Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk Review: A Cool Motion Comic

Fans of the miniseries are no doubt excited about the release of this motion comic, which has two of Marvel comics' flagship characters pitted against one another in an ultimate battle. What's it all about though? Well, this tale, set within Marvel's Ultimate universe, has Wolverine being hired by S.H.E.I.L.D. director Nick Fury to track down and kill the Hulk. Why? Because the Hulk went on a rampage through Manhattan, which resulted in the deaths of 800 innocent civilians. After being put on trial and sentenced to death, the Hulk survives and lives to do more damage. Following a particularly compelling introduction, which you might have to rewind to make sure you saw what you saw, we are thrust into a seriously non-linear story written by Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. If you're a fan of Lost, this particular kind of storytelling shouldn't faze you much, but if you're not, you might be a little thrown off and maybe even slightly annoyed by this. Either way, to find any enjoyment in this motion comic, you'd do well to just go with it and keep an open mind. I didn't know what to expect as I hadn't followed the miniseries, but there was one thing I assumed would be present that wasn't really and that was an actual battle. Perhaps I missed something along the way, but I didn't feel like the meeting of the two characters was done justice at all, which was disappointing. I assumed I'd get a battle akin to what I saw in last year's Avengers between Hulk and Thor for instance, but instead I got teased. This was pretty much the only thing that bothered me. The voice acting was stellar for the most part, with the exception of a couple of Hulk meltdowns, which I felt were a bit over the top at times. The animation was pretty good, as you might expect from a motion comic, which really could be a separate medium all its own, and the artwork is spot on. There isn't a great deal of depth to be found here, but there is fun and a good deal of humor, which doesn't hurt. I wonder though, if this story could have been better executed as a full on animated film. As cool as this motion comic is, it does feel confined to the spaces of a comic, which I see is the point. I also realize that adapting this into an animated film would require the creators taking other liberties with the material, but that could have allowed for expansion and deeper understanding of the motivations of characters like Bruce Banner's on/off again girlfriend, Betty Ross for instance. Fans of the miniseries will be all over this and maybe even some non-fans. I liked it myself, I just didn't love it. My only real gripe was that I felt cheated out of a real fight. Other than that, it's cool. And I do mean that. It possesses real flair and that might be enough for some. It just wasn't enough for me.