This week we'll start with the battle of the 600. Well, I guess it's not really a battle, it just happened that Incredible Hulk #600 and Amazing Spider-Man #600 both came out this week. Both books featured Ben Urich and Peter Parker/Spider-Man oddly enough.
Hulk #600 is one of those recent Marvel Books that reached a high number by somewhat spurious means as a number of different series are added together, a number of issues of a title that didn't feature the primary character are included, and somehow it adds into this number.
Amazing Spider-Man does have a restarted numbering in its history but is the 600th issue of a book that started as Amazing Spider-Man and wasn't a monster anthology for 70 issues first.
Like most Marvel Anniversary books, Incredible Hulk #600 has a slightly longer than normal lead story, a few new backup stories, and some reprints to fill it's 100 pages.
Amazing Spider-Man #600 has a 60 page lead story (the pages aren't numbered, I don't feel like counting them, but that's what John Romita Jr. noted the length of the story was and I've decided to believe him) and some new backup stories. No reprints fill up the 100 pages.
Both issues feature a change in situation for main characters in the books. Impactful things happen here. The 'big deal' in the Hulk book reads less as a shock and more as a 'huh, how long will that last?' reaction. There are some revelations about recent issues that show a conspiracy has been afoot. The idea seems to say 'all that stuff that didn't add up recently didn't add up for a reason'. No clue what adding Spider-Man to the mix did. I mean, if you're putting Ben Urich in the mix and he needs a photographer, it makes sense that he'd call on Peter Parker but Spidey didn't seem to contribute anything specific by being there. The identity of the Red Hulk has still not been made obvious.
Most of the 'big deals' in Amazing Spider-Man #600 come from story threads that have been building for some time. Daredevil, the New Avengers, and the Fantastic Four appear as guest-stars. These characters have a lot to do with Spider-Man in general and their appearances make sense within the context of the story. The status change for another character is shocking but developed logically within the story, built up in a way that made me go 'I never thought about that but it's true'.
Hulk felt like it was trying to be a surprise, trying too hard to go 'ha! see what we did?'. Amazing Spider-Man felt like a story that was part of a bigger story. I liked Spidey #600 much better. Hulk was okay.
In other books:
Dethklok vs the Goon was a funny one shot book. The title page that explained in 'Toki-speak' how this book was its own continuity was hilarious. The story itself tries to bounce back and forth between Dethklok type art and Goon style art. As the Goon is Eric Powell's creation and he's been drawing that world for some time now, that art looks fine. The efforts to translate the Dethklok world are less successful, not often looking like the art from the show and yet not translated into Goon-style either. The story is, well, brutal, as you'd expect and is enjoyable. If there was a way to rent comics, I'd say do that rather than buy it. I don't feel ripped off but I don't know that I'd recommend someone else pick it up either.
Futurama Comics #44 made me laugh out loud a lot. This is the best compliment I can pay a book that is meant to be this funny. I can sum up the plot in a few words that tell you so much and yet so little: Fry and Zapp Branigan in a spaceship race to the End of the Universe. The jokes fly. I heard all the voices in my head as if they were done by their original voice actors. This is good stuff right here.
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