"HULK IS THE STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!" The Incredible Hulk Appreciation 2024

[mace11]

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forum...ys-in-2298486/
https://twitter.com/JankoNero/status...99569017012225
https://twitter.com/PhillipKJohnson/...97669341233152

[Mister Mets]

They couldn’t have found someone less different from Byrne than Milgrom to carry on the storyline he started.

And as I promised, the beginning of my reviews of the Byrne/ Milgrom run.



Peter David’s run on the Incredible Hulk is the most acclaimed with character, but he kind of came in at the second year of a new direction which started with John Byrne, and then continued with the Al Milgrom run introducing the Grey Hulk, so I figured I’d check out this stretch of comics.

The Incredible Hulk #314
The Hulk is more vicious than ever, and Doc Samson makes one final effort to stop him once and for all, to save Bruce Banner. The fight goes badly for Samson, but then the Hulk seems to be attacked by some of his classic rogues gallery from Juggernaut to MODOK.
This reminds me a lot of other debut issues by major writer-artists like Walt Simonson’s first issue of Thor, or Frank Miller’s first solo issue of Daredevil. The main difference is that while it kicks off a new era, later creative teams have more of an effect. Al Milgrom brought back the Grey Hulk. Peter David would have a 12 year run. Todd Macfarlane would become the biggest superstar artist of the 90s. Byrne sticks around for six issues, plus an annual and a Marvel Fanfare story, so the relaunch is important, more because of what others do.

But this is a hell of a premier. John Byrne is at his peak as an artist. He has some problems with exposition, but it’s fine in the first issue of a new direction. There are some great sequences including the fantastic showdown with his greatest enemies (always a crowd-pleaser) and an opening confrontation with a stag, which just shows how vicious the Hulk has become.
A

The Incredible Hulk Annual #14
The Hulk is captured by the incredibly obese Hubert St. Johns, a rich and powerful man who wants to possess his body and has fantastic technology at his disposal. He might as well be an alien. Two of St Johns’ associates are central to the story: the arrogant Professor Kortz and Doctor Nancy Kalloway, who realizes the situation is much nastier than anything she signed up for. The Hulk tries to escape, but encounters the monstrous results of St Johns’ other experiments.

Kortz and St. Johns are nasty in interesting ways, so that helps this story. It plays to Sal Buscema’s strengths, since he’s good at evil lairs and monsters. Granted, it was better in some of those other comics (especially his Spectacular Spider-Man run with JM DeMatteis.)
There’s something unsettling about the depiction of Dr. Kalloway. She’s supposed to be the moral center of the story, but she’s just treated as a weakling. I get that the bad guys are not role models, but her final fate pretty much fits their worldview.
This story has very little to do with the rest of Byrne’s run. My impression is that it’s the type of the story that was common in the series at this particular time, when the Hulk no longer transformed into Bruce Banner. It kinda shows what the series was missing when it’s missing the Hulk’s other half.
B-

[Mister Mets]

The Incredible Hulk #315
The Hulk is separated from Bruce Banner, which leads to a question of whether he can be rehabilitated or destroyed. Samson tries to save him, but ends up releasing him.
The sequences are generally well-done, but it seems to be very much requirements of the plot. Samson’s decision to save the Hulk is obviously going to backfire not because of the nature of the Hulk, or anything to do with Samson’s character, but because that’ll make a monthly comic book more interesting. With Bruce Banner in a coma, we also don’t get to see the actual protagonist, outside of a dream sequence. There is a context since Bruce Banner was believed dead, which contributed to the new take on the Hulk.

These six issues seem to be a major influence on my favorite Hulk story Starting Stories: Banner by David Azarello and Lee Bermejo, which is similarly about Samson’s quest to save Banner after the Hulk becomes more destructive than ever.
A



The Incredible Hulk #316
Bruce Banner needs an experimental medical treatment, while the heavy hitters of the Avengers fight the Hulk. He’s got the upper hand.
I buy Samson’s mission here, and Hercules’ understanding that it’s an affair of honor. The fight scene is quite impressive, and there is an effective scene where Samson shames the Avengers by showing them why their method of fighting the Hulk won’t work. It’s also nice to see She-Hulk and Betty Brant on Bruce’s side.
A-

[ChrisIII]

It's kind of weird that the Hulk was once again mindless and mute after having been that for the Crossroads saga. There was a chance to write the Hulk with dialogue again as Banner coming back to life in the Hulk's mind also brought back the Savage Hulk, but then when Banner is physically removed the Hulk becomes mute and mindless again.

[Cth]

Another look at Red Hulk from Captain America..

redhulk.jpg

[ChrisIII]

Kind of want to see a bit of the evil Indy from Temple of Doom in Ford's Red Hulk.

[IMG]https://i.*****.com/vi/7d8q-kM07xM/hqdefault.jpg[/IMG]


Especially since the deranged was kind of a thing in the early Red Hulk stories, especially those drawn by Ed McGuinness.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

It's kind of weird that the Hulk was once again mindless and mute after having been that for the Crossroads saga. There was a chance to write the Hulk with dialogue again as Banner coming back to life in the Hulk's mind also brought back the Savage Hulk, but then when Banner is physically removed the Hulk becomes mute and mindless again.

It was a bitch that PAD often brought up, and I want to say he brought that up in his column decades ago when he was feuding with Byrne.

[FrazettaHulk]

Incredible Hulk #12 is not like these!! What an issue! Potential status quo change/add. Klein (like Bennett) is a body horror master. Nic really got to flex in this!!

[Mister Mets]

The rest of the John Byrne run.


The Incredible Hulk #317-319
Now that he’s separated from the Hulk, Bruce Banner gathers a new group of Hulkbusters together. Samson tries to take on the Hulk first, but it ends in tragedy when their paths intersect. Bruce also decides to get married now that he’s reunited with the love of his life, and this also ends badly.
The Hulkbusters sometimes rub me the wrong way. It’s a diverse group in the context of 1986 (hmm, this isn’t one of the best comics from the best year in comics history but it’ doesn’t drag down the average) with a middle aged Japanese woman and an interracial relationship, but it’s often stereotypical.

A quest for revenge plot is something I’ve seen before, and it’s not fresh. There’s something harsh about how Banner takes advantage of their circumstances to force them to risk their lives fighting the Hulk. Even if they ultimately make serious errors, the story doesn’t wrestle with the moral implications.
General Thunderbolt Ross appears at his lowest moment. This isn’t necessarily out of character.
The last issue has an interesting approach of rapidly cutting from the Bruce Banner story to the Hulk story. I've seen that split narrative gimmick done a few times, but I can't say it's ever been better.

It’s a very sudden ending to the run as Byrne got offered the Superman relaunch.
A-

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Honestly took me a long time figure out how this cast of Hulkbusters were going to anything against another mindless rampaging Hulk when a previous ARMY couldn't do squat.
Byrne wasn't around long enough to flesh them out, Milgrom was a placeholder until a permanent replacement came along, and PAD turned two into villains and wrote the other two out...

[Mister Mets]

Not the mod but I think any reviews like that can be added here. At the start of each year a new Hulk thread is started btw if unaware. When you cover the Byrne/Milgrom era, my friend did an exhaustive research project on his blog Delusional Honesty about Byrne's true plans for his run. Good luck with this.

Thanks for the heads up.

http://delusionalhonesty.com/

I am down for extra Byrne/Milgrom era coverage. I reviewed them in the 2022 (?) appreciation thread.
My gateway into full-time collecting was with #321-323, so I always look at those with a fond nostalgia.

Not as big a fan of those unfortunately.



The Incredible Hulk #320-323
Al Milgrom takes over as writer/ artist and I just don’t care for it. Something that rubs me the wrong way about his initial story is how much it repeats we’ve seen before in Byrne’s run. The Hulk fights the Avengers again (and yeah it builds on Iron Man’s promise to return in full force if Doc Samson can’t take care of the situation) but it’s just repetitive. We saw the same thing from a better writer/ artist. The Hulk also fights Doc Samson again. And the Hulkbusters are still going after him, and the annoying reporter gets herself in danger again. And there’s a new procedure to heal a deathly ill Bruce Banner, after the earlier story in which there were radical procedures to heal a deathly ill Bruce Banner.

Some moments are satisfying. I like Captain America’s encounter with Rick Jones, and realizing how much sidekick has grown-up. The Vision’s effort to save the Hulk is effective. The visual of the Avengers carrying the defeated Hulk is impressive. But so much of this is material I've seen before earlier in the same mega-arc by a more compelling writer-artist.
C-

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Milgrom gets shit for his art but I loved it. Del Barras saved it for sure.
My gateway into full-time obsession collecting and haven't looked back
At 10 years old, I didn't know or care about creative team, who did what, the whys and wherefores; all I saw was the Hulk putting a hurting on the Avengers.

[ChrisIII]

Hideko and Armand were kind of cool, although the using Akido on the Hulk bit was a bit silly.

[Mister Mets]

Continuing with the Milgrom era.

The Incredible Hulk #324

The Hulk has a new transformation, although before we get to the Grey Hulk’s return, there’s the body horror of Bruce Banner emerging from the Hulk’s chest and trying to commit suicide while he can. The rematch between Rick Jones and a crazed Thunderbolt Ross does show that Milgrom keeps repeating beats from Byrne’s run, but the most important issue of his run isn't bad.
B

The Incredible Hulk Annual #15

Danny Fingeroth and Sal Buscema tell a story of the Hulk at this phase in Milgrom’s run, and it’s kinda telling how different it feels with a writer I like more.
The Abomination returns to Earth, plowing through SHIELD agents with new abilities, the result of possession by the madman Tyrannus (another minor Hulk foe.) It makes for an okay dynamic, a new story with one of the Hulk’s most familiar enemies. And when we get to the fight scenes, it’s solid. Lot of smashing through floors and walls and windows. It’s a bold move for someone else’s annual to include the Grey Hulk’s first big battle.

The resolution is a bit cliched, as Bruce has to give a chance to rid himself forever of the Hulk (which I don’t quite buy at this point in the series where multiple attempts to rid him of the Hulk failed- all for plot-induced reasons) but it does end up revealing a new side of the Abomination. The challenge is suitably desperate, but not outrageously so.
B+

Marvel Fanfare #29

Marvel Fanfare was an anthology title that was meant to feature accessible stories with marvel superheroes, that were more daring than what you might see in the regular series. Byrne returns to the Hulk with a story composed of 22 splash pages. Speculation is that this was supposed to be Incredible Hulk #320, to potentially seed the idea that the Hulk isn't as vicious as he seems.
The Hulk encounters an elderly Native American figure in the western desert, who is able to reverse his rage with a single word. Except it’s all a plot to distract the Hulk, so that Hammer and Anvil (who were Hulk enemies introduced way back in Incredible Hulk #182) can take him out.
There’s a good sense of atmosphere and mystery. The Hammer and Anvil story reaches a satisfying conclusion, even if it may be in terms of number of panels one of the shortest confrontations with supervillains ever. Anvil’s desperation when Hammer is hurt makes for an effective scene.
A

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Got annual #15 before #324; thought the green fell off the pages so I colored them with a crayon.
Got #324, so happy he was back in the tattered pants. Then saw he was gray. My ten year-old self was "WTF?"