Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2019

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Incredible Hulk #274
“Home the Hard Way!”

Cover Date: August 1982
Sale Date: May 4th, 1982
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Al Milgrom

Guest Stars/Supporting Cast: Betty Ross, Rick Jones, Bereet

Synopsis: Open to the Hulk hauling a VERY LARGE supply of lumber into the town of St. Clair, Canada. The townsfolk are speechless and appreciative of the Hulk’s efforts. After the obligatory recap and backstory, the Hulk leaps away. He momentarily loses control after saving a train during a bridge collapse, but is able to regain his composure. It’s then deduced that the Hulk’s persona is not dead but deeply submerged and it’s still possible for the monster to reassert control in moments of extreme anger. The Hulk lands at a border-crossing outpost and casually walks back into America. Meanwhile, we see Betty Ross, Rick Jones, Bereet arrive at the now-deserted Gamma Base in hopes of curing the irradiated youth. Up north, the National Guard has been called and attempts to stop the Hulk. Without even raising his fists, the Hulk casually walks through the bullets and artillery barrage. After being chastised by a top-ranking official, he somberly turns his head and says, “I only want to go home.” We end the issue with another U-Foe, Ironclad, crawling from one of the Hulk’s impact craters, swearing revenge on the Hulk.



Commentary: Welcome Joe Sinnott as inker for the next year or so. Not entirely sure of the timeline on this, but according to Sal, Mantlo made a dig at him on his work and how he was just hacking out pages. Sal was a bit taken back, saying he’s just doing his job and taking work. Turns out Jim Shooter wanted all artists to turn in full pencils instead of breakdowns or layouts and rather than spread themselves thin, focus their full efforts on one-two titles max. Because Sal lived in Virginia at the time, he had no clue of this mandate. So a quick visit to NYC, a nice lunch with Shooter later, Sal cuts down his workload to just Rom and Hulk, full pencils and we get Joe Sinnott for the next couple of years. Along with Sinnott, Sal’s changed up some of his panels and gotten very creative with his artwork. It’s very refreshing.

[Cth]

Spoilers have leaked

[Kolwyr]

Spoilers have leaked

I SAW.

[Ptrvc]

24 Books on Comixology.

Wow.

[PlatinumThorns]

Some general thoughts on today's issues.

Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk
-The strangest thing was the fact that this had NO General Ross, Carnage'd or otherwise. But I knew the issue would basically explain Banner's inclusion in the Absolute Carnage event. The nature of tie-in's I suppose. I'm guessing Cate's has plans for him in the future.
-Bruce's idea of being smash up into a ball so Betty could carry him faster was low-key hilarious.
-It was refreshing to just stop and get moments of Banner's mindscape for a change.
-First appearance of TOBA outside of the main book!

Overall, this one-shot was pretty entertaining for as a Hulk fan. But it lacked real substance outside of things like that.

Immortal Hulk #24
-The first page with the classic panel was a nice touch, gave real context with the second showing how Galactus' and F4's origins tie together with the Hulk's.
-Holy Hell, this book is honestly the most gruesome issue of the entire run.
-From the looks of it, Devil Hulk managed to get rid of one of his weaknesses of reverting back to Savage Hulk whenever he was under great physical stress while also increasing in strength?
-Fortean's men flipping on him wasn't illogical since he accidentally took out a couple of his own guys amongst other things, but it happened quickly so I wish it had more build-up.
-Very interesting how Samson stayed in the Below-Place longer than normal. I wonder if that's foreshadowing with him mentioning that he was "waiting to be cleansed"?
-RIP Gen. Fortean, you had a good run. He kinda went out like a wimp without accomplishing much, but you served your purpose.
-Iron Throne! Even though it was spoiled by Joe months ago.
-A treat for the power-level folks, Hulk killed Franklin Richards, Galactus, and the God Voice!
-Holy crap, I just realized. Future-Hulk has has enough power to disrupt the story! I'm gonna ponder this bit and come back with a theory.

I think this issue suffered some pacing issues (no doubt due to Ewing have to synergize with the Absolute Carnage Event), but it was just raw fantastic. I think it redeems the past 2-3 issues if you perhaps didn't like them.

[Jody Garland]

I think we need to take notice that Joe just managed to kill someone's soul. That's a pretty hefty crime.

[Hulkbanner12]

Some general thoughts on today's issues.

Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk
-The strangest thing was the fact that this had NO General Ross, Carnage'd or otherwise. But I knew the issue would basically explain Banner's inclusion in the Absolute Carnage event. The nature of tie-in's I suppose. I'm guessing Cate's has plans for him in the future.
-Bruce's idea of being smash up into a ball so Betty could carry him faster was low-key hilarious.
-It was refreshing to just stop and get moments of Banner's mindscape for a change.
-First appearance of TOBA outside of the main book!

Overall, this one-shot was pretty entertaining for as a Hulk fan. But it lacked real substance outside of things like that.

Immortal Hulk #24
-The first page with the classic panel was a nice touch, gave real context with the second showing how Galactus' and F4's origins tie together with the Hulk's.
-Holy Hell, this book is honestly the most gruesome issue of the entire run.
-From the looks of it, Devil Hulk managed to get rid of one of his weaknesses of reverting back to Savage Hulk whenever he was under great physical stress while also increasing in strength?
-Fortean's men flipping on him wasn't illogical since he accidentally took out a couple of his own guys amongst other things, but it happened quickly so I wish it had more build-up.
-Very interesting how Samson stayed in the Below-Place longer than normal. I wonder if that's foreshadowing with him mentioning that he was "waiting to be cleansed"?
-RIP Gen. Fortean, you had a good run. He kinda went out like a wimp without accomplishing much, but you served your purpose.
-Iron Throne! Even though it was spoiled by Joe months ago.
-A treat for the power-level folks, Hulk killed Franklin Richards, Galactus, and the God Voice!
-Holy crap, I just realized. Future-Hulk has has enough power to disrupt the story! I'm gonna ponder this bit and come back with a theory.

I think this issue suffered some pacing issues (no doubt due to Ewing have to synergize with the Absolute Carnage Event), but it was just raw fantastic. I think it redeems the past 2-3 issues if you perhaps didn't like them.

Here is my opinion. I don't that's one above all at the end. I think he's just another multiversal being above Galactus and that that probably isn't Hulk at the end. It's most likely the Entity from Below possessing Hulk's body

[your_name_here]

Yeah looks like the One Below All to me.

[manwhohaseverything]

So, forgive me for being ignorant. But, who are the two abstentions in absolute carnage? One might be green skaar. The other one?Why are they dormant?
Does this mean bruce has total of 5 personalities in total?

[Ptrvc]

So, forgive me for being ignorant. But, who are the two abstentions personalities in absolute carnage? One might be green skaar. The other one?Why are they dormant?
Does this mean bruce has total of 5 personalities in total?

Merged/Professor I'm guessing.

[manwhohaseverything]

Merged/Professor I'm guessing.

I always thought of that as an amalgamation. I guess bruce and the others could see it as a different personality all together.

[Ptrvc]

I always thought of that as an amalgamation. I guess bruce and the others could see it as a different personality all together.

He was bopping about in the original Devil Hulk stories.

I mean utimately they're all just personalities in a crazy guys head. What began as a merger can exist as a personality since ultimately it's just one guy talking to himself.

[SanityOrMadness]

I always thought of that as an amalgamation. I guess bruce and the others could see it as a different personality all together.

It's explicitly Merged/Professor and Gravage/Green Scar - Bruce made a list a few issues back with them on it as dormant. Although it's interesting in and of itself, given that writers like Jenkins & Aaron have claimed (illogically) that there's thousands of Hulks in there, that Bruce only counts those six (himself included).

[Jenkins retconned the merger as a fake, BTW. The given reasoning made no sense - he couldn't see the difference between a Banner-Hulk and the Merged Hulk, and said the latter's failure to act exactly like the former 'proved' he couldn't be a merger - but the retcon's stuck,]

[Subzero89]

What an issue... Oh man, hopefully we see how Hulk actually met and killed Franklin and Galactus.

[scribbleMind]

Is this insinuating that cosmic rays are TOAA related and Gamma Rays are TOBA related, and Franklin Richards is a TOAA construct, agent, or representative in the same way that Hulk is a TOBA construct, agent, or representative?