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The Totally Awesome Hulk #20 Review

Comic Books

The Totally Awesome Hulk #20 Review

”Weapons of Mutant Destruction” has been a blast with plenty of action and 90’s sensibilities to make this mini-event worthy of your summer time. It’s also weaving together some interesting X-Men characters and themes with Amadeus Cho leading the way for the heroes of the story.

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The Totally Awesome Hulk #20 Review
The Totally Awesome Hulk #20
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Robert Gill
Publisher: Marvel Comics


So what’s it about?

Read our exclusive preview!

Why does this book matter?

Greg Pak has written a solidly paced story so far and it’s also got some surprising detective elements. Might he be writing Detective Comics one day? Based on this story, yes!

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

This issue opens unexpectedly in the Republic of Santo Marco. Then some polar bears coming running out of the jungle. Pak appears to be pulling some Lost themes at you, but then things change again. The use of misdirection is quite nice and makes the opening action scene really catch you by surprise. This scene leads directly to the villain, who Pak has been writing very well from the start, via two numbskull workers who are making light of some serious violence.

The Totally Awesome Hulk #20 Review
Polar bear punch!

So far, this series’ strongest elements come when the villains are on the page. A female scientist is behind all these robots and abominations attacking our heroes and she’s sadistic as all hell. That makes her evilness fun and will make you want to learn more about this strange woman.

Amadeus Cho and Lady Deathstrike continue to follow clues to the identity of one of the kids turned into robots for much of this issue and these scenes are written in a strong way. Good dialogue, banter, and scene progression help make their detective work pay off. This leads to another action scene, which again, is a lot of fun.

Robert Gill’s art is pretty damn good, with a lot of detail and great use of closeups to bring the reader right up to the characters face to face. Speaking of faces, check out the page below, with the face sloughing off that robot. How freaky is that?! There’s even more monster madness in this issue, with some baddies showing up that are freaky and menacing. There’s some clever layout ideas in this issue too, like a page with Lady Deathstrike’s long pointy fingers in the foreground elongating behind panels below the panel it’s actually in.

The Totally Awesome Hulk #20 Review
Dannnnng.

It can’t be perfect can it?

It’s becoming very evident this is a slow burn story. Probably too slow. This issue progresses the villains’ development of super monsters and Amadeus gets closer to one of the victims of the experiments, but the lack of Domino and Sabretooth is a reminder scenes don’t change all that much. Again, what’s on the page is good, but by the end you’ll be wishing there was more to it all.

There is one visual mistake that caught me off guard that unfortunately makes an action beat a bit clunky. It’s a blink and you’ll miss it sort of issue, but it has Hulk clearly far away from a character and then magically holding them in the next. There’s a missing piece of the action that hurts the flow of the moment.

Is It Good?

Overall I’m loving this event and I think fans of action, detective storytelling, and 90’s comics will adore it. Come for the heroes getting closer to the culprits, but stay for the fantastic villain.

The Totally Awesome Hulk #20 Review
The Totally Awesome Hulk #20
Is it good?
Another fun issue with some surprisingly good detective work and sharp art.
Sharp art with some really gnarly monsters
Great detective work for our heroes
Omg this villain is so damn evil!
The story can be frustratingly slow
An awkward progression of action at one short moment
9
Great

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