I know a lot of people have struggled with the Hulk series lately. I'm actually kind of torn with this book. On one hand I love the art and the way it captures the battle between Hulk and Red Hulk, but on the other hand I was somewhat confused by the battle itself. Red Hulk was the one who rid the world of Hulk about a year ago by absorbing off his gamma energy. So why didn't he just do the same thing during this battle? And Bruce Banner is completely different as the Hulk in this series, than he is in The Incredible Hulk series. In fact, hulk talks exactly like Banner in this issue, despite being drawn as the savage hulk. This sort of bothered me because there is a lack of similarity to the other Hulk related titles, as far as Hulk himself is concerned. I also thought it was a little difficult to read because both of the Hulks had dialogue with each other, as well as their internal thoughts on the page. Instead of following 1 or 2 conversations at a time, you end up reading 4 or 5 that seem to be all mixed in together.
The ending was the high point of the issue. It left a nice cliff-hanger with a few different possibilities for upcoming titles. It looks as though we may see the Red Hulk join forces with another team. It is my understanding that a new writer will be taking over the Hulk series which should hopefully shake things up a bit.
I'm not sure the ending justifies the purchase, but I am a fan of the Hulk and it does appear Marvel has some interesting plans developing for the Hulk world soon. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I think the next few months will bring a better Hulk story line than the last.