Issue(s): Cutting Edge #1
Cover Date: Dec 95
Title: Ghosts of the Future: "Different madness!"
Credits:
William Messner-Loebs - Writer
Angel Medina & Paul Pelletier - Penciler
Steve Moncuse - Inker
Chris Cooper - Editor

Review/plot:
This is Cutting Edge, not to be confused with Double Edge or Over The Edge. It's a good thing this editorial silo stuff didn't last long enough to run this thing totally into the ground, because i think we're out of "Edge" phrases (Bleeding Edge? Bono & The Edge?).

This is part of Ghosts of the Future storyline, which seems to have been a semi-aborted crossover, with an intended chapter in Captain America and a loose follow-up in Avengers that maybe was originally supposed to be something more. As it is, this is the only official part of the story that isn't in the Hulk series proper, and it's completely unnecessary.

The idea is that while the Hulk is captured, the Ringmaster is brought in and forced to run the Hulk through a bunch of illusions...

...the result being that the military figures out that the best way to control the Hulk is through Betty. Which was exactly Matt Talbot's strategy in capturing the Hulk to begin with, so it doesn't seem like a revelation.

The conclusion also implies that the ongoing story will involve the military trying to control the Hulk, but that's not the direction Ghosts of the Future takes at all. So maybe that's more evidence of an aborted original storyline, but i think more likely this is just filler.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Hulk was captured "several days ago".

References:

• The Hulk was captured in Hulk #436.
  
• The Ringmaster is brought in because he was "involved in researching him year ago", which i assume is a reference to Hulk #377.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A