Marvel Annuals like this one are just the best. One single story, but double sized. And they are always something larger than the usual story.
I'll start with the art on this one. Sal Buscema. Usually I am a much bigger fan of JOHN Buscema, But Sal does a pretty darned solid job on the monstrous Hulk and Abomination.
My one complaint is the lack of technological consistency. Let me explain. In the real world, the army (or what would pass for SHIELD) has very uniform weaponry. They don't go into battle with a thouasand DIFFERENT helicopters and tanks
But, in this issue, when SHIELD is rolling out, every agents' gun looks different from the next. There are several different looking planes and tanks etc. etc. It is clear that Sal just didn't feel like taking the time to let reality seep into his art in this situation. It was annoying to me. And, i know this happens frequently in comics, but I tend to like more "real" or practical comic storytelling and Sal let me down here.
Anyways, the story is a good one. During the current run of Hulk, Banner and Hulk have been seperated and then re-formed. This annual continues that story. reading Banners' frustration is effective. He has Rick Jones (A personal favorite character) and his new bride Betty by his side.
The "Abomination", actually a weird mixture of Abomination/Emil Blonsky/Tyrannus arrives to cause trouble. SHIELD stumbles into the way and the Hulk...SHIELD...and Abomination fight it out with predictable results.
Decent art. Good fight. Nice character development.
Solid 3 out of 5 stars. Marvel completists or Hulk fans should have this one.
Oh, one bad side note. Secret Wars II is referenced in this comic and that story is one of the worst of all time. Just try to ignore it when you get to it.