Noteworthy Issues: Maestro #4 (November, 2020)

The origin of the Hulk’s Maestro persona hit a bit of a snag in the previous issue as someone is already holding that name:  the Greek demigod Hercules, and he doesn’t seem to be right in the head.  The Hulk has to come out on top, of course, but how?

That might take more than his gamma-powered strength.

Issue:  Maestro #4, November 2020

Writer:  Peter David

Artists:  German Peralta and Dale Keown

The Plot:  The Hulk takes on the original Maestro, and his mind may be the thing that allows him to prevail, not his brawn.

Commentary:  Well, that was somewhat abrupt.

Granted, the next issue is the last one from this particular mini-series, so it has to be wrapped up relatively quickly.  But that doesn’t mean this issue didn’t feel like it had some pacing problems.  The Hulk returns to Dystopia to fight Hercules, the original Maestro.  The Hulk in this series has been gradually physically becoming the Maestro, something that wouldn’t necessarily have to do much with his personality as it mostly involves his hair going white, a beard coming in, and the hair on top of his head going out.  That seems to happen during this series between panels.  The issue opens with a Hulk still having some color to his beard and ends with the white-bearded Hulk prevailing.

If anything, it is how the Hulk prevails over Hercules that stands out.  His first attempt–attacking Hercules directly with his robo-dogs and then himself–proves inadequate as Hercules just physically is too strong for the Hulk and his minions.  It was somewhat surprising to see the Hulk not even seem to hold his own in this fight.  True, that ups the ante for the Hulk, but it also seems to go by very quickly.  The Hulk leaves Dystopia and returns later with his actual trap to defeat Hercules, a call-back to an earlier issue’s single panel, and it involves essentially outthinking Hercules and putting the Greek deity into a death trap with the best bait to bring Hercules down.  Hercules dies in this issue, and he doesn’t go down gently, with the Hulk immediately removing his own living weapon from the field and claiming the Maestro’s title and throne.

I will admit the way the Hulk defeated Hercules was rather clever as well as the way Hercules was made out to be far too strong to simply beat to death, but this issue did prompt me to ask a simple question:  why?  Why did the Hulk feel the need to take out Hercules?  The third issue made it clear he isn’t doing this to the benefit of the ordinary people who get hurt by Hercules’s hard-partying ways, but why would the Hulk want to rule this city-state?  Why not just jump away and find some other place to live?  If he doesn’t care about other people, why does he want to rule them?  And how long was he gone?  I suspect there should be more to see here, something that due to the mini-series’s length just can’t happen.  As such, this issue just felt rather abrupt.

I mean, it is possible that there will be an explanation as to why the Hulk wants to rule Dystopia in the final issue, something beyond the idea that he just wants to punish the survivors for the sins of the ordinary people that nuked the world or for the apathy they displayed when the Hulk tried to rally followers.  I suppose it is possible to get all that out in one final issue now that the fight against Hercules is over, and Peter David is a good enough writer to pull something like that off, but I am a bit doubtful that it will actually happen.

Grade:  C+