MARVEL NOW! REVIEWS

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #1: C'mon, idiots; it's The Incredible Hulk. That's a great title. Why change it? The Hulk books have been hit-or-miss for a very long time. When was the last great run? It was certainly before my time. Lately they had Ed McGuiness and Jeph Loeb with a red Hulk and over-the-top action and then Jason Aaron's short run was even more over-the-top. This issue feels so safe and dull after those runs. Mark Waid, the fan boys' favorite writer, and Leinil Yu bring Banner to S.H.I.E.L.D. He'll work for them now. Yawn. The art is good when it's people but for some reason Yu is not a good match for drawing the Hulk. Oh, well.
** (out of ****)

ALL NEW X-MEN #1: So in two years will this still be called All New when in fact it will be old? Bendis is writing it and Stuart Immonen is drawing it and the premise has Beast bringing the 60's X-Men to the present day to talk some sense into Cyclops. It's actually a really good storyline even though it makes no sense and Immonen's art is terrific. ***

THOR: GOD OF THUNDER #1: Jason Aaron, Marvel's best writer, is put on this when he should be writing Spider-Man. And even though this copies from both Millar's "Old Man Logan" storyline and Bendis' God-killing serial killer storyline from Powers, it's still a terrific first issue that looks stunning thanks to Esad Ribic's art. The one thing that is fresh is that the book is split into three stories involving the young Thor, the current Thor, and the old, one-eyed, one-armed Thor. Plus, Aaron's villain, Gor the God Butcher, promises to be epic. ***1/2

CAPTAIN AMERICA #1: Great art by John Romita, Jr. and a terrific, old-school, 70's sci-fi type story by Rick Remender, who I usually loathe. I loved Brubaker's run on this book but the last year or so has gotten stale and this is a vibrant, engaging, classic take. A really inviting first issue. ***1/2