The story involves Loki, god of mischief and Thor's brother, trying to find a way to kill of his brother once and for all. And, despite all attempts in the past, the only thing that came close to beating Thor was the rage machine himself, The Hulk. So Loki, along with the Enchantress, capture Banner, turn him into the Hulk, then proceed to physically REMOVE BANNER FROM THE HULK!!! Ok, I can't actually be that upset over this. I had to accept it when Jean Grey did it during the Onslaught saga. So, with Banner gone, Loki gains control of Hulk and sends him rampaging through the streets of Asgard. As can be expected, Big 'n Green mows through gods (yes, plural), dukes it out with Thor a bunch, Loki loses control, Hulk rampages more, and then Hel (Norse goddess of the underworld, kids) gets involved, restores Banner to Hulk, and that's where it ends. I gotta say, after I wrote 'Hulk rampages more', that was where I was comfortable stopping...
Gotta make this good, so the good points first. Like Hulk vs Wolverine, the costumes and art are spot on, if a bit stylized. If you want my opinions on that, check out the other post. But I actually have to praise the art further, because, unlike in HvW, there was more material to be faithful to. They really did nail it and it was all believable in the context of this story. The other item that made it a bit more enjoyable than the movie that came before it was the ending, and more like it actually had one. While HvW ends ambiguously (groan), HvT ends with Asgard being saved, Hulk returns to Midgard (Norse for the Earth, kids), and the heroes win the day, or as much as you can call getting your crap kicked all over the mythological planes by the avatar of all destruction (apparently)...
That segues nicely into my biggest problem with this pile: Hulk takes on the majority of the Norse pantheon and rips it to shreds with barely a mark on him. Yeah, I know, the madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets, but this is plain retarded. Big movers and shakers like the Norse gods barely slow Hulk down, but Wolverine holds his own? What kind of precedent is being set here? Are we allowing Wolverine to be this powerful or is it just that the Norse gods can't get their shit together and, oh I don't know, BANISH HULK FOR ALL ETERNITY TO SOME ABYSS IN THE ABYSSAL PLANES?!?!? (ok, I lost my way in that rant). Still, I know Hulk is the 'ultimate wrecking ball on legs', but these are FREAKING GODS!!! I kind of want to see what kinds of berzerkers and barbarians would have worshipped Hulk as a god now. Friggin' sweet...
The other issue I have is that, even though Loki lost control of Hulk, Hulk continued rampage and destroy his way to the sleeping Odin, I guess with the intention of destroying him(?). The Hulk I remember reading wouldn't mindlessly go towards a shiny light to destroy it. He'd make his way out of Asgard in a couple of leaps, just to be left alone. That's all Hulk really wants in the end is to be rid of Banner (check, at least for a while) and to live alone. After Loki was gone, there would have been no motivation or remote reason to go after Odin. A liberty that must have been taken, I suppose...
Style: See HvW, mostly. As I said before, way to go artists for making the art incredibly faithful, despite your own spins on it. Get these guys and gals more jobs and better scripts to work with...
Story: While HvW was in the realm of the absurd, HvT went with acceptable and Buh-Horing. It was predictable, flat, and not all that interesting to watch. Yes, this ending was better, but that was the best part about it. It was over...
Voices: Meh. Nothing really worth writing about. Not great, not awful...
Grade: D+ to C- and a plea for a redo. Art alone cannot make this piece all that worth my while. They could have stepped it up a little, but I get the feeling someone was trying make an easy buck with this two set. Gave my copy to my roommate. He couldn't get through them both, that's how disappointed he was. If you want to opinion on this, post here. Or better yet, find me, ask for my copy, then give it back with your own review. Tell me I'm wrong with this review...
4 comments:
I dunno... It's hard for me to imagine any incarnation of this story being any good.
Can't say I didn't humor them (with my wallet)...
I'm curious, I've watched a few of the recent strait to DvD animated marvel movies, and I got the sense that they thought (and rightly so) that these flicks were for kid; As a result I found them pretty bland, but I'm wondering if I would have liked them better a decade ago. How about you Nick? Would these have been your cup of tea when you were 9 or so?
You might be right, Jon. Though I think Wolverine vs Hulk was aimed at a more adult audience (language, blood, etc.), I can definitely see a case for Hulk vs Thor. It has less blood, more bashing, and a well defined sense of good and evil...
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