What do you think?
Rate this book
Indestructible Hulk
Indestructible Hulk Volume 3: S.M.A.S.H. Time
Working for a secret subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hulk is sent on his most dangerous mission yet! After the events of AGE OF ULTRON, history is breaking — and only the Hulk is strong enough to hold it together — but only with Bruce Banner’s help! It’s Hulk vs. the Chronarchists in the last hours before the extinction of the dinosaurs! Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid and the Black Knight guest star — but when the Chronarchists arrive in the time of Camelot, can the Hulk triumph against Merlin the magician? As Bruce Banner finds himself literally running out of time, the Hulk returns to the present — but which Hulk? Answers had better come fast, because the final showdown with the Chronarchists looms — and it’s time to smash!Collecting: Indestructible Hulk 11-15
Unknown Binding
First published January 28, 2014
4 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Mark Waid
3,174 books1,266 followersMark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
November 24, 2015
3.5 stars
Hulk fights a dinosaur!
And that's my entire review, folks!
Fine, not really.
The premise is that TIME is broken. It's so broken, in fact, that no one other than Hulk could survive going into the time stream. So, S.H.I.E.L.D. uploads Banner's consciousness into a flying robot-thing (to act as Hulk's guide), and then tosses them both into the most affected areas in the time stream.
I know what you're thinking...
Dinosaur Battle = Jurassic Era
Ha! That's what they want you to think!
In reality, Hulk wrestles the T-Rex in the Wild Wild West!
I know, right?!
You'd think that would be enough!
That's right, for the low, low price of $24.99 , you can also read about how Hulk takes on King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table!
Now, I don't want to ruin it for you, but quite the battle ensues...
Of course, the real question is WHO is actually behind everything happening to the timeline. Someone is trying to alter Hulk's origin story, so are these blips in time just red herrings?
Sounds like this has everything I could possibly want in a comic book, so why only three and a half stars?
Well, it was entertaining, but due to the timey-wimey premise there were holes. I don't want to go into them, but some of the things seemed to happen because of reasons instead of anything well thought-out.
It's still very much worth reading, but don't go into it expecting it all to make sense at the end.
Hulk fights a dinosaur!
And that's my entire review, folks!
Fine, not really.
The premise is that TIME is broken. It's so broken, in fact, that no one other than Hulk could survive going into the time stream. So, S.H.I.E.L.D. uploads Banner's consciousness into a flying robot-thing (to act as Hulk's guide), and then tosses them both into the most affected areas in the time stream.
I know what you're thinking...
Dinosaur Battle = Jurassic Era
Ha! That's what they want you to think!
In reality, Hulk wrestles the T-Rex in the Wild Wild West!
I know, right?!
You'd think that would be enough!
That's right, for the low, low price of $24.99 , you can also read about how Hulk takes on King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table!
Now, I don't want to ruin it for you, but quite the battle ensues...
Of course, the real question is WHO is actually behind everything happening to the timeline. Someone is trying to alter Hulk's origin story, so are these blips in time just red herrings?
Sounds like this has everything I could possibly want in a comic book, so why only three and a half stars?
Well, it was entertaining, but due to the timey-wimey premise there were holes. I don't want to go into them, but some of the things seemed to happen because of reasons instead of anything well thought-out.
It's still very much worth reading, but don't go into it expecting it all to make sense at the end.
October 7, 2014
Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Hi. It’s Dr. Banner. Can I come in?
Knock Knock.
Who’s there? Dr. Banner, it that you?
Hulk not Banner. Hulk hate Banner. Hulk smash Banner. HULK SMASH DOOR IN!!! *
Mark Waid continues his excellent run. Here, a group of Cromaluc…, Cronocul…,Crayolanopu…um, bad guys are messing with the time stream. The only one capable of jumping into the time stream and not coming out a dead half baby/half 70 year old would be the Hulk. Problem is Hulk isn’t very bright, it would be like having a four year old do your taxes, so Banner’s intellect is downloaded into a bot to keep the Hulk (Smash Hulk or are you scared?) mad and focused and away we go.
Hulk gets to bull his way through time, with Banner/bot gleefully provoking him. One of my profile pictures involved Hulk riding a dinosaur with cowboys (https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...). This elicited speculation from my friends Carmen and Cathy (Hola, ladies) as to just what the heck was going on. Well, it’s like this: Hulk ends up in the Wild West, he teams up with three of Marvel’s western heroes, Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid. I kid you not (Ha! I slay me! Shaddup, almost done). There are dinosaurs there too. Hulk fights the dinosaurs.
Some of the alternate covers are funny: Hulk’s signature on the Declaration of Independence, Hulk’s footprint next to Neil Armstrong’s on the Moon, etc. The artwork on the latter half of these issues isn’t funny and not very good.
*This one’s for karen5000.
Who’s there?
Hi. It’s Dr. Banner. Can I come in?
Knock Knock.
Who’s there? Dr. Banner, it that you?
Hulk not Banner. Hulk hate Banner. Hulk smash Banner. HULK SMASH DOOR IN!!! *
Mark Waid continues his excellent run. Here, a group of Cromaluc…, Cronocul…,Crayolanopu…um, bad guys are messing with the time stream. The only one capable of jumping into the time stream and not coming out a dead half baby/half 70 year old would be the Hulk. Problem is Hulk isn’t very bright, it would be like having a four year old do your taxes, so Banner’s intellect is downloaded into a bot to keep the Hulk (Smash Hulk or are you scared?) mad and focused and away we go.
Hulk gets to bull his way through time, with Banner/bot gleefully provoking him. One of my profile pictures involved Hulk riding a dinosaur with cowboys (https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...). This elicited speculation from my friends Carmen and Cathy (Hola, ladies) as to just what the heck was going on. Well, it’s like this: Hulk ends up in the Wild West, he teams up with three of Marvel’s western heroes, Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid. I kid you not (Ha! I slay me! Shaddup, almost done). There are dinosaurs there too. Hulk fights the dinosaurs.
Some of the alternate covers are funny: Hulk’s signature on the Declaration of Independence, Hulk’s footprint next to Neil Armstrong’s on the Moon, etc. The artwork on the latter half of these issues isn’t funny and not very good.
*This one’s for karen5000.
March 26, 2018
The Hulk punches a dinosaur in the Old West! Can it get any better than this? The 6 year old in me says no. People in the Marvel universe have mucked with time so much that time is breaking down. The Hulk is the only one strong enough to survive the time jumps and fix it. So he and banner's consciousness trapped in a floating robot flip through time to take out the chronarchists. I found this to be a lot of fun.
December 12, 2015
All right! This was pretty fun, especially if you've got an attention span of a gnat.
Or even if you're just a Hulkomaniac finding it hugely amusing to see the green thing FIX THE TIMESTREAM as it crumbles.
Yeah. Hulk Fix.
Woah.
A lot of weirdos show up, or in point of fact, Hulk crashes a lot of weirdo's parties, getting transformed into many different versions of the Hulkster, from Gladiator to smart hulk to Mr. Fixit... oh yeah, it's all here, and flashing as fast as a strobe light.
Like the pretty colors?
Hell, I thought it was pretty amusing. It's definitely not something you need years of experimental physics experimentation to understand. ;)
Or even if you're just a Hulkomaniac finding it hugely amusing to see the green thing FIX THE TIMESTREAM as it crumbles.
Yeah. Hulk Fix.
Woah.
A lot of weirdos show up, or in point of fact, Hulk crashes a lot of weirdo's parties, getting transformed into many different versions of the Hulkster, from Gladiator to smart hulk to Mr. Fixit... oh yeah, it's all here, and flashing as fast as a strobe light.
Like the pretty colors?
Hell, I thought it was pretty amusing. It's definitely not something you need years of experimental physics experimentation to understand. ;)
March 13, 2015
***Green Theme Buddy Read! All Hulk for me!***
I originally gave this volume five stars. And then I read Volume Four. I was being silly obviously. At any rate, this volume was still very fun to read, with more information into the interns, and more Hulk(s) all around.
Time travel can be such an iffy topic in any form. Sometimes it's well done, and other times it falls to hell. This was straight up fun. The search for the Chronarchists and the battles that ensued were pure joy. And we finally saw Hulk AT LENGTHS! He rarely went back to Banner because that wasn't going to fly, see: spoilers. We encountered dinosaurs with cowboys! And the cowboys were wonderful. Witty, talented, and all go by the name of Kid. Enter: KING ARTHUR! This battle went a bit faster, because we knew what was going down and how to face it. But then you have villains from all over, aliens and army men and cave men alike fought side by side. It was done perfectly. And then a modern time, where I won't give anything away. It was intense.
R.O.B. with Banner's psychology and personality was hilarious. Seeing the Hulk taunted and ridiculed into doing things BY HIMSELF was ingenious on the writer's part. Add in some Betty, and *sigh* you've got me.
December 5, 2014
So Hulk travels back in time to the Wild West where we fights dinosaurs. Really. See, this is the obligatory time travel book. The idea is that there are time traveling anarchists hopping through time, and the changes they make are, shall we say, sub-optimal. Which of course means that Hulk is the perfect person to send back into time, with Bruce Banner's consciousness installed in a floating robot that owes more than a little to Skeets. Because time travel totally isn't an overplayed plot device in the current Marvel U.
Luckily, Waid doesn't get bogged down in the mechanics and philosophy of time travel. It works, ok? Deal with it. And so I did, and I was able to enjoy a book that's kind of low on plot but really fun to read. I mean, there are dinosaurs. It can't possibly get much better than Hulk fighting dinosaurs in the Wild West, for no other reason than that it's cool. It's the unapologetic, "just go with it" nature of the book that makes it so fun. Trying to add in too much explanation would drag down a book that, really, is just about getting Hulk to fight dinosaurs. Because what else could you possibly want in your life?
Luckily, Waid doesn't get bogged down in the mechanics and philosophy of time travel. It works, ok? Deal with it. And so I did, and I was able to enjoy a book that's kind of low on plot but really fun to read. I mean, there are dinosaurs. It can't possibly get much better than Hulk fighting dinosaurs in the Wild West, for no other reason than that it's cool. It's the unapologetic, "just go with it" nature of the book that makes it so fun. Trying to add in too much explanation would drag down a book that, really, is just about getting Hulk to fight dinosaurs. Because what else could you possibly want in your life?
November 4, 2015
Oh a time travel tale. So as nearly all time travel tales go...someone is messing with time! The consequences are massive, people are disappearing from existence itself! But wait there is hope Hulk can somehow punch history straight!
So if it isn't obvious I'm not a time travel story fan. The reason being is the more complex the story becomes the less sense they tend to make. This was not an exception. Chronoanarchists are messing time up and they look like Darkseid. No worries Hulk punched stuff and stuff was fixed.
So if it isn't obvious I'm not a time travel story fan. The reason being is the more complex the story becomes the less sense they tend to make. This was not an exception. Chronoanarchists are messing time up and they look like Darkseid. No worries Hulk punched stuff and stuff was fixed.
July 10, 2016
I had fun with this one. It took a bit to get coherent but ended up being damned enjoyable.
March 15, 2015
***Green Theme Buddy Read #3...for not one, but TWO HULKS! GREEN! Oh and a Green Dinosaur and Green Dragon!***
Indestructible Hulk SMASH Time is both the title and a full description of the events in Volume 3. In addition, it is time for Hulk to SMASH things...the thing(s) being Time itself.
This is not as strong as the previous volumes in my opinion, and the second half of the book is bogged down by what I feel is bad art. It feels like it was drawn by someone who had too many Red Bulls after watching a Dragonball Z marathon. That might work for some, but I didn't enjoy it as much.
Premise is actually pretty sensible...for a bit...the Marvel U has been running roughshod on over through and back and forth in time...as a result, it's fucking the space time continuum up worse than cheap Taiwainese Smack and Maker's Mark.
I'm glad that Waid acknowledges how many time travel shenanigans are going down in the Marvel U. Theory follows that, because of this, time will fall apart, and there are also Chronoarchists running around like inside traders, making use of the time changes to tweak for their own purposes.
All of this is explained by Zarkko, "The Tomorrow Man" who's locked up by SHIELD in a top secret division called T.I.M.E. Director Hill explains that it's so ultra super duper secret researching into the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff that even Tony Stark doesn't know about it (and tells Banner to enjoy that he knows something Stark doesn't...which is both hilarious, and perfect for the rivalry between the 2, as has been going on through the history of Marvel, and in this particular series).
Zarkko apparently has been a time travelling villain from the 23rd Century and mostly a foil for Thor, which Banner alludes to, but he serves his purpose here as the "expert". No one could possibly survive going through time at this point, because of how unstable it is (we see in the introductory pages a poor SHIELD op, and what happens to him when the fabric of time tears through his protective suit...it's an intelligent way to kill him off, and establishes just how crazy bad things are). But of course, HULK isn't just anyone...however, the Bruce Banner part couldn't survive it, but HULK could...assuming he stays angry and Hulked-up the whole time...
So that brings us to one of the cooler parts of the volume...Bruce's consciousness is uploaded/copied into a ROB (the tiny SHIELD robot babysitters that follow HULK around on his missions). That way, Banner can go back and make sure HULK does what he needs to, and not have his human part destroyed. It's a far more literal exploration of the duality/Jeckyll-Hyde nature of Banner/Hulk, but is also a pretty cool one. In addition, Banner gets to insult HULK a lot, and have an out of body experience watching HULK do what he usually does while trapped inside. The insults of course, are instrumental to keeping HULK MAD, and when HULK MAD, he's STRONG, and gets stronger and can therefore SMASH more...including...TIME!
Follow me so far? Ya. Waid pretty much throttles back away from the time travel explanations other than to show instead of explain, and that's a wise decision. Focusing on HULK SMASH rather than the intricacies of the science or the paradoxes lets us see HULK the way we want to...SMASHING the shit out of things.
The things here are the best part: Dinosaurs in the Wild West (alongside cowboys); Dragons in Camelot (alongside the Black Knight - yes the Avenger one, but way back before he was one - and Arthur and Merlyn); and the best of all? HULK SMASH HULK himself!!!
Banner, of course, laughs hysterically when Zarkko tells him what to do, as he explains how stupid it is, the ultimate Bull in the China shop idea...Hulk playing around with the fabric of time? Are you all morons he says? See it's the little things like this which make Mark Waid such a good writer...common sense things the reader would notice and think about, but not enough to derail the whole story.
When HULK makes his third "time jump" to battle a Chronarchist, it is at the very moment before the Gamma Bomb test that made Banner into the Hulk...talk about your paradoxes...so we see that someone is manipulating events to that Hulk will never exist, and therefore...WHOA!!!! Trippy!!!
So as events play out, Banner drives to the test site to save Rick Jones, and just as he's pushing Rick into the ditch, BOOM, Time Travel HULK shows up and pushes Puny Banner into the ditch...! At the same time, the explosion blows up the ROB robot with Future (our Banner) Banner's consciousness, which is thrown into past Banner's body...whew...this is where things get either really convoluted and ridiculous, or totally bitchin', depending on your POV...
So if Banner didn't get GAMMA irradiated...who did??? Why HULK of course...and what happens? He pretty much turns into UBER-HULK SUPER SAYAN...ya.
HOLY FUCKBALLS JEFF! So Banner re-assesses his situation and says forget this noise, I'm just going to live in the past with all my future knowledge, since I'm not HULK, I can marry Betty and live happily and UBER HULK ain't my problem! Only one issue...the timestream has been altered...and there is no Betty Ross here...Of course...Which only makes Bruce ANGRY! And you wouldn't like him when he's ANGRY...
So he goes after the Chronarchist, and starts punching him, which the baddie laughs at, but turns out of course, Banner's smart eh? So he's studied the timesuits that they wear, and he's not just punching, he's damaging, and at the same time, pushing back minutes through time...ya...apparently...and I'm not sure at all what happens next, but somehow Bruce punches back far enough to get to the point of the Gamma explosion, and puts himself directly in the centre of it...so boom! Banner is HULK again! Except there's still the matter of UBERSUPERSAYAN-HULK...so Banner gets ANGRY ANGRY ANGRY...and punches so hard, he puches through time, destroying the other HULK, and kinda fucking time up too...but SMASHING TIME!!!
This being comics, of course, some how, instead of shattering like a mirror and giving him 7 cosmically bad years of luck, he's safe back in the present...but with a nagging feeling that he missed something...which of course, we as the readers get to see in 3 panels just what was missed...setting up a whole bunch of possibilities...
OK so...after I read it last night, I was kinda bummed, and thought it was a let down...then I read some reviews, slept on it, read the title again, realized that SMASH Time is possibly the cleverest name ever for this book...and wrote this review. HULK is all about SMASHING, Indestructible HULK has been about Banner's legacy and HULK, and somehow this book combines both, and gives us Banner smart, HULK SMASH, and funny shit. It also has HULK SMASHING:World War II Airplanes, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Uber-HULK, and Time itself. So all in all...AWESOME!
I just felt that the art let us down in the second half, and the frenetic, kinetic nature of it and too many lines just wasn't my cup of Tea. That and Time Travel is a dead horse at Marvel right now...which even Waid acknowledged...that and this book is the equivalent of a Jason Statham movie...if you want to watch ass kicking at a high velocity, and you don't want to think too much, and you have no problem knowing what you're going to get...it's a great movie. It's never going to win an OSCAR, but you don't want OSCAR you just want...SMASH TIME!
Indestructible Hulk SMASH Time is both the title and a full description of the events in Volume 3. In addition, it is time for Hulk to SMASH things...the thing(s) being Time itself.
This is not as strong as the previous volumes in my opinion, and the second half of the book is bogged down by what I feel is bad art. It feels like it was drawn by someone who had too many Red Bulls after watching a Dragonball Z marathon. That might work for some, but I didn't enjoy it as much.
Premise is actually pretty sensible...for a bit...the Marvel U has been running roughshod on over through and back and forth in time...as a result, it's fucking the space time continuum up worse than cheap Taiwainese Smack and Maker's Mark.
I'm glad that Waid acknowledges how many time travel shenanigans are going down in the Marvel U. Theory follows that, because of this, time will fall apart, and there are also Chronoarchists running around like inside traders, making use of the time changes to tweak for their own purposes.
All of this is explained by Zarkko, "The Tomorrow Man" who's locked up by SHIELD in a top secret division called T.I.M.E. Director Hill explains that it's so ultra super duper secret researching into the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff that even Tony Stark doesn't know about it (and tells Banner to enjoy that he knows something Stark doesn't...which is both hilarious, and perfect for the rivalry between the 2, as has been going on through the history of Marvel, and in this particular series).
Zarkko apparently has been a time travelling villain from the 23rd Century and mostly a foil for Thor, which Banner alludes to, but he serves his purpose here as the "expert". No one could possibly survive going through time at this point, because of how unstable it is (we see in the introductory pages a poor SHIELD op, and what happens to him when the fabric of time tears through his protective suit...it's an intelligent way to kill him off, and establishes just how crazy bad things are). But of course, HULK isn't just anyone...however, the Bruce Banner part couldn't survive it, but HULK could...assuming he stays angry and Hulked-up the whole time...
So that brings us to one of the cooler parts of the volume...Bruce's consciousness is uploaded/copied into a ROB (the tiny SHIELD robot babysitters that follow HULK around on his missions). That way, Banner can go back and make sure HULK does what he needs to, and not have his human part destroyed. It's a far more literal exploration of the duality/Jeckyll-Hyde nature of Banner/Hulk, but is also a pretty cool one. In addition, Banner gets to insult HULK a lot, and have an out of body experience watching HULK do what he usually does while trapped inside. The insults of course, are instrumental to keeping HULK MAD, and when HULK MAD, he's STRONG, and gets stronger and can therefore SMASH more...including...TIME!
Follow me so far? Ya. Waid pretty much throttles back away from the time travel explanations other than to show instead of explain, and that's a wise decision. Focusing on HULK SMASH rather than the intricacies of the science or the paradoxes lets us see HULK the way we want to...SMASHING the shit out of things.
The things here are the best part: Dinosaurs in the Wild West (alongside cowboys); Dragons in Camelot (alongside the Black Knight - yes the Avenger one, but way back before he was one - and Arthur and Merlyn); and the best of all? HULK SMASH HULK himself!!!
Banner, of course, laughs hysterically when Zarkko tells him what to do, as he explains how stupid it is, the ultimate Bull in the China shop idea...Hulk playing around with the fabric of time? Are you all morons he says? See it's the little things like this which make Mark Waid such a good writer...common sense things the reader would notice and think about, but not enough to derail the whole story.
When HULK makes his third "time jump" to battle a Chronarchist, it is at the very moment before the Gamma Bomb test that made Banner into the Hulk...talk about your paradoxes...so we see that someone is manipulating events to that Hulk will never exist, and therefore...WHOA!!!! Trippy!!!
So as events play out, Banner drives to the test site to save Rick Jones, and just as he's pushing Rick into the ditch, BOOM, Time Travel HULK shows up and pushes Puny Banner into the ditch...! At the same time, the explosion blows up the ROB robot with Future (our Banner) Banner's consciousness, which is thrown into past Banner's body...whew...this is where things get either really convoluted and ridiculous, or totally bitchin', depending on your POV...
So if Banner didn't get GAMMA irradiated...who did??? Why HULK of course...and what happens? He pretty much turns into UBER-HULK SUPER SAYAN...ya.
HOLY FUCKBALLS JEFF! So Banner re-assesses his situation and says forget this noise, I'm just going to live in the past with all my future knowledge, since I'm not HULK, I can marry Betty and live happily and UBER HULK ain't my problem! Only one issue...the timestream has been altered...and there is no Betty Ross here...Of course...Which only makes Bruce ANGRY! And you wouldn't like him when he's ANGRY...
So he goes after the Chronarchist, and starts punching him, which the baddie laughs at, but turns out of course, Banner's smart eh? So he's studied the timesuits that they wear, and he's not just punching, he's damaging, and at the same time, pushing back minutes through time...ya...apparently...and I'm not sure at all what happens next, but somehow Bruce punches back far enough to get to the point of the Gamma explosion, and puts himself directly in the centre of it...so boom! Banner is HULK again! Except there's still the matter of UBERSUPERSAYAN-HULK...so Banner gets ANGRY ANGRY ANGRY...and punches so hard, he puches through time, destroying the other HULK, and kinda fucking time up too...but SMASHING TIME!!!
This being comics, of course, some how, instead of shattering like a mirror and giving him 7 cosmically bad years of luck, he's safe back in the present...but with a nagging feeling that he missed something...which of course, we as the readers get to see in 3 panels just what was missed...setting up a whole bunch of possibilities...
OK so...after I read it last night, I was kinda bummed, and thought it was a let down...then I read some reviews, slept on it, read the title again, realized that SMASH Time is possibly the cleverest name ever for this book...and wrote this review. HULK is all about SMASHING, Indestructible HULK has been about Banner's legacy and HULK, and somehow this book combines both, and gives us Banner smart, HULK SMASH, and funny shit. It also has HULK SMASHING:World War II Airplanes, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Uber-HULK, and Time itself. So all in all...AWESOME!
I just felt that the art let us down in the second half, and the frenetic, kinetic nature of it and too many lines just wasn't my cup of Tea. That and Time Travel is a dead horse at Marvel right now...which even Waid acknowledged...that and this book is the equivalent of a Jason Statham movie...if you want to watch ass kicking at a high velocity, and you don't want to think too much, and you have no problem knowing what you're going to get...it's a great movie. It's never going to win an OSCAR, but you don't want OSCAR you just want...SMASH TIME!
January 19, 2015
OK paint me into the jumpsuit, I'm in on this vertigo-inducing ride. If the timestream is finally broken, and Chronarchists are wilding through spacetime, fixing some events and removing others, then everything about the Marvel Universe is up for grabs - all the creaky, dusty history is subject to modernize.
My god, is everyone complaining about the "quality" of this collection vs. previous trades because Waid is having *fun* with a character who's been written for decades as morose, depressed, isolated and feared? Let's worry about *bad* storytelling before we worry about *lighthearted* storytelling. Who hates fun this much? Am I disappointed by Hulk punching dinosaurs? Hell no! Do I think it's not worth seeing Banner trying to defeat time travellers in Arthur's time? Not in the least.
Given all the time-travel shenanigans and implications that are floating around Marvel these days, and that there's clearly something big coming, I for one am thrilled that Waid decided to take Big Green and Pantsless down an adventure that you would have to double-justify at any other time. Not today man, not today.
Time bandits? Not quite - but definitely in the spirit of mayhem. And strangely these baddies seem to not just be addicted to random chaos - Waid gave them nearly a motivation. Or at least a McGuffin of a reason to be fucking with Hulk's reality. Hey, why not pick on the most indestructible dude on the planet? He's got to be fun to play with! Even a genius' worth of 20th-century science gotta be like tormenting a cat compared to the 23rd-century advances eh?
I enjoyed Waid's romp through time. He plays havoc with Hulk History, keeps us on our heels, and leaves things screwy in ways we can't imagine (yet). Again, what's not to like about big, green and confused?
I normally at this point in my reviews try to say something meaningful about the art, but I'm getting tired of that these days. This was...fun art, lots of linework chaos, good colours and composition. OK there, you happy? Just wish Marvel would stick to a sane publishing schedule so the same artists would be there throughout each run (or even each trade).
Be haunted by this review and further diatribes when you
March 2, 2021
Going into this, I had no prior experience with the Indestructible Hulk series. I mean, I know who the Hulk is. Been a comics reader since the mid 70's after all. I just wasn't familiar with this particular series, and the local bargain outlet didn't have volumes one and two in their chaotically organized graphic novel section. Still, I wouldn't be much of a comics fan if I couldn't pick up a random issue and get up to speed relatively quickly …
In this series, Bruce Banner is working for SHIELD. He builds inventions that benefit humanity, and uses the Hulk to provide muscle when SHIELD requires it. It's a nifty premise for an ongoing series, so I’m not surprised to see that this is volume three already.
We're time tripping in this book. So much time travel has occurred over the history of the Marvel Universe that things are starting to break down. The time stream is damaged to the point that chronarchists (lovely word!) are able to make permanent changes to the past, and it's up to the Hulk--he’s the only being tough enough to survive the chronal stresses involved--to stop them. This allows writer Mark Waid to revisit Marvel’s western heroes--Two Gun Kid, and the like--as well as Camelot, and the Hulk’s own origin.
Waid’s presence was what inspired me to pick up this book in the first place. Over the years, he’s shown himself as a writer with a knack for breathing new life into flagging titles. He has a way of reinventing the core elements of a book in fresh and interesting ways. That said, he seems to be coasting a bit here. While I liked this book just fine, he’s definitely done better work. There's nothing overtly bad or anything, but it's all just very average in the end. I speculate that volumes one and two are probably better.
In this series, Bruce Banner is working for SHIELD. He builds inventions that benefit humanity, and uses the Hulk to provide muscle when SHIELD requires it. It's a nifty premise for an ongoing series, so I’m not surprised to see that this is volume three already.
We're time tripping in this book. So much time travel has occurred over the history of the Marvel Universe that things are starting to break down. The time stream is damaged to the point that chronarchists (lovely word!) are able to make permanent changes to the past, and it's up to the Hulk--he’s the only being tough enough to survive the chronal stresses involved--to stop them. This allows writer Mark Waid to revisit Marvel’s western heroes--Two Gun Kid, and the like--as well as Camelot, and the Hulk’s own origin.
Waid’s presence was what inspired me to pick up this book in the first place. Over the years, he’s shown himself as a writer with a knack for breathing new life into flagging titles. He has a way of reinventing the core elements of a book in fresh and interesting ways. That said, he seems to be coasting a bit here. While I liked this book just fine, he’s definitely done better work. There's nothing overtly bad or anything, but it's all just very average in the end. I speculate that volumes one and two are probably better.
May 12, 2014
Get out the headache medicine, it’s another Marvel time travel story!
That’s right, as if Marvel didn’t have enough time-travel crap going on after the Age of Ultron arc, where Wolverine “tore” time, and All-New X-Men, which stars the X-Men of the past interacting with the X-Men of the present, Hulk’s getting in on the action too! Some Chronarchists (time terrorists who look like Darkseid cosplayers) and Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man, are futzing with time to make it so that they’re supreme rulers in the future… or something. Because, like all time-travel stories, the second you start looking too closely at it, it unravels and makes zero sense!
Thankfully Mark Waid doesn’t dwell too much on the details and has fun sending Hulk and Banner – whose consciousness is in a ROB unit accompanying Hulk – through time as Hulk battles dinosaurs in the wild west, superheroes in the days of King Arthur, and even travels to the day of his own origin. But what will happen if Hulk is caught in the gamma blast that transformed puny Banner into a monster?
If you’re thinking that the subtitle – S.M.A.S.H. Time - has something to do with Hulk’s TV show, think again, it’s just Hulk! If you’re thinking at all, you’d do well to stop – trying to make sense of yet another idiotic time-travel story just gives you a headache (like it did me!).
Waid’s story has some good moments like Banner’s constant teasing of Hulk to keep him big, green and angry otherwise the timestream will destroy him (Banner and Hulk’s chemistry remains entertaining after all these years), and Matteo Scalera’s art is well suited to the out-there sci-fi story elements (check out his great work on the Image series, Black Science) though his characters’ mouths continue to look really strange and warped.
Ultimately though it’s another forgettable time-travel story that flies by at a pace designed to ensure the reader isn’t questioning the weird, constantly shifting timeline or noticing that Zarrko’s bizarre plan couldn’t possibly work . The frenetic storytelling, constantly shifting scenery, and threadbare plot didn’t really engage me either, it was just a lot of noise and shouting that made little impression. Was Betty really going to be erased from history? Was Hulk? Please.
SMASH Time has its moments – Hulk going super-saiyan was great! – and it’s tough to make a half-decent Hulk book, let alone an awesome one, but I think Marvel need to lay off the time-travel rubbish for a while, it’s gotten really old now.
That’s right, as if Marvel didn’t have enough time-travel crap going on after the Age of Ultron arc, where Wolverine “tore” time, and All-New X-Men, which stars the X-Men of the past interacting with the X-Men of the present, Hulk’s getting in on the action too! Some Chronarchists (time terrorists who look like Darkseid cosplayers) and Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man, are futzing with time to make it so that they’re supreme rulers in the future… or something. Because, like all time-travel stories, the second you start looking too closely at it, it unravels and makes zero sense!
Thankfully Mark Waid doesn’t dwell too much on the details and has fun sending Hulk and Banner – whose consciousness is in a ROB unit accompanying Hulk – through time as Hulk battles dinosaurs in the wild west, superheroes in the days of King Arthur, and even travels to the day of his own origin. But what will happen if Hulk is caught in the gamma blast that transformed puny Banner into a monster?
If you’re thinking that the subtitle – S.M.A.S.H. Time - has something to do with Hulk’s TV show, think again, it’s just Hulk! If you’re thinking at all, you’d do well to stop – trying to make sense of yet another idiotic time-travel story just gives you a headache (like it did me!).
Waid’s story has some good moments like Banner’s constant teasing of Hulk to keep him big, green and angry otherwise the timestream will destroy him (Banner and Hulk’s chemistry remains entertaining after all these years), and Matteo Scalera’s art is well suited to the out-there sci-fi story elements (check out his great work on the Image series, Black Science) though his characters’ mouths continue to look really strange and warped.
Ultimately though it’s another forgettable time-travel story that flies by at a pace designed to ensure the reader isn’t questioning the weird, constantly shifting timeline or noticing that Zarrko’s bizarre plan couldn’t possibly work . The frenetic storytelling, constantly shifting scenery, and threadbare plot didn’t really engage me either, it was just a lot of noise and shouting that made little impression. Was Betty really going to be erased from history? Was Hulk? Please.
SMASH Time has its moments – Hulk going super-saiyan was great! – and it’s tough to make a half-decent Hulk book, let alone an awesome one, but I think Marvel need to lay off the time-travel rubbish for a while, it’s gotten really old now.
March 30, 2016
Ahh! I got tricked into reading ANOTHER time travel story! How did I not see that asshole from the Revolutionary War on the cover? I mean, he's behind Hulk and a bunch of...orange energy stuff. But still.
The things I liked about this time travel narrative are these:
1. A guy is basically like, "You assholes keep fucking around with time like it's no big deal, but it totally is, and now time is broken." I just like that SOMEONE is like, "Maybe there's a consequence to all this time traveling, you jerks!"
2. Hulk, from my understanding, punches so hard that he punches someone IN A DIFFERENT TIME PERIOD. This is like those playground threats about how you're gonna hit someone so hard his grandkids are gonna feel it, except it really happened.
And that's pretty much it.
Look, no more time travel. Comics are in a perpetual state of jumping the shark and then retconning the shark out and so on, but can we just take a break with the time travel? Can we at least stop jumping the shark in a DeLorean?
I can't stress enough how little I want to see another time travel story. It's just so fuckin' stupid. Because if you can go back in time, then you can always just go even more backer in time and fix stuff even more!
Like the time Superman flew around the Earth and rotated it backwards, which somehow made time turn backwards. Not only is it a stupid thing because, duh, doing something backwards doesn't undo it (try putting a poo BACK IN the way it came if you doubt me on this), but also it's a stupid result, leaving us with the question of why Superman doesn't just fix everything ever. Because now he can! He could just Groundhog Day this shit until he gets it perfect.
Anyway, let's not do the time travel, fellas. If we could put that off for a while, that'd be super.
The things I liked about this time travel narrative are these:
1. A guy is basically like, "You assholes keep fucking around with time like it's no big deal, but it totally is, and now time is broken." I just like that SOMEONE is like, "Maybe there's a consequence to all this time traveling, you jerks!"
2. Hulk, from my understanding, punches so hard that he punches someone IN A DIFFERENT TIME PERIOD. This is like those playground threats about how you're gonna hit someone so hard his grandkids are gonna feel it, except it really happened.
And that's pretty much it.
Look, no more time travel. Comics are in a perpetual state of jumping the shark and then retconning the shark out and so on, but can we just take a break with the time travel? Can we at least stop jumping the shark in a DeLorean?
I can't stress enough how little I want to see another time travel story. It's just so fuckin' stupid. Because if you can go back in time, then you can always just go even more backer in time and fix stuff even more!
Like the time Superman flew around the Earth and rotated it backwards, which somehow made time turn backwards. Not only is it a stupid thing because, duh, doing something backwards doesn't undo it (try putting a poo BACK IN the way it came if you doubt me on this), but also it's a stupid result, leaving us with the question of why Superman doesn't just fix everything ever. Because now he can! He could just Groundhog Day this shit until he gets it perfect.
Anyway, let's not do the time travel, fellas. If we could put that off for a while, that'd be super.
July 19, 2017
I was pretty leery after the disappointments of the previous volume, but Waid's writing and some pretty cool splash pages kept me just engaged enough to not decry this "chronanarchist" arc a, cough, total waste of time. Still, I'll love to see a little less pseudo-science and a lot more incredible feats of strength in my Hulk books. But then I'm old school like that.
December 3, 2021
This was the worst volume I have read of Hulk.
Like its time travel and it was bound to be bad but Waid makes a mess of this and ugh disgusting volume.
It starts off cool with Hulk being given the mission to repair Time but when he finds Zarrko, the tomorrow man and some weird things going on, he travels to 1800s wild west and teams up with cowboys there to fight Chronarchists and also 6th century Knights of the roundtable for same old story and its a mess I kid you not.
Then the weird thing with the villain changing history of Hulk and his gamma bomb thing and what not, its a confusing mess and I didn't even understand the last 30 pages with Banner and Hulk and what is even going on lol, so yeah this was a bad volume and clearly Waid lost his writing flow here, its a confusing mess so skip this pls.
Like its time travel and it was bound to be bad but Waid makes a mess of this and ugh disgusting volume.
It starts off cool with Hulk being given the mission to repair Time but when he finds Zarrko, the tomorrow man and some weird things going on, he travels to 1800s wild west and teams up with cowboys there to fight Chronarchists and also 6th century Knights of the roundtable for same old story and its a mess I kid you not.
Then the weird thing with the villain changing history of Hulk and his gamma bomb thing and what not, its a confusing mess and I didn't even understand the last 30 pages with Banner and Hulk and what is even going on lol, so yeah this was a bad volume and clearly Waid lost his writing flow here, its a confusing mess so skip this pls.
April 24, 2014
The time travel bits with the marvel guest stars were fun, but all the conspiracy stuff feels forced and gets boring after awhile.
Waid has some good ideas, but it never feels like he has a handle on the Hulk. I'd like to blame it on marvel editorial, or the fact that the Hulk kept getting dragged into crossovers, but Waid just seems to be jumping from adventure to adventure and there's little time spent on the supporting cast or fleshing out the main idea of Banner/Hulk working for SHIELD.
Lots of good ideas that never seem to click or get the room to breathe and develop that they need.
Waid has some good ideas, but it never feels like he has a handle on the Hulk. I'd like to blame it on marvel editorial, or the fact that the Hulk kept getting dragged into crossovers, but Waid just seems to be jumping from adventure to adventure and there's little time spent on the supporting cast or fleshing out the main idea of Banner/Hulk working for SHIELD.
Lots of good ideas that never seem to click or get the room to breathe and develop that they need.
October 1, 2014
This wasn't bad, but I doubt I'll remember much of it later on. The story is your standard time travel affair, with a twist that's quite obvious despite the complexity of the story structure, and I'm quite tired of people playing with the Hulk's origin moments - he's here to stay, we all know it, so don't tease us with the potential of there not being any more Hulk. The art's solid, if a little scratchy, but I'm a fan of both Scalera and Jacinto, so it all worked out well for me personally. this doesn't have a patch on Daredevil though.
July 17, 2014
I guess I'm just not a big fan of the Hulk as a solo character. He's great in a team, and I do like Banner, but finding situations to challenge the Hulk physically isn't easy, and when you take Hulk in a higher concept time travel story like this one, it doesn't feel true to the character...
March 20, 2015
More time hopping! lots of fight scenes, Dinosaurs and some of DC comics favorite western heroes .
March 5, 2022
The Hulk, a.k.a. Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, has gone through multiple status quo changes over the years. Indeed, the fluid nature of just how smart the Hulk is, when changes happen, and the relationship between Banner and his (usually) green alter ego has become a major sub-theme of the character over the years. At the time of this series, the Hulk is low-IQ and high on the anger quotient. Dr. Banner is mostly reconciled to this, but also wants his legacy to be more than just a big green monster that sometimes saves the world. So he’s accepted a position with S.H.I.E.L.D. to help out with missions that require the power of the Hulk, in exchange for the laboratory and monetary resources to fund his creative genius. At this point, the director of the international crime-fighting organization is Maria Hill, a well-meaning but often abrasive and wrong-headed agent.
When an Arizona airport threatened by the white supremacist terrorist group The Sons of the Serpent suddenly vanishes, the terrorists are just as confused as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents battling them, and the Hulk is only not confused because he’s too busy smashing “puny snake-men.” It’s swiftly discovered that this is only one of several disappearances, including an oilfield in Canada, and the White House. Maria Hill decides it’s time to introduce Dr. Banner to T.I.M.E. (Temporal Irregularity Management and Eradication), an especially secret subgroup of S.H.I.E.L.D.
They have a prisoner, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man (who also appeared in the Avengers Season One volume I reviewed earlier), who predicted these disappearances. Zarrko’s been their prisoner since before he fought Thor the first time–time travel is weird. Zarrko explains that recent events in other Marvel comics of the time had stressed the timestream to the breaking point. While normally, changing the past either gets absorbed back into the flow of events or branches off a new timeline, it’s now possible to make permanent changes within your own timeline. And three criminal scientists named the Chronarchists are taking advantage of this to create a timeline in which they reign supreme.
Zarrko has developed an armored suit that will allow a person to track down the Chronarchists through time to battle them. The catch is that no normal person has the toughness to withstand direct contact with the timestream even with the armor’s protection. So the Hulk will need to go. Doctor Banner’s memories are duplicated in a robot drone so that he can go along and direct the Hulk.
Banner and the Hulk battle the Chronarchists in Wild West Arizona, Camelot and across time, winding up at the gamma bomb explosion that created the Hulk in the first place–and then we learn Zarrko’s true plan (oh come on, you knew he had an evil plan from the beginning.)
Finally, the timestream is repaired. But there remains one dangling plot thread for the next volume!
This is a fun adventure with the Hulk battling dinosaurs, time soldiers and various supervillains and featuring some beloved Marvel characters from the various time periods in guest roles. The art is decent, and I enjoyed the blasts from the past of the Hulk and other characters.
This volume, however, does require some knowledge of Marvel’s history to fully appreciate. New readers may be somewhat lost.
This volume concludes with a cover gallery and storyboards for the issues reprinted here.
Recommended to Hulk fans.
When an Arizona airport threatened by the white supremacist terrorist group The Sons of the Serpent suddenly vanishes, the terrorists are just as confused as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents battling them, and the Hulk is only not confused because he’s too busy smashing “puny snake-men.” It’s swiftly discovered that this is only one of several disappearances, including an oilfield in Canada, and the White House. Maria Hill decides it’s time to introduce Dr. Banner to T.I.M.E. (Temporal Irregularity Management and Eradication), an especially secret subgroup of S.H.I.E.L.D.
They have a prisoner, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man (who also appeared in the Avengers Season One volume I reviewed earlier), who predicted these disappearances. Zarrko’s been their prisoner since before he fought Thor the first time–time travel is weird. Zarrko explains that recent events in other Marvel comics of the time had stressed the timestream to the breaking point. While normally, changing the past either gets absorbed back into the flow of events or branches off a new timeline, it’s now possible to make permanent changes within your own timeline. And three criminal scientists named the Chronarchists are taking advantage of this to create a timeline in which they reign supreme.
Zarrko has developed an armored suit that will allow a person to track down the Chronarchists through time to battle them. The catch is that no normal person has the toughness to withstand direct contact with the timestream even with the armor’s protection. So the Hulk will need to go. Doctor Banner’s memories are duplicated in a robot drone so that he can go along and direct the Hulk.
Banner and the Hulk battle the Chronarchists in Wild West Arizona, Camelot and across time, winding up at the gamma bomb explosion that created the Hulk in the first place–and then we learn Zarrko’s true plan (oh come on, you knew he had an evil plan from the beginning.)
Finally, the timestream is repaired. But there remains one dangling plot thread for the next volume!
This is a fun adventure with the Hulk battling dinosaurs, time soldiers and various supervillains and featuring some beloved Marvel characters from the various time periods in guest roles. The art is decent, and I enjoyed the blasts from the past of the Hulk and other characters.
This volume, however, does require some knowledge of Marvel’s history to fully appreciate. New readers may be somewhat lost.
This volume concludes with a cover gallery and storyboards for the issues reprinted here.
Recommended to Hulk fans.
September 25, 2020
Po kolejnym tomie Niezniszczalnego Hulka w zasadzie nie spodziewałem się niczego. Poprzednia pozycja była średnia, a i koncept samego Zielonego Olbrzyma pracującego dla S.H.I.E.L.D. wydał mi się troszeczkę dziwny. Bo i co Zielony miały tu robić poza robótkami ręcznymi? Pan Waid chyba doszedł do tego samego pomysłu, więc urozmaicił sytuację... podróżami w czasie. I wiecie co? Wyszło diabelnie dobrze, choć nie bez zgrzytów.
Zabawy z czasem, dokonywane tak przez X-men (w końcu Beast sprowadził oryginalną piątkę do naszych czasów, tu odsyłam do All New X-Men spod pióra Bendisa - zaiste świetna rzecz), jak i przez inne grupy vide Avengers (tak, na Ciebie patrzę Age of Ultron, a im dalej tym gorzej) spowodowały globalne zakłócenia, które są oczywiście zalążkiem czegoś poważniejszego. Tarcza próbuje zrobić coś na własną rękę, ale wychodzi to jak wychodzi w postaci kosmonauty, którego ciało wykazuje dziwną anomalię. Poszczególne części ciała mają inne lata. Zatem gdy trwoga, to do... Hulka.
Dr Banner podejmuje się zadania ze względu na Betty Ross, która zaczęła zanikać z jego pamięci. Ktoś coś zrobił nie tak. Hulk w towarzystwie pewnego robota (i z eksperckim wsparciem pewnego złoczyńcy) rusza w przeszłość lądując to na Dziki Zachodzi, gdzie walczy z dinozaurami, to w tzw. Mrocznych Wiekach, czyli wczesnym średniowieczu, gdzie walczy obok Króla Artura i spółki. Na różnorodność nie ma co narzekać, zwłaszcza że za wszystkim stoją jacyś Chrono-anarchiści.
Jeżeli miałbym na coś psioczyć to ostatni zeszyt i miejsce akcji, czyli ponownie nieszczęsny poligon i wybuch bomby gamma, która zmieniła Bannera w Hulka. Dobrze, że autor przynajmniej postanawia tutaj nieco zabawić się koncepcją i dostajemy na jedną chwilę... Uber Hulka! To było świetne. Zwłaszcza koncept oddziaływania czasu na Zielonego przez co możemy obserwować jego różne formy, jakie pojawiały się na łamach komiksu w ciągu tych wielu lat jego bytności.
Pomysł świeży i świetny. Całość czyta się też bez przestojów, co czyni z trzeciego tomu lekką lekturę na godzinkę (tom jest też mniej obszerny niż to co mam standardowo - 5 zeszytów zamiast 6), więc zanim się obejrzałem było po wszystkim. Lekki niedosyt, a to dobrze świadczy o tej pozycji. Zdziwiła mnie natomiast liczba artystów przykładająca ołówek do tego tytułu. Matteo Scalera, Kim Jacinto, Mahmud Asrar, Mukesh Singh. Przesyt? Niekoniecznie. Może i nie są to dzieła sztuki, ale o dziwo nic się ze sobą tutaj nie gryzło wizualne. Dobra robota, gdyż nie mam swojego faworyta, co świadczy o równym poziomie. 4/5
Zabawy z czasem, dokonywane tak przez X-men (w końcu Beast sprowadził oryginalną piątkę do naszych czasów, tu odsyłam do All New X-Men spod pióra Bendisa - zaiste świetna rzecz), jak i przez inne grupy vide Avengers (tak, na Ciebie patrzę Age of Ultron, a im dalej tym gorzej) spowodowały globalne zakłócenia, które są oczywiście zalążkiem czegoś poważniejszego. Tarcza próbuje zrobić coś na własną rękę, ale wychodzi to jak wychodzi w postaci kosmonauty, którego ciało wykazuje dziwną anomalię. Poszczególne części ciała mają inne lata. Zatem gdy trwoga, to do... Hulka.
Dr Banner podejmuje się zadania ze względu na Betty Ross, która zaczęła zanikać z jego pamięci. Ktoś coś zrobił nie tak. Hulk w towarzystwie pewnego robota (i z eksperckim wsparciem pewnego złoczyńcy) rusza w przeszłość lądując to na Dziki Zachodzi, gdzie walczy z dinozaurami, to w tzw. Mrocznych Wiekach, czyli wczesnym średniowieczu, gdzie walczy obok Króla Artura i spółki. Na różnorodność nie ma co narzekać, zwłaszcza że za wszystkim stoją jacyś Chrono-anarchiści.
Jeżeli miałbym na coś psioczyć to ostatni zeszyt i miejsce akcji, czyli ponownie nieszczęsny poligon i wybuch bomby gamma, która zmieniła Bannera w Hulka. Dobrze, że autor przynajmniej postanawia tutaj nieco zabawić się koncepcją i dostajemy na jedną chwilę... Uber Hulka! To było świetne. Zwłaszcza koncept oddziaływania czasu na Zielonego przez co możemy obserwować jego różne formy, jakie pojawiały się na łamach komiksu w ciągu tych wielu lat jego bytności.
Pomysł świeży i świetny. Całość czyta się też bez przestojów, co czyni z trzeciego tomu lekką lekturę na godzinkę (tom jest też mniej obszerny niż to co mam standardowo - 5 zeszytów zamiast 6), więc zanim się obejrzałem było po wszystkim. Lekki niedosyt, a to dobrze świadczy o tej pozycji. Zdziwiła mnie natomiast liczba artystów przykładająca ołówek do tego tytułu. Matteo Scalera, Kim Jacinto, Mahmud Asrar, Mukesh Singh. Przesyt? Niekoniecznie. Może i nie są to dzieła sztuki, ale o dziwo nic się ze sobą tutaj nie gryzło wizualne. Dobra robota, gdyż nie mam swojego faworyta, co świadczy o równym poziomie. 4/5
July 17, 2020
The Hulk jumps through time in order to fix time itself as it has been fractured almost to the point of being irreparable.
Now, even Bruce Banner admits this is a bad idea. He is admittedly the biggest bull in the most delicate china shop. However, he is the only one that can survive navigating the time stream. So SHIELD sends Hulk along with a floating robot with the personality of Bruce Banner. Which actually leads to some interesting banter and character moments. This mostly comes from Banner reflecting on how the Hulk handles situations, and how he processes information.
The art is handled by a series of different artists. Unfortunately because of the subject matter, the constantly changing artists makes the book feel very chaotic and fractured. I think this book would have benefited from one single artist to make it feel a little bit more like one single story and not a series of vignettes.
I think this was a fun volume, with a lot of adventure and action. It seems like Waid wanted to have more of a romp type story to liven things up a bit. And it works for the most part, even though there isn't much depth to the story.
Recommended for fans of the Hulk who just want to see him kick ass and have a fun challenge.
Now, even Bruce Banner admits this is a bad idea. He is admittedly the biggest bull in the most delicate china shop. However, he is the only one that can survive navigating the time stream. So SHIELD sends Hulk along with a floating robot with the personality of Bruce Banner. Which actually leads to some interesting banter and character moments. This mostly comes from Banner reflecting on how the Hulk handles situations, and how he processes information.
The art is handled by a series of different artists. Unfortunately because of the subject matter, the constantly changing artists makes the book feel very chaotic and fractured. I think this book would have benefited from one single artist to make it feel a little bit more like one single story and not a series of vignettes.
I think this was a fun volume, with a lot of adventure and action. It seems like Waid wanted to have more of a romp type story to liven things up a bit. And it works for the most part, even though there isn't much depth to the story.
Recommended for fans of the Hulk who just want to see him kick ass and have a fun challenge.
January 23, 2019
Elsewhere in the Marvel Universe, time is getting damaged. Events in All-New X-Men and Age of Ultron are creating paradoxes. Those books are written by Brian Michael Bendis. Let me start over:
Brian Michael Bendis is breaking time. To fix it, SHIELD is sending the Hulk through time to punch stuff. Makes sense, right?
So the Hulk goes to the obligatory Old West. Then the Hulk goes to the obligatory Camelot. Then the Hulk revisits his origin story. It's the most generic superhero time travel adventure ever.
I liked Mark Waid's initial concept for the Indestructible Hulk. The whole working with SHIELD while Banner does some super science to actually try to solve world problems thing. I did not like this collection. Besides the throw-away story, I hate when writers treat the Hulk like a beast. I get why Banner and other characters see him that way, but from an outside perspective, he's more like a child throwing a tantrum. There is actually a brain in there underneath the rage. The chatacter wasn't handled well in this.
Brian Michael Bendis is breaking time. To fix it, SHIELD is sending the Hulk through time to punch stuff. Makes sense, right?
So the Hulk goes to the obligatory Old West. Then the Hulk goes to the obligatory Camelot. Then the Hulk revisits his origin story. It's the most generic superhero time travel adventure ever.
I liked Mark Waid's initial concept for the Indestructible Hulk. The whole working with SHIELD while Banner does some super science to actually try to solve world problems thing. I did not like this collection. Besides the throw-away story, I hate when writers treat the Hulk like a beast. I get why Banner and other characters see him that way, but from an outside perspective, he's more like a child throwing a tantrum. There is actually a brain in there underneath the rage. The chatacter wasn't handled well in this.
December 20, 2016
This is a very well-written time travel story about the Hulk with a great deal of emotional resonance that ties in to the Age of Ultron storyline. None of that sentence makes sense, but there you go. There is fun action, like you would expect in a story featuring Hulk, but since Bruce Banner plays a prominent role, as well. While it is relate to the Age of Ultron, which was not generally a particularly good crossover event, it seems to be more of a prequel or perhaps parallel story, so while the themes are similar, it doesn't get bogged down in the narrative of that event. You don't even really need to read that or know what happens to enjoy this. At the end of the book, not a lot has seemed to change, though it is hinted that something in the Hulk's origin has changed, which we have to wait to learn more about. I honestly really enjoyed this book.
May 17, 2025
Primeiro arco mais longo, mas mantendo a dinâmica de team-up, agora em uma aventura de viagem no tempo. Trazendo novas interações do Hulk com personagens e situações do passado, sejam eles reais, de fantasias históricas ou da própria editora, temos o aproveitamento de consequências da saga da vez (Era de Ultron) dentro da mensal do personagem, sendo apresentado como a única solução viável para evitar uma maior degradação da linha temporal pelos Cronarquistas.
July 28, 2018
Temporal anomalies result in Hulk and Banner being sent through time. These types of stories often require a greater knowledge of history (or backstory) for the reader to get full enjoyment and can simply be confusing. Consequently it hasn't been my favourite part of this series although getting to see Bruce and Hulk interacting together is fun. Banner really does enjoy taunting Hulk.
July 5, 2021
Waid has done time travel really well before and here its a little migraine inducing. Its far from bad but it overly complicates itself. I liked the idea that both Banner and Hulk had to deal with the Chronarchists. Hopefully there are some ramifications from this story as it alludes to. The art was decent but unspectacular. Overall, an okay time travel story.
June 15, 2017
It's a fun read. Not as good as the first, but a good read. It's cool to see the Hulk and Banner work together.
December 11, 2017
Starts off as a 4.5 star book but loses speed
May 24, 2018
Some great ideas but the art looks rushed.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews