3 out of 5

Looks fantastic; not very filling.

Keatinge has a very odd way of writing big stories from a slightly outside perspective.  It’s something that I think has worked well in his indie books – Glory, Hell Yeah! – but in the major publisher titles of his I’ve read, perhaps because we’re aware of how BIG these Marvel / DC universes are, instead of enhancing the main tale it feels like what you’re reading is somehow besides the point.

This is rather hilariously apparent in Keatinge’s take on Hulk, as the bulk of the story deals with some giganto, atom-bomb serumized Hulks smashing things, and yet we never really feel like we’re in the mix.  The recent batch of Marvel Knights books are apparently about matching creators to projects that’ll allow them to tell the ultimate version of their tale; Joe has a passionate backmatter bit in the final issue of the mini about being a longtime H fan and wanting to write a series that went back to the core idea of studying the line between man and monster.  Giving the series a subtitle of ‘transform’ (in different languages / variations each issue) supports this, and the first issue – an amnesiac Banner wakes up in Paris and is taken in by a woman named Dyane – is an effective setup that does sorta’ harken back to Hulk travelin’ man days while also transporting us into a game-changing present when two fedora-wearin’ AIM guys tracking Banner jam needles into their necks and turn into gigantic Hulk-like beasts.

Sadly, we never get to return to Dyane.  Keatinge does successfully navigate away from smash overkill by skipping to the aftermath of issue #1, which finds Nikoleta Harrow (a carryover from Keatinge’s Morbius book, which is interesting in and of itself… like was this meant to tie into a larger tapestry in some way, or is Joe just trying to create his own Mavel sandbox?) keeping Banner hostage in order to try to put that serum to use to actually control the Hulk – since Banner’s version doesn’t explode like the other participants tend to do.  Issue #3 deftly steps through flashbacks (Harrow’s and Banner’s) to catch us up to how we got here, with Banner remembering everything just in time to battle a She-Hulked Harrow.

Joe does accomplish what he set out to do in a creatively roundabout way, getting Banner to ‘accept’ his Hulkness without actually plodding us through an overwrought parable or an origin retelling, but the human element in that first issue might’ve been the easier path for making a link with the reader.  By pushing us more immediately into comic book land with issues #2-4 and giving us a lot of Hulk, despite the thoughtfulness woven between the panels, the story just doesn’t connect.

Piotr Kowalski’s art is badass.  His version of the Hulk (Piotr gives tribute to Keown in his back bit) has never looked so massive and frightening, and the many sequences of destruction leap off the page, very much thanks to Nick Filardi’s bombastic and beautiful colors.  The art keeps you reading, even when the script feels like its wandering, and since Joe’s dialogue and scripting is competent and patient, it makes for a readable book.  I do appreciate the conciseness of a four issue series, but I wonder if ‘Transform’ could’ve felt more fully formed with the aspects of the first ish fleshed out to cover the bulk of the story, leaving the big battles for some concluding bits.