Weapon H #4-Review

Weapon H #4

Written by Greg Pak
Pencils by Cory Smith
Inks by Terry Pallot and Roberto Poggi
Colors by Morry Hollowell and Chris Sotomayor
Lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover by Leinil Francis Yu and Romulo Fajardo Jr.

A series that is all about the brutal force of its hero and the undying eagerness for a corporation to find and capture him, Weapon H needed an issue like this.  With so much action the character needed that emotion curveball and Clay gets it in the pages of this issue.  Greg Pak again shows why he is perfect at writing any book that has anything to do with Hulk mythology.

Every hero has a heart.  This hero just had not been shown his in a very long time.  Weapon H #4  pits hero against his past and raises the stakes just that much higher. Through the three issues so far, Pak has led readers along showing that somewhere out there Clay has a family. A family that he is staying away from so that they will not get caught in the crossfire of the impending battle. With Roxxon hot on his heals, Clay seems to have the upper hand on anything they throw his way but maybe not the genetically enhanced Man-Thing.  The Man-Thing has been given a wonderful upgrade that makes him a more compelling opponent for the Hulkverine. Issue after issue readers are able to peel back the layers of this complex character and get glimpses as to where this arc may lead.  Pak does a wonderful job of showing the inner Jekyll and Hyde struggle of Clay and how that plays into his actions from page to page.  Pak has taken this crazy idea of bringing two characters, with deep Marvel history, into one and making it work in the most terrific of ways.

The art team, which includes Cory Smith, Terry Pallot, Roberto Poggi, Merry Hollowell and Chris Sotomayor, turns in the best art of the series so far.  The detail in the monster makes them lifelike and gives them movement that stills do not always capture.  The sepia color tone in the flashback sequence helps to visualize that events are not taking place in concurrent timelines.  The fight between the Man-Thing and Hulkverine, which was teased in the last issue, lives up to the hype and is as successful as anticipated.  The combination of narration from a character that is far off somewhere else and the force of the actual fight is spectacular.  Being able to show strength in the face of a character alone makes this fight seem as brutal and forceful as it would be if this were real.  The colors are a step up as well with the deep red pages standing out as some of the best colorized comic art out there today.  Being able to take a page of art and blanket it with a fiery red and contrasting yellow was pure genius and works so so well.

Here is the deal, if you are not reading this book you are missing out.  Without giving it away the premise is the Hulk and Wolverine packaged together in the most brutal way you can think of and its all written by Greg Pak.  The art is as forceful and tense as the script giving the book a cohesiveness from page to page and issue to issue.  The book, for me, was going to be an entertaining look at how the two separate sets of DNA could be used out in battle.  But this has turned in to so much more with a beautiful story of emotion, tragedy, and action.

Cover: A
Script: A
Pencils and Colors: A

Overall: A