Hulk #13

Anybody at my local comic book store can tell you that I have despised Jeph Loeb’s Hulk run from the very beginning. Indeed not only do I consider it the worst written comic run in recent history but quite possibly pound for pound the worst written sequential series of comics I’ve ever had the horror to look upon. Finishing an issue always leaves me in a state that feels akin to what those who look directly upon the ark in Indiana Jones must feel like. So when I say that this is probably the best issue of Jeph Loeb’s run on the book please take it in the appropriate context. It may be the best but that does not mean it is any good. The book features the usual lazy storytelling that is the hallmark of recent Loeb writing (it sure is convenient that Rick Jones intelligence suddenly reasserts itself for no adequately explained reason [beside that the plot demands it of course] and exactly how did Ares track Bruce down in the Southwest from New York so quickly? Who knows and who cares because Loeb certainly doesn’t *sigh*) and even the normally gorgeous art of Ed McGuinness takes a hit this issue as he gets a new colorist that does him no favors. Still the excremental character find of 2008 “Rulk” (pardon me but every time I have to write that piss poor excuse for a name I throw up a little in my mouth) only appears in the recap page and that alone raises this book from absolute crap to merely tolerable crap. If you want to read a good Hulk comic than wait a little bit for Greg Pak’s Incredible to start back up. But if you are truly that desperate to pick up a book with Bruce Banner in it, I suppose this book technically remains an option. Technically.

Not Recommended.