Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Frank Cho
Colourist: Sonia Oback
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Release date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

For The Totally Awesome Hulk #1 it’s very much following the results of Marvel’s Secret Wars and 19-year-old genius Amadeus Cho is now the Hulk. And the wise-cracking and immature youngster hasn’t quite got the hang of it yet and is getting busy trying to pick up girls instead of fighting.

In The Totally Awesome Hulk #1 our jolly green giant is helped by his genius 16-year-old sister Madame Curie “Maddy” Cho. Maddy has decided to follow her brother/Hulk around with a robot. Her comments to the Hulk are mostly regarding his inability to pay attention to the threat at hand. When she tells him to stop flirting with She-Hulk he responds, “I’m quipping, not flirting. And, dude, she’s like forty.”

Maddy suspects there’s more to the Hulk than just turning green, and cautions Amadeus to not take the power lightly. “You can’t give into every stupid impulse the Hulk gives you,” she says. “I’m not Banner,” Amadeus says.

And that’s the rub. The Hulk has always been more than merely Bruce Banner’s alter ego, and is in fact a separate personality. Right now the Hulk is a vehicle Cho is controlling (a metaphor he experiences while dreaming), but what lurks under the hood?

Greg Pak is no stranger to the green giant, having penned the excellent Planet Hulk series. And leave it to fan-favorite artist Frank Cho (no relation) to stick as many pinup girls into the issue as possible. His art is impeachable and helps add to the story’s light-hearted nature.

In The Totally Awesome Hulk #1 Pak and Cho make a good team, and proceedings are off to a smashing start with it’s smart, funny and fun take on the Hulk. Hopefully, though, more beneath the hood story-wise.

 

Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker