Originally Posted by
GrandEleven
Well this issue is a lot to unpack... for for reasons different than the previous ones. Overall I liked the issue, but I was immediately reminded of the "all new all different" push from a few years back: most of the themes and direction feel rather sudden/forced to me. Like it was time to make a political statement seemingly out of left field.
The eco warrior/99% hero angle just feels .... out of nowhere. We just came out of an issue explaining that the devil hulk would ultimately lead to the ruination of not only the 8th iteration of the universe, but the 9th as well. Just before that, a Hulk sat atop a throne in a secret base with a team of gamma beings around him. We just went through an entire arc of watching Devil Hulk playing the long game and building power, got a preview of said power ending existence... and he's using that to make a political left-wing war on Roxxon? Huh? This was a hard pill to swallow for me as a progression of the story. I'm OK wit ha little detour I think... but it didn't feel very seamless to me.
The message itself also way WAY too on the nose. The Minotaur no longer hides the way he looks because nothing happens no matter how brazen the offense? That's about as subtle as a sledge hammer to glass. Public announcements on green energy, jabs at shock jocks, digs at military funding, this issue just felt like a political story first, and Hulk story as a back seat. We have an impeachment and election cycle coming up ... the whole issue feels like an add campaign.
That said, the story telling itself was good. I particularly _loved_ the political cartoon of hulk coming out of the grave ... that was an awesome touch that blended recent events. May update my profile pic for that image alone. It was a well crafted story, even if I did think it was jarring change of direction that I'm not thrilled with. It's a good opportunity to let Hulk smash for a bit, and for that alone I'm still on board but I'll be honest: I'm going to be waiting for the Roxxon arc to end so we can get back to more intersting stuff.