...AND the RED HULK IS....*drumroll and SPOILERS AHEAD*
...REVEALED!
***(STOP! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHO THE RED HULK IS)***
For months I've read comments and posts by my fellow CCL-ers over just how much this whole Red Hulk thing has been drawn out. Regulars at my LCS I speak with talk about how they dropped the title around #7-9. One guy I spoke with months ago about Loeb's long and drawn-out plot device of "Rulk"'s identity equated the storyline to having a reoccuring veneral disease (kid you NOT!). Either way, it appears that the mystery is no more.
THE RED HULK is none other than General Thaddeus "THUNDERBOLT" Ross.
The reveal of Red Hulk in the pages of HULK #22, felt rushed and with little fanfare or reader notification, as if Loeb himself didn't even care about the direction of the story anymore. Ed McGuiness's very dramatic and He-Man-like artwork was lost to me amidst of a sea of Marvel Heroes turned Hulk; a gamma-infested nightmare of a story arc.
While I consider Loeb to be one of my favorite writers, HULK #22 ranks near the bottom for me....like one RULKING letdown after letdown that reminds me of having a close family member in constant rehab. You hope for the best, prepare for the worst then kick yourself for being an enabler. ("Why am I buying this book?")
Everyone's got to have their regrets. For me it was letting my ex-wife talk me into seeing GIGLI.
For many comic fans, I'd say Hulk #22 will be on some of their lists.