WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Maestro: War & Pax #4, by Peter David, Javier Pina, Jesus Aburtov & VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Maestro is not exactly a character who instills a lot of sympathy, but writer Peter David has a knack for drawing that out in his characters by putting their hearts on display in a therapy session. Previously in titles like X-Factor and Incredible Hulk, the super-powered therapist Doc Samson worked his psychological magic in some of David's most acclaimed comics.
And in Maestro: War & Pax #4, a similar scene appears in Maestro's most recent miniseries with a decidedly evil twist.
As a handy literary device to dig deep into a character's psyche, understand what makes them tick, and gain sympathy for them, a writer can do a whole lot worse than focusing on a therapy session. Doing so is nothing new to writer Peter David, who effectively employed the technique in X-Factor #87, with Joe Quesada, and again 15 years later in 2007's X-Factor #13, with Pablo Raimondi. The stories saw the superhero psychiatrist Doc Samson examine the mutant super teams, and David implemented the device once more in Incredible Hulk #377 where Bruce Banner sat down with his alternate personalities, the Gray and Green Hulks.
In the latest issue of Maestro: War & Pax, Doc Samson saw a patient again in a far more startling way. Whereas the previous instances really allowed the story to examine its characters and deal with them at length, the therapy session proves flirtatiously brief this time around. Rather than the real Doc Samson showing up, he instead appears as a mental construct as Bruce Banner's body is held in stasis. And when the Maestro personality marches into the scene, he doesn't wait long to snap the doctor's neck.
Despite its brevity, the therapy session does manage to pull off significant characterization for Maestro. Until the previous issue, it was a mystery whether Maestro could revert to his Banner persona at all. Up until this point, Maestro seemed like a corrupted version of the Merged Hulk, who was not a personality in his own right but a conglomeration of Hulk's personalities. But upon seeing a psychic image of his slain mother, the trauma seemed to awaken something within him and he reverted to his human form.
When in his more vulnerable form Banner was shot several times, and the Maestro mental construct now chastises him for his weakness. After killing Samson, who seemed ready to convince Banner to give up and stop fighting for life, Maestro instead compels Banner to give him total control. Saying that all the loved ones he knew in life only made him weaker, Maestro is ultimately successful and he emerges from his prison stronger than ever once he has full control. This is a complete revolution in terms of what has been previously established about Maestro, and it's only appropriate that a classic David therapy set piece would bring it about.
Now, it would appear that Maestro is yet another manifestation of Banner's childhood trauma, and although he is a personality who seems incredibly dominant in his psychic landscape, it's notable that he's not alone. There could well be other Hulks lurking within the mental depths of the irradiated despot, but as of now, they seem to pose little threat to the ultimate rule of the Maestro.
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