It seems more and more in comic books that when a series is successful that the publishers want to try and cash in on it.
This always leads to sequels and those sequels almost always disappoint.
However, something always pulls us back and it doesn’t matter how many times we are let down there’s always the potential that a successor can match the work that preceded it.
As a huge fan of World War Hulk, I’m approaching World War Hulk 2 with a lot of anticipation.
Throughout this review, we’ll be breaking down the work and letting you know whether it’s worth picking up.
There will be some spoilers here so if you don’t want anything about the book ruined then I recommend that you skip to the score and come back to this review once you’ve had a chance to pick it up.
With that out the way let’s get into our breakdown of World War Hulk 2!
Amadeus Cho On That
After taking the mantle of The Hulk from Bruce Banner. Amadeus Cho has tried to paint out the character in a new light.
As someone who is a HUGE fan of the adventures of Bruce I approached the graphic novel with low expectations, especially with it attempting to ape one of the greatest Hulk stories of all time.
The work picks up after the character has responded to a distress call in deep space. This led him to Sakaar where he fought against an evil warlord.
Cho bested the antagonist but he had to relinquish control of the Hulk and the introductory chapter of this work is very much centred around him returning to Earth and realising that sometimes he has to give in to his dark side.
Embrace The Beast Within
It’s a smart move to make the new iteration feel like an evolution of the older versions of the character and Cho, similar to Banner deals with the fact that there is potentially a monster living within him.
So, to counter this he puts his brains to good use and embraces the monster within, finding a way to compromise and thus Cho gets the best of both worlds.
As the ‘Smart Hulk’ he solves problems using his brains rather than simply smashing things and it’s a refreshing way to see the character depicted.
Fans of Avengers Endgame will find a lot to love here and as someone who went into the work expecting very little, it quickly won me around.
I’m In Control Now
As with all Hulk stories though, the internal battle between the Hulk and the personality cursed to be shut away, things come to the surface.
Due to his brain power and super strength, he becomes arrogant and slowly the Hulk side will not relinquish any time to the human side of Cho.
This spills out into the city and it’s where we get the World War Hulk side of the book.
The main Marvel lineup goes head to head with the monster and Amadeus sends morse code messages through vein pulses that warn his friends of what is happening.
Whilst it fails to live up to the original World War Hulk, it’s still a fun ride and seeing heroes fight one another never gets old.
They brilliantly balance the battle on the surface with the one inside Cho making for a fight that has complexities to it and thus it remains engaging throughout.
A Short Ride
Unfortunately, the book is extremely short and it doesn’t really get the breathing room that it should.
The graphic novel itself looks tiny from the outside and then upon reading it you will realise that half of the book is just a reprint of an issue from World War Hulk, making for a collection that feels like poor value for money.
The pages themselves are splashed with some big moments but in direct comparison to its predecessor, it does feel slightly underwhelming.
In the end, things wrap up neatly and it doesn’t really feel like there are many consequences, making the story feel forgettable.
The Verdict
Though I did have fun with the story whilst reading it and it did get me invested in Amadeus Cho, it pales in comparison to the World War Hulk storyline and feels like a quick cash grab that plays on people’s goodwill.
Now is it a bad book?
Not at all.
However, it also doesn’t really do anything special beyond the Smart Hulk angle and even in this work, that aspect feels under-utilised.
Overall I would recommend this only to diehard fans and though I think they will enjoy it, I think most will find passing over this.
It gets a…
6/10
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