Maestro #5 - Marvel Comics

MAESTRO No. 5, February 2021

Crammed full of political manoeuvring, bare-faced treachery and some truly insane destruction, Issue Five of “Maestro” probably landed reasonably well with Hulk-heads everywhere when it was first published in December 2020. Admittedly, Peter David’s storyline for this seventeen-page concluding instalment perhaps somewhat disconcertingly shows just how precarious the titular character’s rise to the summit of post-apocalyptic power actually was. But it also intriguingly illustrates the palpable fear of becoming his abusive father this particular incarnation of the nuclear physicist carries deep inside of him as well.

Indeed, besides the truly shocking depiction of a badly-burnt Hercules rising from his funeral pyre to wreck his vengeance upon the Olympian deity’s utterly flabbergasted former-friend, arguably this book’s greatest highlight is the Eisner Award-winner’s ability to suddenly make the reader realise that the Hulk’s old travelling companion Rick Jones is entirely correct in his assertion that the human mutate’s decline down the path to utter madness closely mirrors that of his pater’s own mental regression; “No matter who you start out as. You eventually turn into your Dad. You’re not Bruce Banner anymore. You’re Brian Banner.”

Also adding enormously to this “final note in a symphony years in the making” are German Peralta’s layouts, which do a cracking job of depicting Maestro’s fragile psychological state as the tin pot tyrant’s duplicitous machinations are almost brought to a sticky end by both the aforementioned Prince of Power's return and one of Jones’ followers attempting to atomise the traitorous murderer using a gun previously built by Forge “to kill the Hulk!" Banner’s terrifyingly haunted eyes are especially well-pencilled in this regard, and really help convey the brute’s utter disbelief that his well-laid plans could potentially be going awry.

Interestingly however, this mini-series doesn’t end by focusing upon the Maestro finally taking his long sought after throne, but rather finishes upon an emotionally sad flashback to Captain America’s wheelchair-bound former sidekick saying a final goodbye to his underground lair before fleeing the wrath of the Hulk. Visited by the memories of the First Avenger, as well as “the one and only Captain Marvel”, the elderly survivor clearly misses the long-dead family of super-heroes and supporting cast members he shared his life with, including a fondly-remembered ‘heroic’ version of Banner’s alter-ego.

Writer: Peter David, Artist: German Peralta and Color Artist: Jesus Aburtov