Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2019

[HeavenlyDemonic]

Betty noticed the physical difference in Gray hulk’s appearance in issue#373,”Mending Fences”. This is the issue where She also calls him out for pretending that he doesn’t love her, because admitting it makes him like Bruce. Part of me wishes the merger hadn’t happened when it did and we got more of Bruce/Gray hulk and Betty’s relationship. Especially after her miscarriage. The love triangle between them was interesting.

[Hulkbanner12]

Could one below all be influencing Banner this time? I mean, his face seem to change when he was talking to Cho and Devil Hulk face was also glowing green!. One below all may be influencing Banner. Banner may realize what he is doing is wrong, i guess

[Intothevoid]

Ok there has been some drama regarding Joe Bennett recently. He released a message on facebook applauding an American journalist Glenn Greenwald getting slapped by some Brazilian right wing columnist(you guys have probably seen the video it went viral). He quickly deleted his post and issued an apology, but it looks like the damage is already done. Literally thousands of people have swarmed his facebook page with all kinds of messages and are calling for his resignation from Marvel and for him to not be featured at some comic book panel that is suppose to happen in December that he was planning to attend.

At this point i am unsure what is going to happen, it's very much possible Marvel might fire him or something, too early to tell since all of this happened in the last few hours. So far it's not looking good because he is quickly getting spammed by messages calling him a fascist, racist, homophobic, etc....

[GrandEleven]

Well this issue is a lot to unpack... for for reasons different than the previous ones. Overall I liked the issue, but I was immediately reminded of the "all new all different" push from a few years back: most of the themes and direction feel rather sudden/forced to me. Like it was time to make a political statement seemingly out of left field.

The eco warrior/99% hero angle just feels .... out of nowhere. We just came out of an issue explaining that the devil hulk would ultimately lead to the ruination of not only the 8th iteration of the universe, but the 9th as well. Just before that, a Hulk sat atop a throne in a secret base with a team of gamma beings around him. We just went through an entire arc of watching Devil Hulk playing the long game and building power, got a preview of said power ending existence... and he's using that to make a political left-wing war on Roxxon? Huh? This was a hard pill to swallow for me as a progression of the story. I'm OK wit ha little detour I think... but it didn't feel very seamless to me.

The message itself also way WAY too on the nose. The Minotaur no longer hides the way he looks because nothing happens no matter how brazen the offense? That's about as subtle as a sledge hammer to glass. Public announcements on green energy, jabs at shock jocks, digs at military funding, this issue just felt like a political story first, and Hulk story as a back seat. We have an impeachment and election cycle coming up ... the whole issue feels like an add campaign.

That said, the story telling itself was good. I particularly _loved_ the political cartoon of hulk coming out of the grave ... that was an awesome touch that blended recent events. May update my profile pic for that image alone. It was a well crafted story, even if I did think it was jarring change of direction that I'm not thrilled with. It's a good opportunity to let Hulk smash for a bit, and for that alone I'm still on board but I'll be honest: I'm going to be waiting for the Roxxon arc to end so we can get back to more intersting stuff.

[a2542]

Well this issue is a lot to unpack... for for reasons different than the previous ones. Overall I liked the issue, but I was immediately reminded of the "all new all different" push from a few years back: most of the themes and direction feel rather sudden/forced to me. Like it was time to make a political statement seemingly out of left field.

The eco warrior/99% hero angle just feels .... out of nowhere. We just came out of an issue explaining that the devil hulk would ultimately lead to the ruination of not only the 8th iteration of the universe, but the 9th as well. Just before that, a Hulk sat atop a throne in a secret base with a team of gamma beings around him. We just went through an entire arc of watching Devil Hulk playing the long game and building power, got a preview of said power ending existence... and he's using that to make a political left-wing war on Roxxon? Huh? This was a hard pill to swallow for me as a progression of the story. I'm OK wit ha little detour I think... but it didn't feel very seamless to me.

The message itself also way WAY too on the nose. The Minotaur no longer hides the way he looks because nothing happens no matter how brazen the offense? That's about as subtle as a sledge hammer to glass. Public announcements on green energy, jabs at shock jocks, digs at military funding, this issue just felt like a political story first, and Hulk story as a back seat. We have an impeachment and election cycle coming up ... the whole issue feels like an add campaign.

That said, the story telling itself was good. I particularly _loved_ the political cartoon of hulk coming out of the grave ... that was an awesome touch that blended recent events. May update my profile pic for that image alone. It was a well crafted story, even if I did think it was jarring change of direction that I'm not thrilled with. It's a good opportunity to let Hulk smash for a bit, and for that alone I'm still on board but I'll be honest: I'm going to be waiting for the Roxxon arc to end so we can get back to more intersting stuff.

What, did you completely ignore or gloss over Devil Hulk initially talking to Sampson about wanting to end the human species? It's really Devil Hulk with Banner fully on board more or less wanting to thin the population, but first they want to remove the big powers (Roxxon) with control of the narrative due to their wealth and buying out tons of mouthpieces and media coverage. Then onto other targets. Banner's rant to Amadeus is pretty much on point of how things don't really change no matter what happens. The status quo endures and those in power stay in power, so Bruce has decided to Never Stop Making Them Pay (nice throwback from Pak's Hulk).
The things that happened at #25 are far far in the future. There's A LOT of stuff to go down long before we see the Breaker of Worlds controlled by TOBA wreak havoc on an entire universe.

[GrandEleven]

What, did you completely ignore or gloss over Devil Hulk initially talking to Sampson about wanting to end the human species? It's really Devil Hulk with Banner fully on board more or less wanting to thin the population, but first they want to remove the big powers (Roxxon) with control of the narrative due to their wealth and buying out tons of mouthpieces and media coverage. Then onto other targets. Banner's rant to Amadeus is pretty much on point of how things don't really change no matter what happens. The status quo endures and those in power stay in power, so Bruce has decided to Never Stop Making Them Pay (nice throwback from Pak's Hulk).

So if the goal is to thin the species, step 1 is to make a pirate broadcast saying the wealthy must pay? How does that make sense?

If humans are the problem, then wipe out humans indiscriminately. Why make a huge statement on how the established corporations/government is the issue? That narrative has no purpose except to push a political message that that has been completely void from the series for 24 issues prior.

The things that happened at #25 are far far in the future. There's A LOT of stuff to go down long before we see the Breaker of Worlds controlled by TOBA wreak havoc on an entire universe.

But from the story perspective it was last issue. The narrative decided to reveal the end game of TOBA, and the very next arc we get with this knowledge in hand is ... Hulk takes on corrupt corporations? If he wishes to simply further his power, sure. Maybe this is a ruse to that end. But right now, a big statement about failure to invest in green energy instead of military projects and a public warning/vigilante decree against businesses just feels distinctly off brand. Where in issues 1-24 did you see Hulk go pro Paris Accords?

[chamber-music]

I didn't have a problem with the politics. Most fiction literature deals with the current events of the day be they social, political or ethical.

Hulk comics have delved into the military industrial complex, aids, abuse, mental health and so on. Not all of it was subtle.

Roxxon have always been a representation of the worst aspects of big oil and gas corporations since its debut in the Captain America comics of the seventies. Very few of the stories involving Roxxon have every been subtle.

[Anonymousmc]

I didn't have a problem with the politics. Most fiction literature deals with the current events of the day be they social, political or ethical.

Hulk comics have delved into the military industrial complex, aids, abuse, mental health and so on. Not all of it was subtle.

Roxxon have always been a representation of the worst aspects of big oil and gas corporations since its debut in the Captain America comics of the seventies. Very few of the stories involving Roxxon have every been subtle.

Exactly, Lee and Kirby have always inserted politics in their comics since the beginning. Hulk comics were a commentary on the horrors of nuclear proliferation (also look on the politicial xenophobia of the time in early issues of Hulk and other comics as proof of more 'politizing comics). And X-men is one of the biggest on the nose politcal commentaries on race. I think this is just par for the course, you just need to pay attention.

[PlatinumThorns]

All of this appeared in Hulk comics before. Nothing "came out of nowhere".



https://alewing.tumblr.com/tagged/it...olitical-comic

[GrandEleven]

All of this appeared in Hulk comics before. Nothing "came out of nowhere".

I guess I simply view events within the context of the current "run", not "this has happened before by other writers in other stories".

"For the past year sense I've been back form the dead, the military/governmental bodies have hunted me in numerous capacities from shadow base to gamma force .... which is largely a distraction from this evil being behind the green door wanting to use me as a conduit to end existence .... LETS START A WAR AGAINST ROXXON!"

Sorry, I stand behind the "out of nowhere" statement. This feels like one of those old X-Files filler episodes where we put the main story on hold so we can take a break and just do something else. As I prefaced, I'm fine for a little more classic Hulk Smash to cleanse the pallet (sounds like its going to be very smash heavy), but I'm going to call it as I see it: a random shoehorn.

[ChrisIII]

I didn't have a problem with the politics. Most fiction literature deals with the current events of the day be they social, political or ethical.

Hulk comics have delved into the military industrial complex, aids, abuse, mental health and so on. Not all of it was subtle.

Roxxon have always been a representation of the worst aspects of big oil and gas corporations since its debut in the Captain America comics of the seventies. Very few of the stories involving Roxxon have every been subtle.

Yeah, a lot of PAD's merged Hulk stuff went into issues with stuff like War and Pieces (the crossover with X-factor) and the Jim Wilson stories. It also showed up in his recent one-shot "Last call".

[a2542]

Exactly, Lee and Kirby have always inserted politics in their comics since the beginning. Hulk comics were a commentary on the horrors of nuclear proliferation (also look on the politicial xenophobia of the time in early issues of Hulk and other comics as proof of more 'politizing comics). And X-men is one of the biggest on the nose politcal commentaries on race. I think this is just par for the course, you just need to pay attention.

Bingo. Look at what Secret Empire represented as a pretty recent example.

Banner/Devil Hulk's war on Roxxon is meant to take on a massive corporation representing both the media creating it's own narrative and it's ability to bastardize and pollute the planet with it's endless quest for more wealth and profit. Take Elon Musk, turn him into a saturday morning cartoon villain who can change into an actual minotaur and have him also control the likes Fox News and you basically got Dario Agger.

[Cth]

The eco warrior/99% hero angle just feels .... out of nowhere. We just came out of an issue explaining that the devil hulk would ultimately lead to the ruination of not only the 8th iteration of the universe, but the 9th as well. Just before that, a Hulk sat atop a throne in a secret base with a team of gamma beings around him. We just went through an entire arc of watching Devil Hulk playing the long game and building power, got a preview of said power ending existence... and he's using that to make a political left-wing war on Roxxon? Huh? This was a hard pill to swallow for me as a progression of the story. I'm OK wit ha little detour I think... but it didn't feel very seamless to me.

What I find interesting is Bruce has always been an activist in a way. He built a bomb, sure.. but PAD retconned it to be a cleaner, safer bomb. He had him join the Pantheon to do this kind of world change.. we even saw fallout of him making this kind of moves.. which may be why Professor is dormant (but likely Devil has them in the cave)

[PlatinumThorns]

Immortal Hulk #28 guest artist revealed, with preview art





His Hulk looks a little bit goofy, but it gives off a nice vibe imo.

[Jody Garland]

So if the goal is to thin the species, step 1 is to make a pirate broadcast saying the wealthy must pay? How does that make sense?

If humans are the problem, then wipe out humans indiscriminately. Why make a huge statement on how the established corporations/government is the issue? That narrative has no purpose except to push a political message that that has been completely void from the series for 24 issues prior.



But from the story perspective it was last issue. The narrative decided to reveal the end game of TOBA, and the very next arc we get with this knowledge in hand is ... Hulk takes on corrupt corporations? If he wishes to simply further his power, sure. Maybe this is a ruse to that end. But right now, a big statement about failure to invest in green energy instead of military projects and a public warning/vigilante decree against businesses just feels distinctly off brand. Where in issues 1-24 did you see Hulk go pro Paris Accords?

It's perfectly inline with what the Devil Hulk described in issue 15 when he's talking to Samson. "The human race needs to go. Let's start with the nukes. The president can end all life in minutes- and the whole system is designed to make it that easy. Can't have anything get in the way of Armageddon, right? ... Or maybe it won't even matter. The planet's already boiling to death- wildfires, hurricanes, whole chunks of the food chain dying off.... You want to know why I want to end the world, Samson? Because if I do it, some of them will live."

Devil Hulk's grievances are from the top of the system down. The vast majority of pollution and weaponry comes from corporate and governmental systems, the exact places Banner was talking about smashing. This has been an undercurrent for a while.