So I’m back from vacation. On Free Comic Book Day (hours before I left the country) I found an awesome issue of The Incredible Hulk that must be share with you.
The Incredible Hulk 435 – double sized special issue
There’s a famous baseball poem called Casey at the Bat. It was written in 1888, has been performed live many times, parodied a few times, and even turned into a feature length silent film in 1927. This comic is one of those parodies.
The Hulk is talking to his then wife, Betty Ross, outside of a baseball diamond when he’s hit in the head by a home-run. He tosses the ball back into the stadium and is soon found by the team’s manager. The Hulk is hired on as a new team member, and soon plays a game against another team that happens to have the Spider-Man villain Rhino playing for them. The two eventually fight and they get kicked off their respective teams.
The game itself is narrated in poetic form and it’s simply hilarious. There are lines that directly parody the original poem while others are just cleaver. Here’s an example from the fight scene.
“The Rhino landed his punch first and knocked bob on his rear.
And as the fearsome brawl broke out, the benches both did clear.
But when they saw the strength unleashed could quickly shatter stone,
They ran back to their dugouts; mighty bob (the hulk) was on his own.”
The last line of the poem is the greatest, but I won’t spoil it. The artwork in this issue is great, the humour is great, and this issue stands well on its own. If you can find this issue, get it.
While it’s pointless to review any comics that released while I was gone, I might as well offer thoughts on some of the issues anyway.
Avengers vs. X-Men 4 – Alright issue. It moves the plot forward and sets up issue five. Hopefully issue five will be good, otherwise I’m starting to lose hope in this event, and I was initially looking forward to it.
AVX 2 – still not sure what I think of this issue. Two fights: Colossus vs. Spider-Man and Gambit vs. Captain America. I agree with the way both fights turned out, but Captain America took Gambit down too easily. Also, the issue comments that Gambit can’t charge organic matter even though Gambit directly blew up Daken’s arm just over a year ago – no change to his power set since. The fight between Colossus and Spider-Man was better, but far inferior to Gillen’s work in Uncanny X-Men. Definitely not worth $4 in case you were wondering.
Avengers Academy 30 – great issue. It focuses more on X-23 than anything else and it actually develops her further. The issue is filled with great characterization overall. The art isn’t anything special though.
Uncanny X-Men 12 – very entertaining Namor showcase issue that ties into Avengers vs. X-men. My only complaint is that She Hulk didn’t really do anything in the fight. It’s minor since the main focus was pretty much Namor taking out three Avengers on his own while others talked about how awesome he is. Uncanny X-Men is easily the best part of the event so far.
Wolverine and the X-Men 10 – much more serious than the rest of the series so far, but a very good issue nonetheless. While not as good as Uncanny X-Men 12, it’s a great tie in to AVX as it explores why different X-Men characters have chosen the sides that they have.
Uncanny X-Force 25 – brilliant as usual, ‘nuff said
Batman 9 – all you need to know is that if you like Batman, get this comic.
Avenging Spider-Man 7 – this was my first issue for Avenging Spider-Man (I like She Hulk so I had to check it out). I thought it was very entertaining.
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