Comics I Bought This Week: July 16, 2009

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got two new comics plus a hard cover collection:

Creepy - 1 (The new Dark Horse series)

The Walking Dead - 63

Guardians of the Galaxy - The Power of Starhawk

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

"Hulk: Red and Green Volume 2" by Jeph Loeb, Art Adams, Frank Cho, and Herb Trimpe.

I'll tell you right off of the bat that I bought this book for the artwork. I wasn't that fond of Volume One but it had been years since I bought any Art Adams drawn comics and I wanted to see what his latest stuff was like. Plus Frank Cho is a good artist and there is some Herb Trimpe thrown in. A nice mix.

This is a thin volume of comics and the writing is even thinner. It seems that they've dispensed with any plot whatsoever and now super heroes just show up to fight the Hulk out of nowhere. There is nothing else going on in this comic. Even less then in Volume One and that's hard to believe.

I was even a little disappointed in the artwork. Not because it wasn't drawn well but because the fights weren't even interesting. I have to blame the writer for that because clearly no plot was written except, "Page One: Fight scene. Page Two: Fight scene. Page Three: Fight scene etc." Overall this book was a let down.

One other thing this book made me realize. I hate the Sentry. Even more specifically I hate the idea that a centerpiece hero in the Marvel Universe is a straight up rip-off of Superman. That's as cheap as it gets. Marvel isn't some small outfit with no heroes of their own so they have to do their "take" on Superman. The long time Marvel Comics fans that I know always liked Marvel comics because we didn't have to put of with the likes of Superman and his storytelling flaws. It's annoying turn of events.

The problem with Superman has always been that he is so powerful that it's hard to find a problem he can't solve easily. On a team book he is especially trouble. Why would anyone need Green Arrow or Batman when Superman is around? The upside of Superman is that he is Superman, world famous character with lots of fans who want to see him. He means something to people.

The Sentry has all the downside of Superman without the upside. I've read two Hulk stories with the Sentry in them and both times the writer had to come up with a reason for the Sentry not to save the day. And no one is rushing out to buy a Sentry book like they would a Superman book. He means nothing to people. The Sentry is a storytelling anchor and Marvel should get rid of him. That's my rant for the day.