Weapon H #3 // Review
Weapon H is one of the more bizarre, redundant concepts to come out of the Marvel offices in the last few years: a Hulk who is also a Wolverine who is also a former soldier of fortune. The creative team of Greg Pak, Corey Smith, Morty Hollowell, and Rachelle Rosenberg have come together to make the most of those decisions with this book.
Issue 3 opens up with the title character, Clay, running from Brood-Wolves (literally, wolves crossbred with the alien species Brood) through Olympic State Park in Washington State. His travels take him down to Roseburg, Oregon, where those same wolves attack a state prisoner cleanup crew, only to be saved by Clay pulling his best Wolverine impression. When more Brood hybrids appear as reinforcements, he Hulks out into Weapon H for a truly gruesome series of improbable fight scenes.
As with the previous issues, all of these Brood hybrid beasts are being sent by Roxxon, who have taken an interest in the “Hulkverine” that is Weapon H. They provide commentary and necessary exposition as they try to capture Clay to study him. Luckily, we have some scenes with Clay’s wife, Sonia. She spends her time looking for her lost husband, and these scenes provide a nice human element to the fantastic.
Greg Pak and his art team do some awesome work here on what could easily have been a throw-away book. Despite knowing very little about him, Clay feels like a complete character, and his wife does as well. The downside is that the Roxxon executives, like Director Agger, are cartoonishly evil, despite the lack of mustache to twirl or damsel to tie to the train tracks. Also, whoever is responsible for the designs of the monsters deserves a serious gold star for creativity.
It’s really hard to describe this book sometimes, though. Obviously, this book is a giant monster punch-em-up that would have felt right at home in the extreme 90s. However, it is remarkably tongue-in-cheek about the fact that Clay is a two-in-one knockoff character, and the over-the-top nature of the enemies reflect this as well. Further, each issue so far has provided moments of depth for Clay that show he is more than just a Hulk or Wolverine. Amusingly, this also gives the book a touch of the tone from the old Incredible Hulk tv show from back in the 70s.
If you’re into the spectacle of a giant Hulk-Wolverine hacking into monsters equally as bizarre, this is easily a book for you. Otherwise, this may read better in trade format down the road.
