Reviewer: Paul Sebert
Story Title: Tempest Fugit: Conclusion
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Lee Weeks
Finishes: Tom Palmer
Coloring: Studio F
Lettering: V.C. Randy Gentile
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: The Merry Marvel Marching Society
If there’s a genre of story even more headache inducing than time travel stories, it would have to be dream based stories in which characters wander along surreal landscapes before finally reaching a point where everything all makes sense. Or does it? Just when you finally seem to have a feel for what’s happening, all you know is just an illusion.
Such is the case when this issue opens up as we see a flashback to Bruce’s troubled adolescence before cutting away in the present to see the troubled group of survivors trapped on Monster Island. Then on the next page we see Bruce Banner and Doc Sampson in an asylum, baring the question if the past few years in Hulk’s life was in itself a dream?
I’m sure just about anyone whom actually paid money for John Byrne’s Hulk run or Hulk/Thing: Hard Knocks would like to wake up with their cash back in their pocket.
All of these running narratives finally run together as the mastermind behind the ordeal finally shows his face. I dare not reveal who exactly who he is, for the revelation is highly key to enjoying this issue, but he is a fairly major player in the Marvel Universe and his presence is fitting with the arc’s theme of illusions.
A new character named Daydream is introduced who I imagine will probably show up in a mini-series of her own. The exact revelations her origins are once again one of those story details I dare not spoil. There are also allusions made to 9/11 along with the Columbine shootings that some will find tasteless, while others will find fitting with the title’s discussion of terrors lurking within our psyche. In the end more questions are raised than answered.
I have a feeling this arc will be precisely the kind of storyline that polarizes fans. I can already see Jesse Baker preparing a fresh batch of hate mail for Marvel, as the Continuity Gestapo will despise the arc’s open-ended approach to the character’s past. The small narrow minded fanboy sect that has a hard enough time accepting recent attempts at incorporating minority characters will not appreciate the references to real world events. Meanwhile, I imagine an equally opinionated group of fan boys will praise Peter David’s storytelling depth, conveniently ignoring that this incarnation of the Hulk bares little resemblance to the Lee/Kirby character.
As for me? I admired this story arch for its grandeur and maturity even though I often found myself lost in the various twists and turns. I admired it for Lee Weeks’s moody visuals and surreal images. It’s well thought out, fully mature storyline.
But, to be honest, in a comics market flooded with mature storylines, I probably would have been just as happy with six straight issues of a “Raaaar Smash” Hulk slugging it out with Fin Fang Foom for six straight issues.
