Hulk #6 - Red vs Green

Ok, I'll admit it, I never really kept up with the Hulk until the whole "World War Hulk" storyline started. At that point, I had to grab the Planet Hulk TPB to find out why he was so ticked off, and it all made sense. I was one of the few who found World War Hulk a satisfying read, but it got me interested in the comic book again. The introduction of the Red Hulk really piqued my interest and I've loved the thrill ride the first 6 issues of the comic have been. And now we see it all come to an end with a massive showdown for the title of "Hulk".

After brutally smacking Thor around last issue (and jumping from the moon to the Earth, I might add), the Red Hulk is in the Arizona desert pulling himself out of a big hole in the ground. Green Hulk is facing off against Iron Man and his band of helpers on the West Coast and we know the big fight is coming. Surprisingly enough, Marvel actually skips the obligatory "Hulk versus everybody" fight scene I thought we'd see, and instead gives us the main battle we've been waiting for.

Hulk and A-Bomb head out to face Red Hulk. The battle starts out strong, and gets even better when Thor shows up again for his rematch. Amazingly enough, after being soundly thrashed by Red Hulk last issue, Thor puts the beating on the Red Hulk on his own. Eventually though it's all up to the green-skinned goliath to end this once and for all.

I mentioned in my review of the last issue that I was afraid they had painted themselves into a corner with Red Hulk by making him too strong. Instead, this final fight made sense. Hulk had to defeat him using brains and not just brawn, and it worked really well.

And of course, the mystery of who the Red Hulk is comes into play here. We already knew it wasn't Rick Jones because he's A-Bomb, and the list of possibilities was narrow (basically, Doc Samson and Thunderbolt Ross). I won't spoil it here for you, but suffice it to say the ending turns out to be a bit of a surprise...though it's actually more confusing than surprising.

This was a great story arc, and I'm interested to see where it will go next.