Body Dysmorphia: The Incredible Hulk #8 Review

In most of the ways that matter, The Incredible Hulk #8 is not a bad comic book at all. It’s a decent opening to a story told from Hulk’s point of view, where Banner makes moves neither Hulk nor we are privy to, with a reasonably effective guest spot by The Punisher, an interesting, if short-lived new villain, and fun violence inflicted in new and exciting ways. There’s a lot here that works.

However, the stuff that does work is somewhat hamstrung by a couple of significant weaknesses, including a general plot that is taken from the annals of Breaking Bad, if Giancarlo Esposito’s mother was actually an Alsatian Wolf Hound, and, well, the artist. In short: Steve Dillon is an excellent artist. An excellent artist who should be tazed in the groin before he even thinks of drawing The Hulk ever again.

Writer Jason Aaron is laying out a completely different kind of story than in his opening arc, and frankly, different from just about any Hulk story other than maybe Peter David’s Mr. Fixit stories from the late 80s. Aaron has Hulk being driven, while asleep, by Banner, who has seemingly rebonded with Hulk following the Gamma Bomb explosion at the end of Aaron’s opening story. And Banner is driving angry; he’s dropped Hulk into the middle of some kind of Mexican meth war, with Punisher there to help him out, and trying desperately to stay angry enough to prevent himself from changing back to Banner and waking up God knows where.

And a Hulk story where Banner is the secret monster is somewhat refreshing, as is the street crime element that Aaron drops Hulk into. Seeing The Incredible Hulk battling against gang bangers is something different, at least, and kinda fun… even as Aaron nods to the fact that The Incredible Hulk is, in its bones, a werewolf story, and that kind of story needs monsters to fight… and in this case, it’s almost literally a werewolf. It was kind of a downer for me that Pit Bull was presented as having no origin or background other than, “This dude is somehow half dog. He just is,” but considering we’re meant to be getting this story in the margins between what Banner, who is only “seen” in caption narration, is doing, it still works.

Still and all though, did we need a story about a southern meth dealer when Breaking Bad is such a national sensation? Sure, I get that part of the reason that TV show is such a phenomenon is precisely because meth is a national problem, but it’s a chicken-and-egg problem; doing a comic about a meth dealer after Breaking Bad makes the comic seem somewhat derivative. Now, I’ll cop to the fact I don’t follow the show, and therefore my comparison might make no sense whatsoever in the face of what happens weekly upon it, but I’d have a similar reaction if this was a Hulk story taking place in the 1960s  advertising world, or on a desert planet with sandworms and a spice that turns your eyes blue and make you act homoerotically with Sting.

However, with that said, there is a lot here to get me to come back, at least for an issue or two. Aaron has effectively set up a mystery where the bad guy his hidden in the good guy’s head, and his moves are, at this point, intriguing and inscrutable, ranging as far as stealing a dog-man’s finger, to tricking Hulk into knocking himself out and setting himself up for one of the more bizarre Hulk kidnappings I’ve seen since Planet Hulk, or maybe some of the old Roy Thomas stories. Sure, some of it’s over the top (a heroin gun? Really? It’s a better and more cost-effective idea to shoot Hulk, who is fucking bulletproof, with about three grand worth of junk smack than it is to gas him? Or, given that he passed out after banging Red She-Hulk last issue, perhaps a handjob is more in order), but in general, it’s fun and and watching Punisher respond to Hulk screaming, “Shoot me in the face!” will never get old.

But there’s the art. And the art by Steve Dillon simply. Doesn’t. Work. Steve Dillon is a particular kind of artist; he does realistic people with a medium line, simple, unexaggerated features and simple facial expressions… or make that expression, because all Dillon’s faces look alike. Man, woman, child or beast, every person looks like either Jesse Custer or Jesse Custer in a drag wig. And this is not necessarily a bad thing; on the right comic, this style works. His Punisher stuff with Garth Ennis and later, Aaron, was a good fit for Dillon’s style, and his Punisher appearance in this book is perfectly serviceable. His Hulk, however, is simply wrong. The Hulk is meant to look like a nine-foot pile of solid, raging muscle. Dillon’s Hulk looks like Jose Canseco in 1989 after an accident in a fetish club involving green latex paint. Dillon’s Hulk is simply underwhelming; he doesn’t look nearly threatening enough to carry the story,  I like Dillon, but on this book? It’s just a bad match.

There is a lot to inform reading this book. It’s a different kind of Hulk story, with enough just balls-out weirdness and violence to keep it refreshing. Just know that you will hear Walter White’s heartbeat running beneath a lot of this issue, and that the art is just a wretched match between artist and subject matter before you dive in. But overall? Give it a shot.