It’s been a while since we’ve talked about ‘Indestructible Hulk’ here at ScienceFiction.com and so much has happened since then. After facing the Quintronic Man back in issue three, Bruce Banner and his new buddies at S.H.I.E.L.D. have been to the depths of the oceans to battle with Attlantean warlord Attuma and to the realm of Jotunheim to team with a Thor from the past to take on frost giants, complete with art from the legendary Walt Simonson. But now, the good doctor and his team have returned to the present day and he’s teaming with someone that writer Mark Waid is very familiar with.

Before Waid turned Banner’s life around in Marvel NOW, he worked some similar magic with Matt Murdock AKA the Man Without Fear from Hell’s Kitchen known as Daredevil. Now the writer’s two worlds collide as the Hulk teams with his superpowered lawyer to retrieve a dangerous weapon from falling into the wrong hands.

It’s quite interesting how Waid introduces Daredevil into this series. You see, from day one of Banner’s agreement with Maria Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D., part of the deal was that Bruce had to contact his man on the outside every day to essentially report that Hill and company aren’t abusing him or screwing him over. As it turns out, that outside man was Murdock the whole time. Once again, well done Mr. Waid. This crossover was so organic and it produced some of the highlights of my week in terms of comic book reading.

The most fascinating bit of it all is the relationship between Daredevil and Hulk. Old Hornhead has such a way with the Jade Giant that very few people in the world have, especially the hardheaded Maria Hill. Though the Hulk can be a mindless rampaging monster at times, when he trusts someone like he does here with Daredevil or with someone like Captain America, he works very differently with them. My favorite part of the issue is when Hill tries to get Hulk to stand down but he doesn’t listen until Daredevil says something. Not only is that an interesting part of his character that I never really thought about before, Matteo Scalera’s panels depicting this moment are priceless.

Knowing Matt’s feelings about S.H.I.E.L.D., I know that this team-up won’t last forever, but I’m certainly going to enjoy reading it while it lasts, especially after that huge reveal on the last page. I don’t want to give it away, but it really came out of nowhere and I’m super excited to see where things go with this particular character. Judging by Mark Waid’s track record so far with this series, I doubt that it’ll do anything less than blow us away.

Final Score:

 

 

INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #9

Written by Mark Waid

Art by Matteo Scalera & Val Staples