Jason Aaron's Hulk is a little bit of an odd book. Thats not so much because the plot is strange (although it is) but because the book kind of seems to flip flop in quality. The first issue was good, second issue was bad, and third issue had me convinced that the second issue was just a fluke and that Aaron's Hulk was gonna turn out alright. This issue has me second guessing myself.
Now this issue wasn't really bad, it had some really great moments, but there's something about it that just isn't clicking. The Hulk is now joined with the super scientist kill squad and is going in to Banner's island to take him out. I'll say right off the bat that I'm not loving the Anti-Banner team. They all just seem really one dimensional and cliched. None of them even have lines except for Amanda von Doom, and all she does is point Hulk in Banner's direction and let him go. Disappointing considering how many great supporting characters were in Pak's Hulk.
Banner himself is starting to worry me. He's coming off as a total nutball, and I know that that's the point, but how can he be redeemed after acting so evil in this story? He presents some interesting ideas, like maybe this is what Banner would have been if the Hulk had never been there, but he's starting to seem more and more like a typical ranting evil scientist.
This issue features the Hulk battling an island full of hulked-out animals that Banner's been experimenting on, which provides for some awesome scenes and some...not so awesome ones. The new artist, Whilce Portacio, is pretty good, and his style is similar to Marc Silvestri's, but some pages look really off. For example, there's a splash page of Hulk fighting a giant Hulk-bat. At first glance it looks awesome, but upon closer inspection I noticed that Hulk's arm looks really bulky and really squished; it looks oddly short and small despite how muscular it is (thats what she said?). There's also Hulk fighting hulked-out gorillas, which doesn't look so good because its difficult to tell Hulk from the gorilla.
Overall, not a bad issue, but not really a good one either. I'll keep picking this series up, but its been somewhat mixed so far.
6.5/10