Daily Breakdowns 051 - Fall of the Hulks Pts 1 & 2

Fall of the Hulks: Alpha
Writer: Jeff Parker
Penciler - Paul Pelletier
Inker - Vicente Cifuentes

Fall of the Hulks: Gamma
Writer - Jeph Loeb
Penciler - John Romita, Jr.
Inker - Klaus Janson
Published by Marvel Comics. $3.99 USD ea.

I've written not long ago how I'm not really "an event guy," and that's true to the extent that I haven't been very interested in most of the superhero events for Marvel and DC the past few years, or if I've been initially interested I've dropped out before they finished. But I'm also not really a guy who goes to the comic shop and buys just one or two comics, and I've been enjoying the Jeff Parker-written stuff I've been reading lately, so I decided to follow this one from the beginning, and hopefully, to the end.

Parker starts things off with the Alpha one-shot, which one would suppose is intended to lay the groundwork for the various plotlines that will snake through the various regular Hulk books. I actually checked the chronology before I picked this up to see what I was getting into. Marvel doesn't make it easy, just taking us through March, so who knows how long this thing will take. Plus, I see it will lead into a new series, Red Hulk and possibly another series, miniseries or one-shot, Savage She-Hulks. But since these are in addition to just the two regular Hulk series, well, okay.

Anyway, again, one would expect that Alpha would set all this up, and it does, but if one is hoping for any Hulk action, or any Hulk Family appearance, sorry. What it does give is an amusing, dense series of short adventures of what I guess is a previously unknown secret cabal of supervillains who call themselves The Intelligentsia, or Intel for short. They're made up of Hulk, Fantastic Four and Avengers regular foes, The Leader, The Wizard, The Mad Thinker, The Red Ghost, Egghead (until his death), M.O.D.O.K. and Doctor Doom. Parker has the difficult tasks of weaving in the backstory on all these creeps (ably executed through Leader's narration/analysis) as well as making their secret union plausible between all their varied misadventures as solo acts or in other teams. He's got a good partner in Pelletier, who has a very old school (and by that I mean '80s-'90s) style: stolid, not too distinctive but capable, detailed and very clear. He's not going to give anyone their favorite rendition of Doom or Red Ghost or whoever, but he gives kind of a Marvel Handbook version that's very recognizable and representative.

Intel goes about secretly stealing ancient knowledge recovered from the fabled Library of Alexandria by the Eternals and the kingdom of Atlantis, which is kind of nice because they're after knowledge rather than some superweapon, and because they are using their intelligence to avoid unnecessary conflicts, although of course that might be more fun to look at. Still, it reenforces the idea that these guys do their best work together, their vast intellects focused on a common goal and doing their best to avoid infighting. Parker quite rightly recognizes that most of these villains are basically the same personality type, so he focuses on the Leader, who comes off as the best analyst, and in one way, superior to Doom, who can't help but betray the group for his own gain. By the end, which is the beginning of the Fall story to come, the Leader and M.O.D.O.K. have reteamed after Doom's betrayal, and M.O.D.O.K. has helped create Red Hulk but wants Leader in on what to do with him, because he respects his intellect. They're getting the rest of the band together and they're going to take down Bruce Banner, Doom, and anyone else on their shitlist. For an issue that's so exposition heavy, it's still well done. There are also Marvel Handbook pages on the entire Intel.


Loeb's work on the next one-shot, Gamma, is a study in contrasts to Parker's work, in both intent and execution. This is more like a regular Hulk issue, though designed for new readers, and again, fairly light on action. The first page is amusing because it presents, against a black border, the first Ed McGuinness sketch of Red Hulk, and lets you know it's from May 2007 as if this was somehow a momentous occasion and not just a way to sell action figures, or at best, a simple but fun idea to inject some juice into what has been for a long time a second-tier Marvel franchise. Let's face it, a black-and-white sketch of Red Hulk is just a sketch of the Hulk, but with a better haircut.

We then get a two page recap-done in more of a house ad style and not very helpful--and then much of the issue is set in and around the funeral of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, who, along with the Leader, is one of the oldest enemies of Bruce Banner/Hulk. Apparently, Ross put on some armor and tried to take out Red Hulk, who, to my knowledge, he wouldn't have that much of a grudge against, compared to Banner's Hulk, and Red Hulk punched a hole in his chest and killed him. Also, Bucky Barnes, the current Captain America, is able to sling old warhorse platitudes just like regular Cap, Doc Sampson is now a jerk and is working with M.O.D.O.K., former Hulk (and Cap) sidekick Rick Jones is now a huge, spiky blue metal covered superhero named A-Bomb (a thoughtful name when your oldest friend has lived most of his adult life in misery from exposure to radiation), Captain America (Steve Rogers) is not only alive but walking around freely at the funeral, and Bruce Banner can no longer become the Hulk and thinks it's fine to show up unannounced and speak at the funeral of the former father-in-law who repeatedly tried to kill him. There's some other quite interesting stuff with Banner later that does get me interested in this storyline.

All that being said, Loeb does do a good job with Banner's speech, as well as Ben Grimm's, and there are some game if not entirely successful efforts at giving Ross some dignity, gravitas and humanity he never really had in his decades of prior appearances. But Loeb does seem to cut corners in several spots. Sure, if you've got Romita, Jr. doing the pencils, you want to showcase his gift for dynamic action and naturally you want to break out of the dull curtains and pews backdrop of the funeral parlor, but the one page of McGuinness sketch, two page recap, two page Red Hulk/Ross punch, one page She-Hulks punch, two page Hulk/FF fight flashback pin-up...they get to be a bit much, like he's not getting the best out of Romita but really just getting through the issue with as little script and plot as he can manage. I'm not sure how I feel about him apparently having his daughter(?) Audrey help Dad get his job done with two cutesy, sub-Giarrusso one-page strips with the "colorful Hulks" (there's a blue one, too). If I think about it longer, I'll like it less. I was okay with the issue overall, as the various plot setups were mostly intriguing, but if this is how it's going to be when he's working with McGuinness and others I like less than Romita, it's going to be tough sledding.

Next time (almost three weeks), I'll look at Loeb/McGuinness on Hulk #19 and Pak/Pelletier on Incredible Hulk #606