“These waves do not crash on me. They break on me. Because I am strong.”
- Bruce Banner, mad scientist par excellence
Leaving death and destruction behind him in El Paso, Bruce Banner’s psyche has splintered into three: Hulk’s body has been transformed into a starship(!), Banner is captain on the bridge, and Hulk is trapped in engineering as anger fuel for the starship. Together they are: a Smashtronaut! With the Avengers after him, Banner turns the Starship Hulk to space, never to return to Earth…
I gave up on Al Ewing’s Immortal Hulk run early on so it’s been a minute since I’ve read a Hulk book and I’m unsure what the El Paso incident was (but you can guess given that it’s the Hulk) or why Banner seems to have become completely evil (I’m sure it gets explained later on and if it doesn’t? Banner’s just evil in this one - that’s fine). Not knowing though doesn’t impinge on the enjoyment of this comic and I’m glad I gave Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley’s turn on Hulk a chance (purely for the batty subtitle) as Smashtronaut! is the best Hulk book I’ve read in yonks.
The premise sounds abstract but we’ve had Hulk and Banner as separate characters talking to one another for years so this is just a reframing of that idea, with the physical Hulk presented as a starship and the other two as figures in its head (the origin for the “starship” is thankfully included at the very end in the Free Comic Book Day short featuring MODOK).
As cerebral as this all sounds, the story takes the form of a familiar one to Hulk fans with Hulk smashing like crazy anything in his path for most of the book and Banner clinging on for the ride. Cates masterfully ratchets up the chaos as the story progresses, quite literally through Banner pushing up the switch from 1-10 to get more “fuel” from Hulk as the starship encounters bigger and more dangerous threats.
The insane intensity is probably what all Hulk comics should be, given the concept of the character, but you rarely see it at this heightened, tense level that you really feel, which only makes it all the more entertaining. It’s also really effective at keeping you turning the pages so I easily finished the book in one sitting.
The surprises keep a-comin in this comic. Marvel normally warns readers about their more adult books but there’s no “MAX” label on this one even though Ryan Ottley’s art is consistently and wonderfully gory throughout. Hulk is ruthless in this one, pulverising and obliterating anything and anyone in his way which, on the page, takes the form of him screaming while whatever was foolish enough to try and hit him is reduced to paste form cascading in globs around him. But even the “starship” takes damage and limbs are torn off with zero censorship. This is the perfect art treatment for this story and if the comics industry is done with those useless warning labels, I’m all for that too.
The story even manages to end on Hulk doing something heroic, so that he doesn’t close out his book looking like a bloodthirsty villain, without it feeling contrived. Hulk smashing stuff feels a bit repetitive at times and I was disappointed to see the Multiverse creep in - this concept is so played out and cliche by now; I’d be happy never to see this in anything for a few years - but otherwise I loved this book.
Hulk, Volume 1: Smashtronaut! is a really excellent, tightly-written, compelling, and well put-together book by both Cates and Ottley. If you’re after a fun, exciting Hulk comic, you can't go wrong here. Great stuff, guys - well done!
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