Indestructible Hulk #9

The Team
Writer Mark Waid Artist Matteo Scalera

On the whole Indestructible Hulk has slowly getting better, It did not start bad just simply underwhelming. While many were fans of Walt Simonson on the title, the book never quite reached the heights of Waid’s Daredevil series. This issue feels like a new jumping on point for readers and fans alike here. The biggest reason to why this is, would be the seismic shift in penciller Matteo Scalera. In fact these twenty two issue pages feel like a soft reboot for the entire series at large. There are so many enjoyable moments and scenes in this book. Series writer Mark Waid made the brilliant decision of including

Daredevil in the comic. The cover by Paolo Rivera is indicative of all the greatness featured in the issue. The interplay between our two costumed heroes seizes the day in this installment.
Plot here is thin but not as decompressed as the first few issues of the series. Here the story advances just enough, so fun character scenes can be explored by everyone in the cast. Maria Hill is starting to be fleshed out further in the series throughout these issues, as well as the relationship between Murdock and the Hulk. Clever ideas like this need to start populating this title more often. Another great part of the writing in this comic book, is that it gives the pencils some room to breathe. Great sequences are drawn here because Waid seems to trust his artist. Little moments where the art and writing fuse together and flesh out a full picture in the reader’s head are comics at their greatest. Hopefully these two will stay together for a while in order to get acquainted with working styles, simply because they could lead to some more moments like this in the series.

Newcomer Matteo Scalera puts the fun in this title. His incredible sense of style gives the Hulk a totally different look. It perfectly suits the tone that the writing has been going for better than the rest of the artists on this book. Nobody should dispute whether Walt Simonson is a better penciller than Scalera, but what should be said is that the former simply suits the modern title better. Pages like the splash with Hulk in full armor are truly incredible. The artist does a good job throwing the Hulk in some new positions not seen before in other comics. A sequence towards the end of the title truly shows how expressive and vibrant that the work can truly become here. The villain reveal could be boring, but the way it is rendered makes it look like the one of the best ideas in comics.
Both writer and artist have struck the beginning of gold in these pages. If they can spend some time extended amounts of time together magic could happen here. One of the most disappointing parts of Marvel Now! has been how fast that artists change from issue to issue without getting a feel for the writer. This new direction for Hulk should be exploited to it’s fullest potential.