Original Sin #3.1/Hulk vs. Iron Man (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I'll admit that I was skeptical about this mini-series within a mini-series.  It seemed clear from the start that they were going to connect Iron Man to the creation of the Hulk, since it's likely the only thing that could really enrage Bruce to the extent that we saw in issue #3.  But, then I saw that Kieron Gillen and Mark Waid were writing the mini-series, and I found myself hopeful.  Then, I thought about it some more and realized that it was probably a good thing if the plot was so obvious to me before I picked up the first issue, since it meant that the story might actually be believable.

The good news is that believable it is.  Tony sabotages Bruce's gamma bomb from a combination of jealousy over someone being possibly as smart as he is and anger over a confrontation they had where Bruce accused him of being a drunk war-monger.  Waid gets the emotions exactly right here, reminding us of the impulsive young man that Tony was during this era.

The only hitch is that I continue to find eye-roll worthy Marvel's recent decision -- mostly in light of the "Avengers" movie -- to make Bruce and Tony long-time "science bros."  It's not really true, and it feels exactly as ridiculous as the introduction of Nick Fury's African-American son.  But, Marvel has been at this game for a while, so I'm not going to hold it against Gillen and Waid.  After all, it's actually more or less believable that Tony would've had knowledge of the creation of the gamma bomb, and the rest is a history that we'll see unfold over the next few issues.  If all these "Original Sin" ret-con stories are as good as this one, I'll be a happy camper.

**** (four of five stars)