War is Over, If You Want It
Ladies and gentlemen, World War Hulk.
The final issue off the stands and in my hot little hands, I actually felt I needed time to digest the conclusion and take in everything that went down. ‘Cause, boy did it ever. It’s like they took all the RARGH FIGHT! that was supposed to be in Thor and shot it directly into the eyeball of World War Hulk.
And, despite appearances, the Sentry just didn’t show up to mop things up. He was there to crank things to 11, though really you’ve seen NYC get pulverized once this year, you’ve seen it all. Once the Sentry had done his bit for King and country and had his agoraphobic butt handed to him (tangent for a moment: does it bother anyone else as it does me that they everyone constantly refers to the Sentry’s agoraphobia in those exact words. ‘But, my agoraphobia-” and “he’s agoraphobic” to name a couple of rather generic examples, it just seems that everyone just learned that word and want to use it as much as possible. Jenkins didn’t tell, he showed us why Bob distrusts the outside, but yet everyone including the Sentry himself constantly refer to his DSMIV status. Anyway…), the book still isn’t done with us. A villain emerges! Another battle happens where the Hulk takes out his frustrations on the actual planet! We’re cranking it to 12 here people! It’s like we finally have our title as it seems as if we’re going to lose a good chunk of the eastern seaboard when Tony Stark nukes the Hulk from orbit.
Well, it’s the only way to be sure.
And it’s over and everyone goes back to their homes and we join their books, already in progress. It’s a big ending, don’t get me wrong and probably the best thing I’ve read from Greg Pak yet but… it feels empty. Less like Tony Stark saved the world (again), and more like the Hulk just stuck out his chin t take one for the team. I mean, after all that destruction and chaos and large explosions… that’s it? Something that feels like they could have done it four issues ago? I’m not saying they could (Tony was very busy at the time), but … ehn.
It seems to me (and a very good friend of mine) that World War Hulk ended because the Hulk wanted it to. He was tired of being used, he was tired of being angry, he was just tired. So he let Tony get in his orbital shot and let go.
Personally, I hope that the red Hulk isn’t Banner. That they let him rest in his little SHIELD torpedo tube and that he gets a break to rest, recover and return a hero, a misunderstood monster with a frightening past that could be anyone one just one bad day. In my perfect world sans Bruce Jones, his little pod doo-dad would rest next to Betty Banner’s and together, they could sleep and find peace where they could not find it in life.
