Baron Zemo has Thor-level weaponry that can not only hurt Hulk but can blind him and make him lose total control of his temper. Beware anyone in his way - even his friend and fellow Avenger, Daredevil! Indestructible Hulk #10 is the second and final part of Blind Rage, the Hulk/Daredevil team-up where writer Mark Waid merges the two characters hes currently writing into one fairly decent storyline. Though Baron Zemo is the obvious villain of the piece, he doesnt figure so prominently in the comic - he acts instead as the catalyst that drives Hulk crazy by blinding him, then escapes and, in an interesting twist, the comic becomes Hulk vs. Daredevil. Because Zemos hideout is underneath Manhattan and contains all kinds of disastrous weaponry, Daredevil has to find a way to neutralize Hulk without blowing the place up and killing innocent people. Its an exciting comic filled with non-stop action that reads like a classic Hulk comic where Hulk is going nuts, Banner is narrating in the past tense, and another good guy is providing the moment-to-moment dialogue. I also liked that Waid blinds Hulk so that both of our heroes are without sight (though with Daredevil its permanent), making everything they do that much more dangerous, thrilling, and heroic all at the same time while also underlining just how extraordinary Daredevil is and not just a "glorified acrobat" as Zemo calls him. Hulk and Daredevils relationship is something Id never really noticed up until this mini-series and its cute to see the two interact. Their relationship is based upon a mutual respect, as all friendship is, but it goes deeper than that as its also Hulk, not just Banner, that sees Daredevil as a friendly, and you dont often see Hulk unreservedly, even in his most out of control moments, recognise his friends - but he recognises Daredevil. Nowhere is that more evident than in the second to last page which takes Hulk from bull-in-a-chinashop story device back to hero-of-the-story. Well done to Mark Waid for finding a way to do that in half a page, written so tastefully and true. Matteo Scaleras art has been quite good in these two issues of Hulk and hes able to pull off the huge amount of action hes required to draw with finesse (even though the way he draws faces as kind of leaning forward while their mouths are wide open makes the mouths look really weird and huge). I will say as well that I found his Hulk to be really quite scary at times, especially when he smiles!
This issue and the last have felt more Daredevil-centric than Hulk but Hulk has been an integral part of the story, and it has been an entertaining team-up despite not being the best issues this series has seen so far. Waid continues to impress with his work on redefining Hulk for a new generation and though this has felt more like old-style Hulk with Hulk in berserker mode for most of the comic, there are subtle differences that Waid has included that make all the difference in asserting that this is a more nuanced, smarter version of our beloved green giant. Waid's Indestructible Hulk is well worth a look if you like good superhero comics.
Indestructible Hulk #10 by Mark Waid and Matteo Scalera is out now