Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2020

[kalai]

Joe hasn't but Savage Hulk has in #33 when he burst out of Banner.

Interesting, I'm actually thinking could they all burst out of each other and we will have a bunch of hulks.

[ChrisIII]

It also goes back to Peter David's run (#372 I think). The Savage Hulk had been dormant for a long time (Pretty much throughout most of the 300s, where it was for the most part either mindless or Grey/Joe Fixit in charge) but an adventure with the Defenders where Hulk got posessed broke down some mental barriers enough for savage to come back with force when Bruce got angry that he couldn't reunite himself with Betty (and also had to deal with the Pantheon before he became their allies) that he literally 'shed' Banner.

This led to a couple of issues where they eventually reunited with Rick and Marlo, Doc Samson had a sort of epiphany about how Bruce's mind works, the Hulks and Banner started battling for dominance etc. which eventually led to the Merged/Professor Hulk era.

[Celgress]

Immortal Hulk #44




Alex Ross always being incredible!

Sweet

[Immortal Hulk]

I wonder what/who Doc Sasquatch is gonna face/fight in New Mexico...Also, now it's almost sure Jackie is going Gamma too, huh?

[Cth]

I also saw it metaphorically as Joe being reborn. The imagery of Hulk's belly swelling and bursting with the intestines serving as the umbilical cord thematically..

[Immortal Hulk]

Maestro #4 Preview

https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/SEP200652

[ChrisIII]

Kind of makes you wonder about the gamma hair thing (For instance, Ross's mustache vanishing when he becomes Red). Sometimes Bruce and Hulk have the same haircut like if Bruce goes bald, usually Hulk winds up bald too. But here we have Joe in human form with the mullet and mustache (Which I'm pretty sure Bruce didn't have before his last transformation into savage)...and Samson with his green, long hair in Walter's body.

[HulkSmash!]

I'm curious about something on the letters page... spoilers:

Ewing says that the Hulk's diminished condition is due to Banner being absent - rather than, say, Fixit only being able to "half-Hulk out" - but that's never been a thing before in the various times they've been split.

end of spoilers

But really, when you think about it, each time the Hulk and Banner have split, the circumstances and outcomes have been radically different - no two cases alike. So who can say WHAT'S "normal" when separating one part of the system from the rest? (Which falls right in line with the "Gamma=magic" throughline Ewing's had in play since "Hulk in Hell.")

~G.

[Immortal Hulk]

Yeah, Ewing has said Hulk's power is heavily dependent on his psychology. Now imagine what "killing" a good part of the system (Banner and Devil) can do to the whole.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah there's been some different effects with seperation-when Banner was first suppressed mentally around 300 the Hulk became totally mindless; same thing happened pretty much when he became physically separated during the Bryne/Milgrom stuff.

Then there's Heroes Reborn although that one was a bit odd, as it wound up with Banner becoming the Savage Hulk in the other world while a "Grayvage" existed elsewhere. Funny thing is I think the intention behind that Hulk was that it was basically the Merged but with the Banner component missing, but then again you have savage with Banner...


Third case I think was the Aaron run which pretty much had the Green Scar Hulk and the Banner body was a clone, but the Clone eventually was absorbed into Hulk so things pretty much returned to their normal relationship, although Savage (although quieter to probably reflect the MCU Hulk) took over in Waid's run.


So I guess it's kind of inconsistent.

[Hypestyle]

I'm glad Samson came back as Sasquatch, as I predicted some time ago. "Doc Sasquatch" is cool!

so why are these folks colored dark-pink?

[Intothevoid]

so why are these folks colored dark-pink?

I was honestly wondering the same thing, they all look a very weird shade of pink.

[Intothevoid]

I was thinking, Devil Hulk said he locked up in pieces a version of Hulk that's just pure rage and doesn't care who it hurts and then he said this

Untitled.jpg

So now i am wondering was this foreshadowing, now that Devil Hulk is gone are Joe and Savage unaware that they are in big trouble and that this locked up version of Hulk might escape?

[Crossfist]

Still reading Peter David's run and the writing is good, but what sticks out the most to me is Petra Scotese's colors. This book is so colorful and that has made it even more fun to read.

[HulkSmash!]

Third case I think was the Aaron run which pretty much had the Green Scar Hulk and the Banner body was a clone, but the Clone eventually was absorbed into Hulk so things pretty much returned to their normal relationship, although Savage (although quieter to probably reflect the MCU Hulk) took over in Waid's run.

There's no consistent way to read Aaron's run - I read it as Banner being chemically suppressed and cloned. Banner didn't go nuts because he was without Hulk, he went nuts because he was an imperfect clone. Hulk so utterly believed he was split into two people that it was only after the "other" Banner died that he could even transform back to Banner himself. And, well, Banner only has memories of the clone from the Hulk watching the looneytunes clone. I swear it works with fuzzy comic book logic.

There have been other times Banner and Hulk have been separated. For two: Incredible Hulk #130-131, where they were separated by Raoul Stoddard's Gammatron and their personalities kept pretty much the same; and Incredible Hulk Annual #10, where they were separated by the Unipower with Banner becoming Captain Universe, and the Hulk seemed remarkably more feral than usual. Plus more recently the Hulk and Banner were separated while in the Hell Below All Hells (Immortal Hulk #10-13). So I guess that's 3 more times.

~G.