time or storyline,
allowing for some meaty storytelling opportunities.
Overall,
it’s kind of disjointed, but there are running themes that connect these
various stories. Chiefly, we’re looking
at Amadeus’s hubris: the cockiness that
allows him to bluster in to save the day even when it’d be wiser to hang back,
as well as the denial of insisting that he’s a different kind of Hulk than Banner, not bound by same lack of
control. While this thread isn’t
immediately obvious at the start, the further you read into the volume, the
clearer it becomes.
Things
come to a head in the final two issues, which are my favorites. The Generations
story makes Amadeus realize he can’t keep ignoring the implications of the Hulk
anymore, packing a strong emotional punch, and the last Totally Awesome Hulk issue features the return of some of the guest
stars from Big Apple Showdown
(including my fave Ms. Marvel), along with T’Challa. In addition to the terrific scenes of
superheroes hanging out together, eating catfish tacos and kimchi, we also get
a cool exploration of Amadeus as a character, the fear and anger that drive
him, and what his Hulk really means.
This wasn’t my favorite volume overall to read, but it looks like it’s
setting up some great stuff to come.
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