ALL NEW MARVEL NOW HULK Reviewed

ALL NEW MARVEL NOW HULK: Dr. Aaron Carpenter has been taken to a secret facility that has been secured and instructed operate on a patient with severe cranial trauma. Hat patient is Robert Bruce Banner. Three hours before, Banner was shot twice in the back of the head at point blank range and the bullets are lodged in his brain. As Carpenter operates, a shadowy female figure arrives and receives congratulations from the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there: congratulations for accomplishing the shoot. Before he is finished, the head agent in charge insists Carpenter pouts in an implant that will allow the Hulk’s transformations to be triggered by remote control. The doctor teeters on the edge of making the right choice when Banner wakes up. The anesthesiologist was saved many years ago when the monster Zzax was on a rampage and she refuses to let him be abused. As he transforms, S.H.I.E.L.D. tries to stop him with Adamantium bullets and finally poison gas. Hulk saves the medical team as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents transport away and then he flees; obviously in great pain. Two weeks later, Hill and Coulson track Banner down to a small town in Kentucky and find out that he has irreversible brain damage. Bruce, now known as Bobby, is moved to a small town in Kentucky, so he can be hidden from his enemies. But someone has managed to rebuild The Abomination and a battle ensues in the streets of the rural town.

Three armed assailants arrive and Hill takes them out with a Sonic Scrambler. Before they transport away, she learns that the Abomination is actually a mindless “drone” with tissue taken from Banner. The Avengers arrive to help and between moments of gibberish and sanity, he decides to change back into the Hulk, even if it means making his brain damage permanent. With Captain America’s shield in hand, Hulk and Abomination square off. As Captain Marvel and Sunspot arrive to drain off some Gamma energy, Hulk hits his enemy with a solid shield shot that transports him to Jupiter. Iron Man takes Bruce to Troy where, with the help of Dr. Carpenter and Tony’s brother Arno, Banner’s brain is again operated on and Extremis is implanted. Success apparent, the question is what are the side effects of Extremis?

Welcome to the latest HULK comic, courtesy of Mark Waid, who was responsible for THE INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK, and Mark Bagley. What you just read was a synopsis of the first four issues, so you can tell the book is a huge hit with me! I didn’t read the last Hulk title as I was just too filled with the constant changes to the character, even IF Mark Waid WAS writing it. But this is nothing that I thought it would be and I was totally blown away by issue #1! Waid is in top form and Bagley? Well, either you like his style or you don’t and I have always been a huge fan of his work. We have a mystery yet to be solved and a nice supporting cast starting to form. But here’s the mess-up that I should have asked for a No-Prize for. In issue #2, we learn that Hulk is in Highston Kentucky. But in issue #3 and #4, we have miraculously moved to Hightown Colarado. And, while references abound to Colorado, including Bruce mentioning he knows it is Colorado by the temperature, air quality and foliage, there is still that glaring third panel on page three of issue #2 that says, in big bold print, KENTUCKY. Not to mention Maria Hill mentioning it to Coulson on page #2 of the same issue.

With the exception of that MAJOR BLUNDER(retcon that, boys!), this title rocks! Banner now has Extremis in his head and anything could happen now. And, by the way, in case you are wondering what the whole thing is with Troy and Arno Stark, here’s the quick answer. Troy was once Mandarin City and Arno Stark is the REAL birth child of Howard and Maria Stark while Tony was adopted. See…that’s what happens when you don’t follow certain storylines in certain armored Avenger books!