Incredible Hulk #102: Review and Spoilers. Hulk Vs. The Red King

[Kevinroc]

The issue begins with The Hulk and co. communicating with the Spike elders. They seem to communicate through something called "chem" (which seems to be telepathy of some kind). They were a race of aliens that devoured the energy of dying stars before they chrashed on Sakaar. Through various circumstances that followed, they wound up as slaves to the Red King.

That was "one hour ago."

"Now" opens with The Hulk facing off against The Red King. The Hulk wants everyone to "chem" with the Red King so he can see why they are pissed at him but The Red King is delighted by the suffering he has caused. The fight begins when The Red King attacks The Hulk. Despite seeing The Hulk bleed, Hulk merely states that he's getting madder and then proceeds to beat the crap out of the Red King.

The Red King gives Hulk one last chance to surrender but Hulk refuses. Red King presses his hand against a hand print on the castle wall and the planet itself begins to shake. The Red King has "cracked the plates" and "the crust of the very planet is splitting."

Hulk jumps down to the core of Sakaar and proceeds to... well... as the narration states "Today the worldbreaker unbreaks the world."

After saving Sakaar, Hulk jumps out of the fissure to Korg's waiting hands, who proceeds to toss him up to the Red King (who is now floating above the ground and inside a force field).

One punch and Hulk has broken through the force field and sent The Rd King flying. He crashes in front of some children, and he seems barely alive by this point. His armor is most definitely broken. The Red King meets his end as the robots descent upon him.

Scene change to Elloe as she prepares to kill one of The Red King's sevants. She also wants to do something about the spikes, the "monsters" before Hulk returns, with the Red King's helmet.

"Monsters? The only real monster on this planet is dead." (Hulk then crushes the helmet and tosses it to the ground.)

The Hulk and co. are honored as heroes as they take to the streets. Hulk leaves with the spike elders. That night, during a party, Korg, Caiera and others are speaking to Hulk. They are celebrating Hulk's coronation. Korg states that they want Hulk to lead because only he has the strength to unite the different races of Sakaar.

This discussion takes place as the Spike Elders feed off of Hulk. The spike elders feed off of Hulk to calm the spike children. (They are feeding off his left arm.)

Caiera: He can't bear every burden of this world...

Hulk: Says who?

As Hulk squeezes the chair, Caiera takes his right hand and holds it.

Hiroim: May the prophet preserve you... King Hulk.

To Be Continued...

This issue was what they call "action packed". The pacing of Planet Hulk has seemed a bit strange and it's a bit odd to think that The Red King is dead with three more parts to the story. And since we already know where this goes, it'll be interesting to see how Pak paces the remaining three issues. Hopefully we won't just have three issues of Hulk saying "I'm gonna make those ******** on Earth pay!"

He overthrew the Red King, he unbroke Sakaar and he made a deal with The Spikes. I guess it's all in a day's work for Hulk.

[Spider-Sense]

Another great issue.Very good pace,beautiful art and a really impressive feat of strength!

[StoneGold]

The spikes are still a horrible, horrible ripoff of the Flood. Which kind of taints the Conan homage towards the end there, just because the horrible ripoff taints the homage. But other than that, fun stuff. I guess the scar heals next issue?

[ivesaidway2much]

Ronan and Super Skrull vs. Ravenous last week, and Hulk vs. the Red King and the planet Sakaar this week. Comics don't get much better than this. Plus, unless things go horribly wrong for the Hulk, which is certainly a possibility given how early the Red King story was resolved, World War Hulk is going to be huge.

The spikes are still a horrible, horrible ripoff of the Flood. Which kind of taints the Conan homage towards the end there, just because the horrible ripoff taints the homage. But other than that, fun stuff. I guess the scar heals next issue?
You do realize that the Flood was hardly an original concept when Halo came out? Before the Flood there were the headcrabs/headcrab zombies of Half-life. Before the headcrabs there were the facehuggers/Aliens of the Aliens movies. I prefer to think of the spikes as an homage to the other zombie creatures that came before them. Kind of like He-man and now the Hulk are to Conan.

[StoneGold]

You do realize that the Flood was hardly an original concept when Halo came out? Before the Flood there were the headcrabs/headcrab zombies of Half-life. Before the headcrabs there were the facehuggers/Aliens of the Aliens movies. I prefer to think of the spikes as an homage to the other zombie creatures that came before them. Kind of like He-man and now the Hulk are to Conan.

It has nothing to do with alien infections. It has everything to do with the Spikes look damn near exactly the same as the Flood. And do pretty much damn near the same thing.

[stormkid]

So the feat of strength was Hulk bringing the planet back together? With his hands?..if so thats pretty cool but scary at the same time.

[Johnny Blaze]

"King Hulk" was cool. I loved the scene where he held/put the earth back together. Pretty good issue all in all

[Expletive Deleted]

So the feat of strength was Hulk bringing the planet back together? With his hands?..if so thats pretty cool but scary at the same time.Well, it was more like stopping an earthquake by forcing the two plates back together.

But still, yeah. Damn cool and damn scary.

Did anybody else really like Korg this issue? I'm going to be irritated if we have to leave him behind on Sakaar.

[ivesaidway2much]

Well, it was more like stopping an earthquake by forcing the two plates back together.

But still, yeah. Damn cool and damn scary.
Shifting tectonic plates with his bare hands, yeah that was most definitely cool. But I got the sense from Caiera and Korg that the entire planet was falling apart. I think maybe Sakaar might have been splitting along the fault line the Red king created. Which would explain why the King only then started using his forcefield. He was trying to avoid the explosive decompression that would occur when the planet's atmosphere dissipated.

Did anybody else really like Korg this issue? I'm going to be irritated if we have to leave him behind on Sakaar. Yeah Korg is always awesome. Except for one thing. The Hulk dove into molten hot magma, swam into the planet's crust, and stopped a massive earthquake with his bare hands. But even before he had fully pulled himself free of the the lava, Korg fastball specialed the Hulk at the Red King. I mean seriously, can't a brother get a ten-second timeout or something?

I really hope the Hulk's crew sticks around. They work well together. And I would love to see the heroes' reactions when they find out the Hulk is hanging out with the Brood.

It has nothing to do with alien infections. It has everything to do with the Spikes look damn near exactly the same as the Flood. And do pretty much damn near the same thing.
You're right, it has nothing to do with alien infections. Otherwise I would have mentioned the greatest alien infection movie ever, The Thing (which by the way was ported into an excellent PC game a few years back). What I was trying to say is that the Spikes look like the Flood, who look very similar to the headcrabs, who also look like the facehuggers. And they all pretty much do the same thing, namely, leap at a host's face, take control of the body, and mutate it. I think it's hard to consider the Spikes a ripoff of the Flood when the Flood are so clearly derivative of several other sources.

[Starkicker]

"He's got the whole world in his hands
He's got the whole wide world, in his hands...."
- no really he does, he pulls the world back together, great stuff.

The fight with the Red King was a little short, could of been longer.
The final scene with the hungry Spikes, very cool. Hulk is full of anger and compassion.
Can't wait for more, I wish Hulk could stay on Sakaar a little longer. Hulk the King could provide some cool stories.

[garin]

I thought it was a bit of a cop-out to have the Red King killed by the Wildebots (or whatever those were). Is the Hulk still too pigeon-holed as a "superhero" to kill?

I agree with Stonegold. Visually, the Spikes are much, much closer to the Flood infected forms than either the Spikes or the Flood are to headcrab zombies or someone with a facehugger on. Which I don't think makes it an OMG RIPOFF, but it is distracting.

[StoneGold]

I thought it was a bit of a cop-out to have the Red King killed by the Wildebots (or whatever those were). Is the Hulk still too pigeon-holed as a "superhero" to kill?

I agree with Stonegold. Visually, the Spikes are much, much closer to the Flood infected forms than either the Spikes or the Flood are to headcrab zombies or someone with a facehugger on. Which I don't think makes it an OMG RIPOFF, but it is distracting.

Like I said, the book is still fun, but it would have been more fun if they left the Spikes out. Or if they had a slightly different design. They don't add much, and they just look and act too much like the Flood for my taste. Hell, I would have preferred head crabs, just because they're slightly less specific of a reference than the Spikes appear to be making.

[StoneGold]

Epiphany! What if the Spikes are the Flood, and this is all a set up for when Halo comes out as a comic later this year?

[garin]

Epiphany! What if the Spikes are the Flood, and this is all a set up for when Halo comes out as a comic later this year?
Dude, old news. Everyone knows it's Master Chief in the Iron Man armor post-Civil War.

[Guitar Hero]

The Red King is dead! It's about time! I just have one question everyone seems to be askin', where will it go from here? how will it end? Only Hulk knows, oh, and i guess Greg Pak. ;)

[DoctorDoom]

KIck ass ish. Now it's time for some King Hulk.

[Dulce et Utile]

Incredible Hulk 102 Review
Scribe: Greg Pak
Pencils: Aaron Lopresti

OK, if by some chance you're unfamiliar with the "Planet Hulk" storyline, here it is in a nutshell: the United Nations of Superheroes (The Illuminati) exile the Hulk on a deserted planet so that he can be at peace. Even though under Bruce Jones' tenure on The Hulk, Bruce Banner could meditate pretty damn successfully and keep Big Green under wraps. Anyway, under the surface, the Illuminati just don't want Hulk to disturb their Superhero Registration antics. Their plan backfires as Ol' Greenskin ends up on another planet whose people are in dire need of emancipation from an oppressive regime.

And guess who's still the strongest?

There's a great sense of closure within this issue as the majority of the plot threads are sewn up. Granted, this technically marks the fifteenth part to the overall "Planet Hulk" storyline (counting Giant-Size Hulk and Gladiator Guidebook), and the opening primer to this issue almost feels necessary for those who have been consistent in picking up the floppies every month. I could only imagine that for a lay reader, the introduction would come across as cumbersome and the actual installment would still be ever-perplexing.
Nonetheless, Greg Pak keeps the ball rolling on a tale that's more than a breath of fresh air for avid Hulk readers. As for Aaron Lopresti's pencils...they work. They're not exactly blowin' my skirt up by any means, but they get the job done.

Fans that are not staying afloat with this series will be kicking themselves in their collective rump once this voluminous tale becomes more and more referenced and influences the rest of the 616 universe. This stuff is canon, baby. Get into it.

And hey, it's better than watching the FBI chase the Hulk for years on end and Betty Ross being resurrected for the umpteenth time.

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

[Tony Starkz]

5 out of 5,this book is kick ass.

[Spider-Sense]

5 out of 5,this book is kick ass.

Perfect review;)

[HulkStrongestOne]

The issue begins with The Hulk and co. communicating with the Spike elders. They seem to communicate through something called "chem" (which seems to be telepathy of some kind).

"Chemming", presumably short for "chemicalling", is giving off communications signals via chemicals. Ants and insects use this method. In science fiction, it's a proposed method of communication for some intelligent species. As such, it can literally be as complex as a spoken language, if not more so (as "adjectives" could be of infinite gradation by varying the concentration of chemicals.)

It would be a very real-world method, and nothing mystical like telepathy.