Hulk Vs. Fin Fang Foom #1 One-Shot Review

Title:	Hulk Vs. Fin Fang Foom
Contributors:	Peter David Jorge Lucas
Publisher:	Marvel
Issue #:	1 One-Shot
Year:	2008
Pages:	48 Pages
Age Rating:	10+
Story Grade:	B
Art Grade:	A

This book was a real treat. Not only is it a complete story, well almost, it is two books in one, with the Hulk vs. Fin Fang Foom and reprint of the original appearance of Fin Fang Foom in one book, with minimal ads.

Now the story starts with the hulk making his way through a snowy landscape, where he collapses from exhaustion, which says a lot about what the hulk may have been through beforehand. But, sadly, we don't get to know what the hulk went through beforehand, and we don't get to find out how the hulk came to be in this snowy landscape, which turns out to be Antartica (not the most accessible region of the world).

Aside from that complaint, the main story is fantastic and remains true to the nature of the Hulk and Banner characters.

I had never read anything with Fin Fang Foom before. I know from urban legend that he is supposed to be a bad ass, but I haven't read anything with him in it simply because the name sounded so corny. I mean come on... Fin Fang Foom? But the bad guy was actually a pretty cool bad guy so I can move past the name now.

Without providing any spoilers, I was not a fan of the ending as it didn't seem all that plausible, talk about lucky shot is all I will say, but alas, I guess I need to get better at suspending my beliefs when reading comics.

All in all, despite the ending I enjoyed the main story.

The art on the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed without complaint. I am a huge fan of the style used throughout the main story.  The lines were clean. The detail was great. The pacing of the art matched the story wonderfully. Colors were well balanced with the surrounding environment which can be hard in a stark environment like Antarctica. All in all the art was done to superb levels.

I can see how the addition of the Fin Fang Foom reprint at the end of the book would be very popular with those that are collectors of Silver and Bronze age comics. For me it was like reading a comic version of an old Godzilla movie, actually, there was no difference for me, I was reading a comic version of an old Godzilla movie.

Admittedly, it was very retro, entertaining in a humorous reminiscence way, but definitely not something I would buy as a stand alone book to add to my personal collection as this is not my style of book to read and collect, unless it had the Hulk in it, which it (the reprint portion) sadly didn't.

With that said, it was, admittedly, nice to read an origin of Fin Fang Foom and as a way to associated the bad guy with main story being told in the book. It was a nice touch overall.

Being as this review seems to be coming off a completely love-it/hate-it (I like but I also don't like), my grade might surprise some. I am actually grading this book a solid A. I enjoyed it enough to read it twice, cover to cover in a continuous session. That says a lot about the entertainment value of a book. If someone can have parts of a book that they aren't happy with, yet they will read twice cover to cover in one sitting, the good parts must be damn good.

Until next time... Happy Gamma Bombing.