HULK: SPECTRUM

[Erik]

[Derrick]

Ed Ainsworth is a goofy writer. And before you jump down my throat let me explain that I don’t mean that in a pejorative way. What I mean is that in any story I read by Ed Ainsworth, there’s going to be a scene, or an exchange of dialog or and idea that is so off the wall, so unexpected but yet fits in so well with the story Ed is telling that I can only grin and think “that’s so goofy” But damn if Ed doesn’t make it work for him.

In HULK: SPECTRUM #4 Ed gives us a Blue Hulk. And his gimmick is the goofy idea in this one. The Blue Hulk is the representation of Bruce Banner’s intelligence. And as a result, the more he learns, the more knowledge he gains, the stronger he gets. It’s a pretty sweet idea to link The Blue Hulk’s physical strength to his intelligence so that he gets both smarter and stronger. And it fits in well with the quirkiness of the Defenders team that The Blue Hulk finds himself hanging out with.

And that might be the only drawback with this issue: it’s more or less tied in pretty solidly with Ed’s DEFENDERS. On the one hand, that’s perfectly acceptable as the HULK: SPECTRUM concept started in DEFENDERS. But on the other it means that you’d be better off reading DEFENDERS before reading this issue. I mean, you don’t have to but why wouldn’t you want to? You’d be depriving yourself of some good reading and Ed’s issue of HULK: SPECTRUM goes down a lot better if you have the background DEFENDERS provides.

A lot of this issue is spent with Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk who has eagerly taken it upon himself to organize a new Defenders team since Dr. Strange, The Sub-Mariner, The Silver Surfer and Bruce Banner headed off into space on an adventure of their own. This Kyle Richmond’s determination to prove himself a true leader and turn The Defenders into a true super-team boarders on desperation. And maybe rightly so. Unlike a lot of other B-list superheroes who worked their way up the food chain to A-list, Kyle has never really done that. But his interaction with The Blue Hulk may change that status as they seem to actually be getting along and The Blue Hulk apparently accepts Kyle’s leadership with no problem.

It’s an entertaining issue, no doubt about that. There’s none of the irreverent absurdity Ed’s got going on in DEFENDERS but there’s a definite flavor of something different here. It most certainly is worth a read as Ed Ainsworth is one of the most entertainingly unpredictable writers in our community currently active.