Totally Awesome Hulk # 1 Review. One of the best books in comics

[leo619]

Wow, I can now literally see why CBR gave this book 5 star. I literally laughed out loud in this comic around 2-3 times. I have never, ever laughed out loud with a comic before. The comedy in this book is gold, the writing is clever, the characters are awesome. Even the supporting supporting characters were freaking gold. Greg Pak literally gave one of the best books of his career with this issue. And it's safe to say that Cho doesn't like cougars LOL.

[Dr. Banner]

Wow, I can now literally see why CBR gave this book 5 star. I literally laughed out loud in this comic around 2-3 times. I have never, ever laughed out loud with a comic before. The comedy in this book is gold, the writing is clever, the characters are awesome. Even the supporting supporting characters were freaking gold. Greg Pak literally gave one of the best books of his career with this issue. And it's safe to say that Cho doesn't like cougars LOL.

All I can say is that I loved it! It's indeed a fresh take on the Hulk mythos, and it worked great!!

[FrazettaHulk]

As someone who looks at "life through the windshield, not the rearview mirror", I cannot help but think back to ALL the previous runs that have occurred between Pak's final arc and this issue. Some issues were good. Many were not. But in the very first issue to 'The Totally Awesome Hulk' Pak and Co have washed away that feeling of the previous years disappointment/acceptance-of-the-average away. And replaced it with unmitigated AWESOME-ness, fun, mystery and gravitas! THIS is the book Hulk fans deserve.

SPOILERS BELOW
.
.
.
.

Pages 1-12 setup Cho's "first" Hulk adventure. As Cho chows down a burger while conversing with Robo Drone "Kegger" who we later learn was voiced on the other end by Cho's sister, Madame Curie "Maddy" Cho. We get what Amadeus personality is right from the jump. He's a brilliant but cocky kid with a hero streak. A brief back and forth between a giant two-headed Turtle and Cho-Hulk. Frank Cho really showed his artistic skills off here. Pak's witty banter fits Cho and this book so da*n well. The moment we learned Cho's pants WEREN'T fireproof was priceless.

Pages 13-16 Focus on Cho and his sister Maddy. I am not as well versed in Maddy's history as I would like to be. She is supposed to be younger than Amadeus but she appears and acts older than him (anyone insights on this appreciated in advance thanks). She punches him in the face for being a "jack*ss!" But you can see they have a loving relationship nonetheless (tho it would be awkward to read if that punch was reversed...alas ). We are shown 2 other monsters Cho and his sis have caught. One of them is the big eyed monster from the Howling Commandos book. Maddy expresses her worry that Banner lost control and Cho slams his fist on the table and partially Hulks-out. Saying "I'm not Banner!" cut to ...

Pages 17-20 Kenyan Coast. Four Months Ago. Banner arrives to help Iron Man and Black Panther with Kiber's Island melt down which could poison 50 million people. Banner quickly realizes this requires Hulk's help more than his, so he Hulks-out. Hulk (not for certain which exact incarnation) jumps onto the island and absorbs the radiation. But as Panther explains to Iron Man, "This is a Kiber fusion reactor which generates energies completely different from the gamma radiation that created The Hulk. It should kill any living thing on the Planet...But he's the Hulk. So he's saved us from the meltdown..." We are shown Hulk's injuries that heal in the next panel. Hulk is happy but then he realizes somethings wrong. Panther's words again with the imagery "...But now everything that was going to kill us... is inside of him... growing much, much STRONGER." Hulk skin changes to a glowing green and he screams out in pain "GRRRAAAAA!" This is the last we are shown. And with this Pak and co have setup such an intriguing mystery as to what happened to Hulk/Bruce. Whatever happens, reading all the interviews, would point to this being a dramatically different status quo for Bruce/Hulk. Could change Hulk into not being a Hulk but rather something new. Not enough for me to speculate yet but I was hooked before, and this only has me on the boat ready to be gutted and eaten.

Pages 21-24 Conclusion to Maddy and Amadeus' conversation. Cho lays down to sleep and we are treated to something that was UNEXPECTED especially THIS early. As Cho is dreaming, we are shown a metaphor for his status quo. Cho is driving a green, hulk of a car. The car's engine sound is a growl "RRRRAAAARRR". Cho is driving that car with the top down w/o a care in the world. "He's got the monster, right where he wants him." Cut to the trunk that was duct-taped shut. We see eyes in the trunks. Next panel, HOLY BLEEP, we see a Hulk monsters partial face angrily peering out!!!! So what I (and many) had assummed would JUST be a Cho-in-control-Hulk. That thought IS ovah! He has a time-bomb inside him. I dunno what manner and form his "HULK" will be BUT I cannot wait to see this storyline play out. It was such an OMG OMG OMG OMFG! realization there I thought.

Pages 25-30. She-Hulk and Miles Morales Spider-Man are fighting a couple bipedal monsters who can speak a language. TA Hulk arrives on the scene to help. A couple jokes about She-Hulk being 40 thus too old for him to flirt with, which seemed to hurt She-Hulk's feelings ... tho she never quite heard right for sure. She-Hulk and TA Hulk do most of the work...with Miles landing a humor punch to an unconscious one to "help". She-Hulk starts arguing with TA Hulk about him running around "like a crazy person not checking in with the Avengers or SHIELD or any other AUTHORITY..." Cho states he's being a "good Hulk, staying focused, sticking to protocol..." blah blah blah when they are confronted by Lady Hellbender who tells them they "should kneel before LH the monster queen of Seknarf nine!" Cho takes a big hit by her mace and a foot mash to his face, course he jokes to his sister how "FINE" she is. Even with the scar on her face Frank Cho still draws her as a heckuva SMOKE-SHOW! And if it was clear from the solicits we can glean she was the one responsible for all the monsters appearing over the world and the 2 headed turtle monster from earlier this ish.

End of Review.

I think this book deserves to be a top 20 title, its that great!!! I hope any Hulk fans who were put off by the change off of Banner give this a shot. See how in 4 pages, it portrayed Bruce as he has been from the beginning, a hero. Hulk too for that matter. He saved 50 million people and at the very least cost him his "normality". And Pak has stuffed this title with so much that if they want to give Bruce his own series with whatever his status quo is, Cho could easily carry this book. What a joy to read. I don't see 5th, 6th, 7th etc subsequent readings getting any worse. It's that great. This book is an 11 outta 10 (in my opinion).

[UltimateTy]

Awesome book, it might be the best out of the new books

[Prof. Warren]

Terrific first issue! Really loved it. Cho's art is stunning, as always, and Pak remains one of the all-time best Hulk scribes. I'm curious as to what happened to Banner and what role he'll play in the book but in the meantime Cho is the perfect protagonist for a new era of gamma greatness. The sense of fun leaps off the page and I expect things will only get bigger and better from here.

[the nomad]

I freakin loved this issue. I have never big that big of a Hulk fan, but I'm sold now!!

[Tien Long]

Reposted from another thread:

Picked it up today. I did a quick read through unfortunately, so I don't think I got all of the subtlties. HOWEVER, I really liked the characterization of Amadeus and his sister. In a way, this whole series has been misleading, because we aren't just getting one Asian-American to the forefront, but actually two! Great!

Another thing is this. While Pak and Cho are giving this vibe that Amadeus loves being the Hulk, there's certainly a sense within this issue that something is a miss. Does Amadeus have control of the Hulk? Is he really a fanboy of Banner? Additionally, there are other questions namely what happened to Banner? Why did Amadeus take up this role? How? How did his sister get involved? And, wait a minute, Amadeus has a sister?!

I'm excited. Definitely will check out the second issue.

[ZeroBG82]

I'm not a Hulk fan. I don't dislike the character, but I have no attachment to the Hulk, Banner, Amadeus Cho or anything in this book. I picked it up because I'm trying all of Marvel's new #1's to see if something I'd otherwise overlook might be fun/worth picking up (like, Moon girl and Devil Dinosaur, which was great fun).

This book is beautiful, certainly. Frank Cho ftw. But I definitely won't be picking up issue #2. In 20 pages I already hate Amadeus Cho, and there was nothing here to hook me otherwise.

Glad for everyone that enjoys it, and hope it continues to thrill it's fans, but I'm out.

[frizb]

Thought it was decent, but not great. The banter with She-Hulk was funny though as was Miles' short appearance. One thing that bugged me was Ammy's age seems to fluctuate from panel to panel and his sister looks older than him even though she is only 16.

[Nick Miller]

This was great. The cho art was amazing, we see Pak going to his strength, babes and monsters.

Amadeus thinks he can control the Hulk in him.....boy is he wrong.

Brought great memories of Pak's earlier hulk run.

[Thad937]

Pages 1-12 setup Cho's "first" Hulk adventure. As Cho chows down a burger while conversing with Robo Drone "Kegger" who we later learn was voiced on the other end by Cho's sister, Madame Curie "Maddy" Cho. We get what Amadeus personality is right from the jump. He's a brilliant but cocky kid with a hero streak. A brief back and forth between a giant two-headed Turtle and Cho-Hulk. Frank Cho really showed his artistic skills off here. Pak's witty banter fits Cho and this book so da*n well. The moment we learned Cho's pants WEREN'T fireproof was priceless.

Isn't Maddy as smart as Amadeus? I would rather she be out in the field doing calculations in her head than that Kegger. This book was really good, loved the cameo with She-Hulk and Miles Morales. I'm curious to find out who's creating the monsters and who Lady Hellbender is?

[ImprobableQuestion]

In what surely will hold the record for fastest turnaround for a long while, Amadeus is already a character in Marvel Puzzle Quest!



His powers are a little while overcomplicated for my tastes, but his green ability is interesting in that its damage scales with the amount of blue tiles you've matched. And if it has a cap it's a very high one.

[Kirby Krackle]

That was incredibly fun and funny. Glad to see Pak, back on Hulk and Cho is THE MAN!

[JaggedFel]

Thought it was decent, but not great. The banter with She-Hulk was funny though as was Miles' short appearance. One thing that bugged me was Ammy's age seems to fluctuate from panel to panel and his sister looks older than him even though she is only 16.

Oh I agree when she first showed up I was like wait she is 16? Cause she looked so much older and then later she looked younger.

[GreenScar1990]

As someone who looks at "life through the windshield, not the rearview mirror", I cannot help but think back to ALL the previous runs that have occurred between Pak's final arc and this issue. Some issues were good. Many were not. But in the very first issue to 'The Totally Awesome Hulk' Pak and Co have washed away that feeling of the previous years disappointment/acceptance-of-the-average away. And replaced it with unmitigated AWESOME-ness, fun, mystery and gravitas! THIS is the book Hulk fans deserve.

SPOILERS BELOW
.
.
.
.

Pages 1-12 setup Cho's "first" Hulk adventure. As Cho chows down a burger while conversing with Robo Drone "Kegger" who we later learn was voiced on the other end by Cho's sister, Madame Curie "Maddy" Cho. We get what Amadeus personality is right from the jump. He's a brilliant but cocky kid with a hero streak. A brief back and forth between a giant two-headed Turtle and Cho-Hulk. Frank Cho really showed his artistic skills off here. Pak's witty banter fits Cho and this book so da*n well. The moment we learned Cho's pants WEREN'T fireproof was priceless.

Pages 13-16 Focus on Cho and his sister Maddy. I am not as well versed in Maddy's history as I would like to be. She is supposed to be younger than Amadeus but she appears and acts older than him (anyone insights on this appreciated in advance thanks). She punches him in the face for being a "jack*ss!" But you can see they have a loving relationship nonetheless (tho it would be awkward to read if that punch was reversed...alas ). We are shown 2 other monsters Cho and his sis have caught. One of them is the big eyed monster from the Howling Commandos book. Maddy expresses her worry that Banner lost control and Cho slams his fist on the table and partially Hulks-out. Saying "I'm not Banner!" cut to ...

Pages 17-20 Kenyan Coast. Four Months Ago. Banner arrives to help Iron Man and Black Panther with Kiber's Island melt down which could poison 50 million people. Banner quickly realizes this requires Hulk's help more than his, so he Hulks-out. Hulk (not for certain which exact incarnation) jumps onto the island and absorbs the radiation. But as Panther explains to Iron Man, "This is a Kiber fusion reactor which generates energies completely different from the gamma radiation that created The Hulk. It should kill any living thing on the Planet...But he's the Hulk. So he's saved us from the meltdown..." We are shown Hulk's injuries that heal in the next panel. Hulk is happy but then he realizes somethings wrong. Panther's words again with the imagery "...But now everything that was going to kill us... is inside of him... growing much, much STRONGER." Hulk skin changes to a glowing green and he screams out in pain "GRRRAAAAA!" This is the last we are shown. And with this Pak and co have setup such an intriguing mystery as to what happened to Hulk/Bruce. Whatever happens, reading all the interviews, would point to this being a dramatically different status quo for Bruce/Hulk. Could change Hulk into not being a Hulk but rather something new. Not enough for me to speculate yet but I was hooked before, and this only has me on the boat ready to be gutted and eaten.

Pages 21-24 Conclusion to Maddy and Amadeus' conversation. Cho lays down to sleep and we are treated to something that was UNEXPECTED especially THIS early. As Cho is dreaming, we are shown a metaphor for his status quo. Cho is driving a green, hulk of a car. The car's engine sound is a growl "RRRRAAAARRR". Cho is driving that car with the top down w/o a care in the world. "He's got the monster, right where he wants him." Cut to the trunk that was duct-taped shut. We see eyes in the trunks. Next panel, HOLY BLEEP, we see a Hulk monsters partial face angrily peering out!!!! So what I (and many) had assummed would JUST be a Cho-in-control-Hulk. That thought IS ovah! He has a time-bomb inside him. I dunno what manner and form his "HULK" will be BUT I cannot wait to see this storyline play out. It was such an OMG OMG OMG OMFG! realization there I thought.

Pages 25-30. She-Hulk and Miles Morales Spider-Man are fighting a couple bipedal monsters who can speak a language. TA Hulk arrives on the scene to help. A couple jokes about She-Hulk being 40 thus too old for him to flirt with, which seemed to hurt She-Hulk's feelings ... tho she never quite heard right for sure. She-Hulk and TA Hulk do most of the work...with Miles landing a humor punch to an unconscious one to "help". She-Hulk starts arguing with TA Hulk about him running around "like a crazy person not checking in with the Avengers or SHIELD or any other AUTHORITY..." Cho states he's being a "good Hulk, staying focused, sticking to protocol..." blah blah blah when they are confronted by Lady Hellbender who tells them they "should kneel before LH the monster queen of Seknarf nine!" Cho takes a big hit by her mace and a foot mash to his face, course he jokes to his sister how "FINE" she is. Even with the scar on her face Frank Cho still draws her as a heckuva SMOKE-SHOW! And if it was clear from the solicits we can glean she was the one responsible for all the monsters appearing over the world and the 2 headed turtle monster from earlier this ish.

End of Review.

I think this book deserves to be a top 20 title, its that great!!! I hope any Hulk fans who were put off by the change off of Banner give this a shot. See how in 4 pages, it portrayed Bruce as he has been from the beginning, a hero. Hulk too for that matter. He saved 50 million people and at the very least cost him his "normality". And Pak has stuffed this title with so much that if they want to give Bruce his own series with whatever his status quo is, Cho could easily carry this book. What a joy to read. I don't see 5th, 6th, 7th etc subsequent readings getting any worse. It's that great. This book is an 11 outta 10 (in my opinion).

Agreed.

I can't wait for more!

I'm especially eager to learn more about the fate of Banner/Hulk and the powerful/dangerous energy he absorbed (I wonder if it wasn't some experimental energy compromised of Gamma, Cosmic and Iso-8), Lady Hellbender and her monster army/planet, and how things are going to get more difficult for Amadeus Cho once his own Hulk side tries to break free of his control.

All in all, a very solid start to what will be a very fun and engaging series. It definitely beats anything Hulk related we've had these past 5 years since Greg Pak departed from the characters. That's for sure.