Smashy Smashy!

World War Hulk #3

Well, last issue, the superpeople had their chance to take down the Hulk, and they got stomped. This issue, the Hulk’s biggest enemy, General Thunderbolt Ross, wants to try it with the Army. The Army is armed with adamantium bullets. Hulk still stomps ’em, though the military did more damage to Hulk than the superpeople did. We get treated to several pages of Hulk destroying military hardware, and it’s big fun.

On top of that, Dr. Strange forces a magical confrontation inside Hulk’s mind and manages to briefly turn him back into Bruce Banner. This is still all inside Hulk’s mind, though, so it’s not like Banner’s getting cut to ribbons by the Army. Anyway, Strange thinks he’s got Hulk all talked down until Hulk grabs Strange’s hands — again, inside Hulk’s mind — and squeezes so hard he breaks Strange’s hands for real.

After that, we find out that Hulk and his alien allies, the Warbound, plan to get their revenge on Earth’s heroes by forcing them to fight each other in gladiatorial contests. And the Warbound are already closing in on a mostly helpless Dr. Strange. But Strange still has a trick or two up his sleeves.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Listen, I love intellectual comics, I love comics with lots of talking and dialogue and characterization, I even like nonviolent comics. But this series has been almost nonstop SMASHING, and it is awesome.