World War Hulk #0: Review

Includes flashbacks to FANTASTIC FOUR #12, IRON MAN 131-133, AVENGERS #1 and 2, a generic Defenders story, HULK (vol. 2) #95 and HULK ANNUAL #1 (1968). Other pencilers: Al Rio, Sean Phillips, Chris Giarrusso.

Peter David is the scripter for the main story here, not Greg Pak who does the World War Hulk mini and the ongoing Incredible Hulk. But Greg did write the Amadeus Cho reprint. The flashbacks are included in Hulk's meditation and the discussion between Jen Walters and Doc Samson. They illustrate the different viewpoints, sometimes of the same incident. In the 1st case (the original Fantastic Four #12) Doc says the FF were looking for a saboteur, and Bruce Banner deliberately became the Hulk and opposed them. But Hulk says that Reed Richards and his gang attacked *him* and believed he was the saboteur. (The truth is the usual superhero misunderstanding.) Hulk adds to his grievances against Mr Fantastic with a flashback to #153 of Hulk's 1968 series where he was in 'chains' and found guilty in a trial for his destructive acts. He remembers Reed shooting a fancy gun at him, but escaping the trap. (Actually the gun was supposed to make him permanently Banner, but Reed had secretly rigged it to increase Hulk's strength so he could escape.) Samson recalls Iron Man #131-133 where Tony Stark tried to give Bruce the power to control his transformation to the Hulk. It didn't work, but Iron Man risked his life to put things right. But Hulk just recalls his initial dealings with the Golden Avenger in the original Av#1-2, where Shellhead was all too ready to attack him during Loki's manipulation and Space Phantom's body-swapping. The Defenders montage is used to illustrate Hulk's point that all his friends betray him, in this case Dr Strange. Specifically when Strange banished him to an interdimensional crossroads in Hu#300. Doc Samson tries to justify this action. The flashback to #95 within the Planet Hulk storyline, where Silver Surfer came to Sakaar, is used as an illustration when Hulk says the Surfer was the only Defender who was really his friend.

Jen and Samson don't know anything about Black Bolt, but Hulk remembers meeting the Inhumans in his 1st Annual. They attacked him on sight, and their king Black Bolt defeated Hulk with his voice. (Hulk mistakenly says this was on the Moon, but the Inhumans' city Attilan was still in the Himalayas at that time.) The Jen/Samson chat follows on from She-Hulk #18 and #106 of Hulk's 1999 series. In SHu#18 Shulkie discovered how the Illuminati and SHIELD had sent Hulk into exile in space. She got angry and refused to continue working with Iron Man, SHIELD and the Initiative. Tony Stark depowered her with the new SPIN technology. In Hu#106 Amadeus Cho temporarily restored her powers in an effort to recruit her to the pro-Hulk side (without actually knowing that Greenie was on his way back to Earth). This involved a fight with Doc S. But Jen preferred the legal approach to getting justice for her cousin. So she's now still powerless. But in Avengers: Initiative #4 she'll get recruited by Dr Strange to oppose the angry Hulk, and Iron Man will restore her powers for the duration of WWH. The Amadeus Cho tale is a reprint of his initial story in Amazing Fantasy v2 #15. The teen genius's house was blown up and his parents killed. He thinks SHIELD did it, and won't believe them when they say it was someone else who's after him. In Hu#100 he too uncovered SHIELD's complicity in exiling his friend Hulk, and has sworn to put it right.

There is 1 tie-in plus 2 bits considered part of the Prologue:- Hu#106 is covered above. Amadeus Cho manipulates people and events to try to convince She-Hulk to join him. He ends up meeting Angel and Hercules. Hu#107 (p3-5) Cho uses manipulation again to get the 2 heroes on his side against SHIELD. The Marvel Chronology Project's Calendar then has this issue. Followed by Hu#107 (p1-2) with Hulk's spaceship approaching Earth, and (p6-7) where Angel discovers he's now an outlaw and SHIELD have frozen his multimillion dollar assets. But Cho anticipated that and smuggled a load of money out beforehand. He's bought a flying sub to go visit Hulk's pal Sub-Mariner. This period also includes Avengers: Initiative #4 (p1-6) where Hardball steals SPIN sample A-1, replacing it with a dummy which is why it won't work when used against Hulk in WWH#1.