Bottom Of The Pile: Ultimate Hulk Annual #1

In stark contrast to his (so far) excellent work on Ultimatum, Jeph Loeb's Ultimate Hulk annual has more in common with his sub-par work on the recent run of The Ultimates.

Since the Hulk escaped his supposed execution for mass murder, he has slowly undergone a character transformation from the near-brainless, murderous monster we first encountered in the superb Millar and Hitch run on the Ultimates, who was just as likely to eat someone as rip them apart in his primal fury.

Now, in the Ultimate Hulk annual, he's turning up at roadside restaurants asking for "pancake waffles" and offering to pay for them with handfuls of cash.

In the cafe he runs into Zarda, aka Power Princess, the Squadron Supreme's answer to Wonder Woman, who remained in the Ultimate universe after the Ultimate Power cross-over event.

The two fight, make up, eat waffles and have sex. Yes, I'm not kidding you... the whole annual was building to this one gag. Never mind the fact that the Hulk is recognisably one of the biggest mass murderers in Ultimate America (until Magneto unleashes the Ultimatum Wave) and no one alerts the authorities... or the Ultimates of his arrival at Appletite's Retaurant in Kansas or his renting a room in a nearby motel!

I'm no prude and have no objection to light-hearted moments in otherwise serious comics, but this whole issue is just one shaggy dog story so Loeb can get in his Hulk/Wonder Woman sex moment, and continue his erosion of this imprint's carefully considered verisimilitude.

It's not that it's badly drawn, the set-up just doesn't work!