IMMORTAL HULK: Abomination by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett is the fourth collection in the Immortal Hulk series. General Fortean’s latest attempt to destroy the Hulk by trapping him as Bruce Banner has some unexpected side effects (“Call me … Joe.”) but not to worry, he has a back up involving resurrecting Rick Jones as the new Abomination. Can Hulk save his best friend, even now that Betty Ross is Harpy again? A grim little tale though I’m not sure at this point why Fortean’s scheme to kill Bruce would work better than any of his previous deaths.
ALIAS: Come Home and JESSICA JONES: Uncaged by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos are part of Jessica’s original series and the most recent one, respectively. In the first book, Jessica agrees to search for a missing girl in a small town, which may tie into the fact that she’s allegedly a mutant (“Yeah, her best friend’s boyfriend’s buddy said she’d said so.”). It’s a hardboiled PI story, but set in the Marvel Universe with an ex-superhero as the protagonist.
Uncaged has Jess released from prison, on the outs with her friends and with Luke Cage pissed she’d hidden their kid away from him. In that state, she’s the perfect target for a woman who has a grudge against the superhero community and would love to have a former Avenger spill all their secrets. Will Jess do it? This had a real Astro City feel as Jess learns about some of the cosmic events she hasn’t been a partner to.
SUPER SONS: The Polarshield Project by Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez is a middle-grade graphic novel pairing up Jon Kent and Damien Wayne (who’ve been working together several years in regular continuity). Global warming has forced both families to relocate inland where the kids are bullied as “floodrunners” (which seems a rather forced excuse to get bullying into the story); now it appears they have to work together against a villain who’s plotting to …. well, I read it but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what the plan was. And names like Dr. Cray Ving make me wonder when the other shoe is going to drop (e.g., he turns out to be a life-drinking monster calling itself — The Craving!) and it never does. I know I’m not the target audience but that doesn’t make me like it any better.
#SFWApro. Cover by Bennett, all rights to image remain with current holder.
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