Hulk: Let the Battle Begin #1: Review

Mar 2010
Jesse Blaze Snyder, Steve Kurth

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Story Name:

Let the Battle Begin

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Hulk: Let the Battle Begin #1 Review by (January 11, 2022)

Review: Okay, we’ll get it out of the way: There is no way Hulk could have taken Mjolnir away from Thor and then lifted it. No idea why the editor let the writer get away with such an egregious error which almost brings down the story. But not quite. While the battle scenes are quite entertaining—the Wrecking Crew are a most welcome set of bad guys to watch being beaten up—the real interest in the tale lies in its depiction of the troubles Bruce Banner must go through every time he wakes up from an experience as the Hulk. We are told he keeps a survival kit in his purple pants, containing needle and thread, matches, and a debit card, for when he “arrives.” Then we learn his strategy for explaining to drivers what happened to him. After this we see his encounters with various shopkeepers and officials, his reaction to someone who claims to recognize him, and witness his discomfort at the news that the Hulk caused more damage than the bad guys, with an official opining that it would have been cheaper to pay the ransom. And finally we see Bruce in a typical confrontation with Ross and the army, followed by the cycle starting over. A side of Banner’s existence I had never thought about before. One question: is it me or does Bruce Banner resemble Stephen King here?

The second story offers an offbeat view of the Maestro. Ed McGuinness draws the most solid of Hulks and this story goes over the edge so that it felt like the comic itself weighed a hundred pounds and that was just the digital edition! A nice glimpse into an alternate world.

Comments: First story dedicated to Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. For Hulk, the story falls between INCREDIBLE HULK #198 and 199; for Thor it takes place in a gap in the events of THOR #239 which also accommodates the action of AVENGERS #150-151. Second story reprinted from MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (2007 series) #9. The emissary from the legion resembles the Leader. 




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Hulk: Let the Battle Begin #1 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Bruce Banner awakens in the desert and hitches a ride, telling the driver that he is a meteorologist who was caught up in a tornado. The radio reports on an incident the previous day involving the Hulk….

Bruce was at Mount Rushmore when the Wrecking Crew arrived to demand one hundred millions dollars not to destroy the iconic monument, breaking off Lincoln’s nose to show they mean business. Bruce turned into the Hulk and beat the crap out of the bad guys, damaging the monument more than the Wrecking Crew would have done. Then Thor arrived to stop Hulk who then took Mjolnir away from Thor, whom he called “Hairy Lady,” and beat him into unconsciousness with his own weapon. Hulk then took off….

In town, Bruce takes money from the bank, buys clothes, new eyeglasses, and takes a motel room. Problem: the motel clerk, a big Hulk fan, recognizes him; Bruce denies it but the guy approaches him for an autograph at the local diner. Soon Bruce realizes everyone in the diner has fled and an army contingent led by General Thunderbolt Ross arrives. Bruce warns them that if they start something they will lose all of their equipment and weapons and still not capture the Hulk. The army attacks anyway….

Bruce wakes up in the desert the next day only this time he’s without his purple pants….

“Gammaragnarok” 4.5/5
Writer: Mark Parsons, Tom Cohen. Art: Ed McGuinness. Colors: Kelsey Shannon. Letters: Dave Sharpe.
Synopsis: An emissary from a planet-conquering legion comes to the Maestro’s world and demands surrender. The Maestro chooses war. He recruits from his people young men and, using the spark of his own life, turns them all into savage Hulks. They defeat the invaders and drive them off. Then the Maestro asks one last thing of them: to go into space on a ship that will explode because they are now too dangerous to live among the people.


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Barberoids 1 cover original artwork on ebay

Steve Kurth
Andrew Hennessy
Chris Sotomayor
Mike del Mundo (Cover Penciler)
Mike del Mundo (Cover Inker)
Mike del Mundo (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Bruce Banner
Bruce Banner

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Hulk
Hulk

(Bruce Banner)
Maestro
Maestro

(Hulk)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Thunderbolt Ross
Thunderbolt Ross

(Thaddeus Ross)

Plus: Wrecking Crew.

> Hulk: Let the Battle Begin: Book info and issue index

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