Writer: Jeff Parker
Penciler: Humberto Ramos

Oh, boy. This is a doozy, even by Marvel standards. Backstory: a group of the smartest villains in Marvel have teamed up as the Intelligencia in a bid for world domination. The plan includes utilizing the brainpower of the smartest heroes (and Doom) to power their machines and making an army of mind-controlled Hulks from their soldiers and other, dumber heroes. Somehow it was necessary to create Red Hulk, who punches out cosmic beings, but is threatened by X-Force. Anyway, their plan is succeeding, and they hulk-up their army and the heroes who attacked their Hellcarrier. One of the heroes onboard: Deadpool, the justification for a 2-part, $8, and plot unrelated mini-series.

Hulkpool (seriously Marvel, you need to stop right now) decides he has to kill Deadpool because he’s the reason Hulkpool is the way he is. The ever on-hand Bob, Agent of Hydra (now A.I.M.) is going to help his buddy accomplish his mission, even though it’s completely insane. Using the time platform left for Thundra, Bob sends Hulkpool back in time since Deadpool would be impossible to find. Hulkpool comes across Thing in his Thingbeard the pirate adventure causing Ben to not return to his own time. Next he’s transported to WWII where he saves both Cap and Bucky from Baron Zemo’s missile. In fact, Hulkpool interrupts many of Marvel’s most historical moments. But no worries, JJ Abrams has the answer for this problem.

I’m conflicted about this mini. On one hand, it’s hilarious. Parker keeps the ridiculousness of the material ramped up. Considering the lead character, it was the only way to make this story work. Also, Humberto Ramos puts in some slick visuals. The action is dynamic and he is good at putting in sight gags without putting too much attention on them. On the other, this is supposed to be a tie-in to the FALL OF THE HULKS/ WORLD WAR HULKS storyline and it’s really not. The only connection is Deadpool being Hulked-up with no bearing on the Intelligencia’s plan or Banner and (ugh) Rulk’s counter. It’s just a way to draw attention to the storyline with Marvel’s newest cash cow.

Rating: B Don’t read this if you’re dying to know how it affects the Hulk storyline. Do read this if you’re a fan of Deadpool or Deadpool Team-up.