No matter how hard the lefties, the pagans, the communists, the gays, and every other group I belong to tries to stop it, Christmas is still happening. Glycon knows I’ve done my part! I personally punched out three mall Santas this week. I think they were mall Santas. They had beards and were wearing red…of course, I am color blind. And I think I was in a mall…
I remember I was drinking single malt whiskey mixed with lighter fluid at a Burl Ives look alike contest and then I kinda’ blacked out. Hmm.
The point is, you people will need to get some holiday shopping done soon and Forbidden Planet wants to build a scale replica of a Sentinel to keep those mutant kids from loitering out front.
UNKIEDEV’S GIFTS FOR PEOPLE YOU KNOW AND LIKE PT.1
Without a doubt my number 1 recommended gift for the holidays this year is The Incredible Hulk #2, out from Marvel this week. WHY? Because The Hulk is punching giant, green, great white sharks while simultaneously being eaten alive by these self-same, paradoxically-pigmented Green Great Whites. For the full awesome of that sentence to sink in on you I’ll pause here a moment so you may read it again.
Can I judge a book by its cover? YES, when that cover features gamma-radiated sharks fighting the Hulk, YES I CAN.
The latest Hulk comic has been cool. Marc Silvestri (with Whilce Portacio and other friends) have been turning out some really nice pages, and Jason Aaron seems to get the fun of a good Hulk story. The Hulk is best when there’s A) lots of monsters and B) weird, high stakes.
The Hulk and Bruce Banner are separate entities, due to Fear Itself. Why? Who knows? I read the dang thing and I can’t seem to recall…but then, those Whiskey-Lighter Daiquiris do pack quite a wallop.
The Hulk is seems okay with it, living with the Moloids underground. He does, however, fear the big, nasty Fear Demon that turned him into a Hammer-wielding puppet this past summer. I can’t figure out what he’s complaining about…he got to rampage, smash puny humans, pretty much par for the course there. I guess Hulk no like hammers.
Banner, meanwhile, is brooding, has a brain tumor, and is engaging in some spectacular mad science that would make the Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Dr. Weird look like Bill Nye. This is so he can recreate the Hulk. He wants the monster back.
THAT is where the story takes some suspension of disbelief. When you’ve got over forty years worth of continuity to deal with it is hard to keep some motivations clear, but the total about face of Banner WANTING the Hulk is jarring.
Fear Not. The Hulk is like a good hot dog; it should NEVER be over-analyzed.
Do I honestly expect the Hulk to punch giant sharks in this comic? Nope. Will I buy it anyway? YES. The story has been great, that art fun, and there is a good deal of monsters, smashing, and green-skinned goodness. HULK LIKE.
OTHER GIFTS
Paul Grist’s Jack Staff and the spin off comics flowing from his pen are brilliant, visionary, and, unfortunately, harder to get into than MIT. Mudman #1 (out this week from Image) however, is a brand new Paul Grist book with all of his sensational art and story-lines but WITHOUT the lengthy continuity and slightly impenetrable lexicon.
There’re only a few visionaries pulling double duty on the writing/art credits for their own super hero books…and so few of them are doing it this well. Strangely, so many of these cats end up at Image. Pick this one up and give the gift of innovation.
I’d also recommend any of the scads of DC #3s out this week…but you cats were going to buy those anyway! Good things come in threes!
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More musings from Unkiedev, Earth’s own sidekick, can be read at unkiedev.blogspot.com
