World War Hulk: Damage Control

Collects the World War Hulk: Aftersmash one-shot written by Greg Pak and drawn by Rafa Sandoval and World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #1-3 written by Dwayne McDuffie and drawn by Salva Espin.

The Aftersmash one-shot deals with the situation in NY as the dust settles from the WWH brawl. Although the Hulk is gone, his soldiers are still left and they're not giving up so easily. Without a leader to show them the way, however, the different races start fighting among themselves, and the resident heroes have to step in to avoid further damage to the city. Besides leading into the Warbound and Damage Control stories, this story deals with what happens to some of the major characters of the WWH spin offs, such as Hercules, Amadeus Cho and Tom Foster (Goliath's nephew) right after WWH has ended. The story is a bit confusing as it attempts to wire up almost every remaining plot line from WWH, but the result is not all bad. The art is ok, nothing spectacular although some of the pages are very nicely composed.

The main piece of the book, however, is definitely the Damage Control story. As far as I know there hasn't been a Damage Control story since Civil War, so it seems to have become a title that is brought out of the closet after each major event. What I really liked about this story was the characters. They're not super heroes but they each come out very distinct and very funny. From mrs. Hoag who shows Tony Stark that being the director of Shield doesn't mean he can just commandeer everyone around to the construction foreman who has to keep a straight face while negotiating with a talking Chrysler building. Also, Tom Foster aka. (Black) Goliath, plays a major role in the series.

There isn't really any plot to speak of here, it's more like three stand alone stories, but the humor and the far out situations more than make up for that. The art is excellent and the coloring does it's share to make it even better. Espin's style is perfect for a humor book like this. I suspect a lot of time was put into the art, so we probably shouldn't expect this kind of art in a monthly book any time soon.

This book contains one so-so story and one really good story. It is by no means required reading, but if you've picked up WWH and are up for more, I recommend getting this one. If nothing else, then just for the Damage Control stories.

6/10