I guess this issue’s an improvement; the series is so far along at this point it’s hard to tell. But the banter between characters goes away a little. Doc Samson and Sandra (she’s the regenerating spy who started out Jones’s run or somewhere towards the beginning) don’t have any banter. It’s just Mr. Blue and Nadia. Jones again feels the need to turn every female character into an action hero. They aren’t heroes in the moment, they’ve had training. It’s ludicrous.
The comic sort of feels like Jones wanted to do some kind of espionage thriller and married it to Hulk. This issue, though the Hulk’s in the comic far more than usual–even for Hulk issues–he’s just a sideshow attraction. The real story is the giant conspiracy.
It’s boring to read a comic without a main character. Especially a comic called The Incredible Hulk.
Still, the cliffhanger’s not half bad.
C
CREDITS
Split Decisions, Part Four: Blue Moon; writer, Bruce Jones; artist, Mike Deodato Jr.; colorist, Studio F; letterer, Cory Petit; editors, John Miesegaes and Axel Alonso; publisher, Marvel Comics.
I can’t think of a more boring artist to do night scenes than Deodato. All of the art seems hurried, though some of it couldn’t be. Jones introduces little monsters who hunt Mr. Blue and Nadia. Except, of course, this issue is also where Jones reveals Mr. Blue’s identity.
Deodato uses a lot of six panel pages. Not just for conversations, though there are a lot of conversations this issue, but he uses them for action too. Big action at the size of a thumbnail, how rewarding. It’s not even good small sized big action. Deodato skimps on the details; the smaller size is an excuse.
Poor Bruce Jones. He gets back to the conspiracy storyline, brings back in Doc Samson–reimagined as some kind of super-spy–and generally gets the series moving again towards something. Sure, Banner barely has anything to do but the narrative works. Jones splits it between Banner, Samson and Nadia (the Abomination’s wife) and ties them all together trying to get the mystery laptops to work.
I don’t tend to go on at length about bad art. Well, maybe I do sometimes. But not often.
There’s no nice way to phrase this observation so I’m going to just go ahead–Jones gives his female characters, in particular the New York paralegal or whatever she is, way too much credit. Unless he reveals her to be a trained law enforcement officer (like most of his strong female members), it’s just absurd. She can track Banner on the run, she carries night vision binoculars, she’s cool when confronted with Creel possessing a little kid… she’s practically Rambo.
Here's Jones's problem, at least with this arc–he can't tell this story with the Hulk. So far it has little or nothing to do with the bigger conspiracy story, it's just about Bruce Banner getting involved with the Absorbing Man's ingenious plan to free himself and kill a bunch of innocent people in the process.
Much as I enjoy Fernandez's art with setting and people, he's not a good Hulk artist. The Hulk has very, very awkward proportions. Pudgy almost. Muscularly pudgy.
Leandro Fernandez to the rescue! Not just regular Leandro Fernandez either, but doing a walking and talking scene through Central Park at twilight. It’s a gorgeous issue.
And here’s that double-issue long Hulk fight Jones has never done before and now it’s clear why… Because he’s no good at it. Jones and Deodato have a rhythm to the fight. There’s the fight, there’s the side action (sometimes the Abomination’s wife, sometimes the bad guys in a helicopter). Those are usually six panel pages. So you get little panels for big fight moments. Or there’s the half double-page spread device, which Deodato uses a lot.