Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #3 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Damon Lindelof
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Colorist: Dave McCaig

Story - Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk Part 3 of 6

Review
After about a three and a half year wait we finally get the third part of the Ultimate Universe version of the battle between Wolverine and Hulk and I can't help to think to myself "that's it." The whole issue felt like it was going through the motions with Lindelof forcing most of the dialogue by having Wolverine drop the F word in about every other panel.

After watching the Hulk vs. DVD, which is a highly enjoyable DVD, I was reminded of other Wolverine and Hulk confrontations and this story doesn't hold up well with those other stories. The biggest problem with this issue is that it was to self aware of the long delay between the second and third issue. In the first couple pages were Lindelof first used it I thought it was funny and I had a grin on my face when I first read it since it was a cool reference to the joke it had become with the long delay. After the third page when this joke continued it got old and made worse due to the fact it continued for about ten pages. While at times it is funny when a comic breaks the fourth wall it rarely is successful due to the writer using for to much of the issue which is what Lindelof did in this issue.

Also while it may work over in Lost the whole thing with the flashback/flashfowards we got in this just felt awkward and was unnecessary. Lindelof would have been better off starting the issue with Hulk and Wolverine being surrounded by the harem of women and then moving on to the fight. The whole issue just didn't flow well as the conversation between Hulk and Wolverine about which one of Wolverine's legs the Hulk to eat just dragged on.

Also while I felt that Leinil Yu did a much better job with the artwork in this issue than in his run on New Avengers it was nothing special. I guess it is because I am not a big fan of his artwork but he just overuses shadowing too much. I think if he toned it down with all the shadowing and allowed his colorist do his job his artwork would improve.

Now this is not to say this issue had no redeeming qualities because it did. One thing is that I liked the opening page used a splash page of various scenes from the first two issues since it helped me remember what happened in those two issues. Lindelof would have been much better off using that one page and letting himself tell the story he meant to tell before the long delay.

I will also say that if you are a new reader and are able to get the first two issues, which were reprinted, than this mini-series may be a nice start since it does a good job being a big action flick you normally see from the 80s and 90s. Especially if you are a fan of the Hulk and X-Men films this is a nice jumping on point I think many new readers will enjoy.

Issue Rating
Story: 5/10 - Lindelof ran with Wolverine become to self aware about the long delay between issues so long that I got bored of the dialogue 1/3 of the way through the issue.
Art: 6/10 - Yu did an okay job with his best work being in the short fight scenes between Wolverine and Hulk.
Overall: 5.5/10 - If you come into this issue with high expectations you will be disappointed but if you come in with not expecting much from this issue than you may find this issue entertaining.