World War Hulk Review – “World War Hulk: Gamma Corps”

The final issue of the main title is due to ship next week. Let’s hope it’s more satisfying than this was.

General Information

Title: World War Hulk: Gamma Corps
Author: Frank Tieri
Illustrator(s): Carlos Ferreira (pencils), Sandu Florea (inks) and Wil Quintana (colors)
Original Publication Date: Cover dated September 2007 to January 2008
Cover Price: Issues 1-3 cover priced $2.99 US, $3.75 Can. Effective with all regular titles cover dated January 2008, Marvel has (mostly) adjusted to the current exchange rates, so issue 4 is cover priced $2.99 US or $3.05 Can.

Past comic reviews can be found here.

Premise

A group of people wronged by the Hulk in the past were subject to experimentation by General Ryker and turned into gamma-powered soldiers in an anti-Hulk army.

High Point

“He somehow got… better, sir.”

Low Point

One character’s origin involves blood collected from the fight involving Hulk, Wolverine and Wendigo from Incredible Hulk #181. However, if you read that issue, you’ll see that Wolverine is incredibly confused by the inability of his claws to penetrate the Hulk’s skin and draw blood. (Yes, later it was retconned that the claws cut the Hulk, but the Hulk healed so quickly that Wolverine didn’t even notice. Either way, there’s no way they’d find that much blood lying around in the aftermath of the battle.) A second character’s origin is based on a sample from the Harpy, whose entire existence was outside of military purvue, often on a flying platform that was later destroyed. That’s just shoddy research.

The Scores

This is fairly original in its conception of five new gamma powered characters for the Marvel universe. The rest of its execution is weak, literally trying to recreate past villains in new characters. In fact, this lack of originality prevented the series from getting interesting until the last three pages of the last issue. I give it 3 out of 6.

The artwork is much stronger than the writing. The whole team did some great work here, and really brought the whole thing together. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story is weak. Most of the series is spent relating the (sometimes broken) origins of the characters involved. The rest involves a poor fight scene and a somewhat interesting, though entirely too rapid conclusion. I give it 3 out of 6.



The characterization is an important part of a series whose primary purpose is to introduce new characters to the Marvel universe. Too bad this fails to make any of them likeable, interesting, or even marginally easy to relate to. I give it 3 out of 6.

The emotional response this produces is pretty weak. I started out bored, and soon became irritated by the lack of research. The series didn’t start to recover until the end of the last issue, but that was too little, too late. I give it 2 out of 6.

The flow from one scene to the other is disrupted by the multilayered flashbacks. I can appreciate what Tieri was going for in structuring the repeated parallel flashbacks as he did, but the entire purpose of the series was too flawed for that to make enough of a difference. I give it 3 out of 6.

Overall, this has been the least satisfying World War Hulk crossover to date. Recommended only to those who are looking to get their hands on the entire event. I give it 3 out of 6.

In total, World War Hulk: Gamma Corps receives 22 out of 42.

World War Hulk Review Checklist