Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Carlo Barberi
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: May 23, 2018
Cover Price: $3.99
Review by: Dispatchdcu (read all his awesome reviews!)
This may have been one of the fastest reads I’ve ever had. We open with Jimmy Woo shooting adamantium bullets into Cho Hulk in order to pierce his skin long enough so Black Panther could place nanobots into Cho Hulk. The point is to have the nanobots take out the Sternbots that are inside Cho. Well, the next question you may have is, what the poop is a Sternbot?
You see, Banner was something special. He was a one in a million chance. His cells from birth were able to absorb massive amounts of gamma radiation. That’s why no one can completely recreate the Hulk entirely. Banners genes, mixed with his multiple personality disorder is what made the Hulk what he is. So, Cho figured this out when he was just regular old Cho and friends with Banner. Cho altered his own cells by taking Sternbots and placing them into his body. Those Sternbots altered his cells to match that of Banner and allowed Cho’s cells to also contain that same gamma radiation that creates the Hulk. Cho siphoned off Banner’s gamma energy and the rest is history.
So, when Jimmy Woo and Black Panther injected Cho with nanobots, these bots were sent in to counter the Sternbots and make them useless. In turn, Cho would lose the ability to become the Hulk anymore. As a battle raged on outside his body with Odinson, Miles, Cindy Moon, Carol Danvers, T’challa, Sasquatch, and the rest of the Champions a battle between Hulk and Cho happened in his mind. You see, the bots helped Cho regain a bit of control inside his mind and he became able to fight back mentally.
Cho has an opportunity to get rid of the Hulk for good. The bots were working and he was taking control of his body again. Hulk was almost no more. He was almost totally disintegrated within his body until Cho realized that the personality of Hulk has always been inside him, kind of like Banner. Cho Hulk represents the anger and grief that regular Cho has always had his entire life. It’s how he dealt with bullies, pain, and even lose. Cho Hulk is apart of him. So, he absorbs what little is left of Cho Hulk and they combine together to become one.
With Cho Hulk depowered, he has to attest to his crimes. But with the help of Matt Murdock, the city of New York just has Cho pay 10.5 billion dollars in damages and everyone calls it a day. The story ends with Cho Hulk saying sorry and everyone sitting around a table eating just like in the end of the first Avengers movie.
The issue wasn’t bad but you can tell it was rushed compared to some of the other titles that are closing down before “Fresh Start”. The way that they decided to stop Cho Hulk could have been done 2 issues ago. And, I know Pak wanted to end his run with a happy ending, but paying 10.5 billion and having no prison time or major repercussions seems totally unrealistic. The amount of destruction that Cho Hulk caused, as well as fear to NYC, made the ending appear even more silly.
A much better ending would have been Cho Hulk depowered for good... at least appearing as though that happened. I say that not because I dislike Cho Hulk. I truly like the character. But if he’s going to get put on the shelf for a bit, why not make it meaningful? It would be a better place for a new creative team to pick up and start new.
I’ve been sticking up for this book for over 3 months now. I’ve been saying that the names Planet Hulk 2 and World War Hulk 2 were just dumb names for these final arcs but the writing and story really weren’t that bad. In part, I still feel that way to a degree but this last issue brought me down a couple notches.
It was way too quick, neat, and clean to wrap up everything you’ve done with a character you cared so deeply about and created. The ending had a feel kind of like a little boy throwing his old favorite toy away for a new one. I love Greg Pak’s Weapon H.... love it! But, I feel like he’s been focusing more on that title these past couple months and less on ending his Cho Hulk run in a better way that does the character justice.
If you’ve been following Cho Hulk, you got to get the issue to end it and complete your set. If you haven’t been reading it lately, don’t bother. I explained it well enough that you can get the idea of how it ended. I leave this title as it closes a bit disappointed. The character of Cho Hulk was growing on me.
And as silly as this is to say, Cho Hulk was more of a little kids Hulk. A Totally Awesome Hulk. My little boys loved him. He was a Hulk for them that wasn’t too scary or frightening but still strong and ready to smash. And now, where do they go? This last run kind of ruined it for them. I don’t like to look at solicits but if this is the characters last issue in a solo, it kind of seemed like a bad way to go out. My hope is that someone is taking it over during “Fresh Start” but we shall see.
If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace
Bits and Pieces:
I don’t like to look at solicits but if this is the character's last issue in a solo, it kind of seemed like a bad way to go out. My hope is that someone is taking it over during “Fresh Start” but we shall see.
7.0/10
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