Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2020

[H-E-D]

I feel like this book has been muddled ever since the Xemnu arc. It’s still a great book, but it’s not matching the highs on the front half.

I’ll miss Devil Hulk, assuming this sticks; he was my favorite of the alters as Ewing writes them.

[Immortal Hulk]

Very high praise here:

COMICBOOK.COM (10/10)

THE IMMORTAL HULK #39

Joe Bennett’s skill as a comics artist has undergone a serious reevaluation in the past two years and change since The Immortal Hulk #1 debuted. His storytelling and design work on the series has been nothing short of stellar with almost every issue reading as an escalation, even after that absolutely stunning start. And then The Immortal Hulk #39 arrives and it is, without a doubt, the most terrifying comic book I have read this Halloween season. As The Leader goes on a rampage in Bruce Banner’s psyche, the many forms inside (Samuel Sterns included) undergo physical changes that rival the best of Cronenberg and Carpenter. He reimagines the human form in metaphor, twisting and transforming elements to strike fear and reflect the many forms of monstrosity on display. A series of spreads escalate the action and deliver the series’ most stunning twist to date, before following it with a cliffhanger that will haunt readers in the weeks preceding issue #40’s release. This issue is an experience, an explosion that builds upon so much carefully laid groundwork in order to present a vision of hell that really looks like hell. It’s one of the best drawn comics to be released this year; you have been warned. -- Chase Magnett

https://comicbook.com/comics/news/ne...ber-28-2020/#3

[Lukmendes]

So after issue #25, I thought Immortal Hulk was hit or miss, Dario's arc just wasn't that interesting for me.

But I read those issues, to get the whole story, and then we're shown what Leader has been up to, which then it got real interesting, after issue#38, spoilers:

I expected a straight forward battle where Devil Hulk solves the whole thing, which is kinda the usual, then, issue#39 happened, holy ****... Is it too obvious to use the meme that 2020 is so fucked it killed Devil Hulk? Legit can't wait to see what happens next, this is one of those endings that makes me stop and think "What was that?", not in a bad way mind you.

end of spoilers

One thing I liked is how in issue#38, when Devil Hulk shows up, it kinda mirrors IH#1, when he goes after that kid who killed Banner and that girl:

https://i.imgur.com/yA0Cedb.png

https://i.imgur.com/ULZDK9t.png

https://i.imgur.com/M7yjuib.jpg

At least the way Leader is scared shitless and Devil Hulk looks so threatening reminds me of it, wish it had the switching first person camera, but it's still good.

[kalai]

Man, this issue makes me so emotional for some reason.
Same goes to last issue, guess I really like Devil Hulk being that protective father figure.
I hope they can get their revenge on Leader.
Also where did Samson and Rick go???

[Lukmendes]

Y'know, I'm thinking the only Hulks left in Bruce's body to do something aren't just Savage and Joe.

Back in issue#15, we had this moment with Devil:

https://i.imgur.com/COBb3yq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DN93AnJ.jpg

Maybe this Hulk wasn't just to explain Secret Empire's Hulk's actions, since Devil is possibly gone now, maybe he'll be set free.

[your_name_here]

Y'know, I'm thinking the only Hulks left in Bruce's body to do something aren't just Savage and Joe.

Back in issue#15, we had this moment with Devil:

https://i.imgur.com/COBb3yq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DN93AnJ.jpg

Maybe this Hulk wasn't just to explain Secret Empire's Hulk's actions, since Devil is possibly gone now, maybe he'll be set free.

Nice catch. I’d be surprised if that wasn’t addressed.

[Vordan]

Y'know, I'm thinking the only Hulks left in Bruce's body to do something aren't just Savage and Joe.

Back in issue#15, we had this moment with Devil:

https://i.imgur.com/COBb3yq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DN93AnJ.jpg

Maybe this Hulk wasn't just to explain Secret Empire's Hulk's actions, since Devil is possibly gone now, maybe he'll be set free.

Hmm good catch. The Hulk from SE is described as “mindless”, an empty shell of hatred. That’s also what Hulk is in the bad future of issue 25. The two could be related.

[SanityOrMadness]

It's unfortunate but at the same time sets up the bar pretty high for any writer that follows, you can no longer pull a Mark Waid where you can just write Hulk as basically rampaging bulldozer with no character.

Eh, that's optimistic. Jenkins' run with Banner, Savage, "Joe" and another intelligent Hulk was immediately followed by Bruce Jones (and look up some of the quotes bigging up that run in the 2004(?) Hulk Encyclopedia. Hilarious.) PAD's first run was followed by Joe Casey doing mute Hulk (ezcept the last couple of issues), then Byrne doing full-on "rampaging bulldozer."

These things go in cycles. The shadow of that old TV show remains long (even Ewing gestured to it with his first few issues, even if he diverged from that path fairly quickly).

[Intothevoid]

Eh, that's optimistic. Jenkins' run with Banner, Savage, "Joe" and another intelligent Hulk was immediately followed by Bruce Jones (and look up some of the quotes bigging up that run in the 2004(?) Hulk Encyclopedia. Hilarious.) PAD's first run was followed by Joe Casey doing mute Hulk (ezcept the last couple of issues), then Byrne doing full-on "rampaging bulldozer."

These things go in cycles. The shadow of that old TV show remains long (even Ewing gestured to it with his first few issues, even if he diverged from that path fairly quickly).

Yea but i am talking about doing the run without it ending up being a great run. I am sure you can do a fun Hulk run where you just have Hulk smash stuff and fight Juggernaut, Thor, Avengers and everyone else but such runs will never achieve greatness on this level, you have to look at the character a lot deeper than writers have before.

[ChrisIII]

Eh, that's optimistic. Jenkins' run with Banner, Savage, "Joe" and another intelligent Hulk was immediately followed by Bruce Jones (and look up some of the quotes bigging up that run in the 2004(?) Hulk Encyclopedia. Hilarious.) PAD's first run was followed by Joe Casey doing mute Hulk (ezcept the last couple of issues), then Byrne doing full-on "rampaging bulldozer."

These things go in cycles. The shadow of that old TV show remains long (even Ewing gestured to it with his first few issues, even if he diverged from that path fairly quickly).

I remember that encyclopedia. Basically just kind of ignored the comics completely except for Startling stories:Banner, the Ultimates, and the Bruce Jones run, pretty much 'roasted' everything else and pretty much otherwise just talked about the Bill Bixby TV show and movie. I'm not sure what Marvel was thinking with this (Then again this was a sort of awkward era for them at times, despite many good runs). The author was better known for Rock and Roll history books than anything to do with comics or Hulk.

It actually arrived in June 2003, not 2004, to help promote the movie.

Thankfully DK came out with their Incredible guide at the same time, which was much better.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I remember that encyclopedia. Basically just kind of ignored the comics completely except for Startling stories:Banner, the Ultimates, and the Bruce Jones run, pretty much 'roasted' everything else and pretty much otherwise just talked about the Bill Bixby TV show and movie. I'm not sure what Marvel was thinking with this (Then again this was a sort of awkward era for them at times, despite many good runs). The author was better known for Rock and Roll history books than anything to do with comics or Hulk.

It actually arrived in June 2003, not 2004, to help promote the movie.

Thankfully DK came out with their Incredible guide at the same time, which was much better.

Yeah, that thing was GARBAGE. I think the author flat-out admitted that he knew NOTHING about the Hulk, but they chose him to write it (?). And so many things wrong and ignored....

The DK Guide was written by Tom DeFalco, so it was more accurate in the first 4 pages than the entire "encyclopedia" boasted about.

[ChrisIII]

I guess with Whedon doing some decent comics they figured they'd hire more "outside the box" writers, perhaps.

Rob Zimmerman, for example, who did a lot of strange Spider-Man comics around that time (Get Kraven, for example) and "Ultimate Adventures".

[Lukmendes]

Hmm good catch. The Hulk from SE is described as “mindless”, an empty shell of hatred. That’s also what Hulk is in the bad future of issue 25. The two could be related.

Hm, then maybe what I guessed isn't gonna happen, was thinking that one was gonna be used to help.

Maybe TOBA will eventually get rid of Leader, and go for the being who is the most similar to it? From what Brian says, TOBA is also essentially a mindless, full of hatred... And considering that whenever it possesses someone, it keeps the personality quirks, that Hulk in IH#25 wasn't like Leader at all, so yeah, maybe it'll use SE Hulk...

[Jness]

I guess with Whedon doing some decent comics they figured they'd hire more "outside the box" writers, perhaps.

Rob Zimmerman, for example, who did a lot of strange Spider-Man comics around that time (Get Kraven, for example) and "Ultimate Adventures".

Zimmerman was a friend of Quesadas. More of a nepotism hire than anything.

[Jness]

Call me an optimist but I’m not sure that a comic book titled “The Immortalk Hulk” is going to have the Devil Hulk stay permanently dead.

I do predict we’re going to see Gray Hulk finally emerge around the U-foes arc, though.