Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2020

[Intothevoid]

I guess characterization is the thing I think is most important.

Personally it's like a 50/50 for me when it comes to Hulk, nailing down the character as well as either delivering lots of smashing or doing what Ewing is doing which is keeping the smashing sparse but having lots of horror(a genre i love) is also an acceptable way of doing it. As good as Ewings run is if it didn't have horror and only had as much smashing as it did, i wouldn't love it nearly as much as i do now.

I don't think Hulk is a character you could write without delivering on the big action or horror in this case.

[Immortal Hulk]

I guess characterization is the thing I think is most important.

I have to read something by Vita. But, honestly? I doubt Marvel would ever put a female writer to write a character/book like the Hulk, much like we don't see it on batman, superman, wolverine, flash...I could go on and on.

If her writing is good (and she can find the right voice for the character) I'd be up for it a 100%! I love Jenkins' run, for example, but action and feats were not his forte at all!

Also, I'd be worried about the more "extreme" fans, and I'm note even talking about the ones at comics gate level . Believe me, from twitter and other forums I read, what they say about some female writers and characters is disgusting. Notice that in few times Ewing writes very well about some real world issues, some of the reactions are crazy (like him not being a good writer with his crappy visions about politics being shoved int our mouths)!

These are my two cents. What do you think?

[Intothevoid]

I have to read something by Vita. But, honestly? I doubt Marvel would ever put a female writer to write a character/book like the Hulk, much like we don't see it on batman, superman, wolverine, flash...I could go on and on.

If her writing is good (and she can find the right voice for the character) I'd be up for it a 100%! I love Jenkins' run, for example, but action and feats were not his forte at all!

Also, I'd be worried about the more "extreme" fans, and I'm note even talking about the ones at comics gate level . Believe me, from twitter and other forums I read, what they say about some female writers and characters is disgusting. Notice that in few times Ewing writes very well about some real world issues, some of the reactions are crazy (like him not being a good writer with his crappy visions about politics being shoved int our mouths)!

These are my two cents. What do you think?

Vita is non-binary, although i understand what you mean. I don't think they would put someone like Vita or put some female writer on a Hulk or Superman or Thor, etc.. on-going series any time soon.

[Immortal Hulk]

Vita is non-binary, although i understand what you mean. I don't think they would put someone like Vita or put some female writer on a Hulk or Superman or Thor, etc.. on-going any time soon.

Yeah, correct for the non-binary. I should've put it better. And with all that I've said, it would be even harder.

[PlatinumThorns]

I would unironically want Grant Morrison to do a Hulk mini for an anniversary or something.

[Ptrvc]

Vita is non-binary, although i understand what you mean. I don't think they would put someone like Vita or put some female writer on a Hulk or Superman or Thor, etc.. on-going any time soon.

Do you think she's got a good Hulk story in her? One that has violence, action, unhappiness, mental health problems,
plenty of "male pain" without mocking said concept?

I don't care who writes the Hulk as long as they do a good job. If you do a bad job writing Hulk, I don't care who you are, I'll call it out.

I think most Hulk fans agree.

Mark Waid called Hulk fans, either the Angriest or the Meanest. Maybe that's true, but on the other hand his run was terrible.

[Intothevoid]

Do you think she's got a good Hulk story in her? One that has violence, action, unhappiness, mental health problems,
plenty of "male pain" without mocking said concept?

I don't care who writes the Hulk as long as they do a good job. If you do a bad job writing Hulk, I don't care who you are, I'll call it out.

I think most Hulk fans agree.

Mark Waid called Hulk fans, either the Angriest or the Meanest. Maybe that's true, but on the other hand his run was terrible.

I don't think Vita has any desire or plan how to write a Hulk story, so no.

I don't care either who writes it, as long as they manage to find a balancing between good character and smashing, if either of the 2 are lacking i can't enjoy the story.

I remember reading Hulk back when Waid was writing it and i can't comment on every reply he got on twitter but i do remember he got called out many times for messing up the continuity and getting called out on the mistakes he made writing Hulk, which is no surprise since he didn't care at all about the character and Hulk was the one character he never wanted to write, so that is the biggest reason for him saying Hulk fans were the nastiest fans out there, funny how Ewing has nothing but praise for Hulk fans, it's almost like one guy does no research on the character and the other does insane amounts of it.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Thanks to the stay at home orders, I'm getting caught up and reviews. But dammit, I didn't get the latest Hulk issue before the owner closed up shop.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Incredible Hulk #282
“Again Arsenal!”

Cover Date: April 1983
Sale Date: January 11th, 1983
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Al Milgrom

Guest Stars/Supporting Cast: The Avengers, Rick Jones, Bereet
Villain: Arsenal
Synopsis: As the Leader begins to put his plans into motion, Bruce Banner is unceremoniously kicked out of his hotel room for the destruction caused between his battle with the Leader’s Humanoids. Tony Stark makes arrangements to have him stay at Avengers Mansion, and Rick leaves the scene in anger, thinking Banner is getting the short end of the stick. Later on at the Mansion, it’s Bereet’s turn to huff and puff her way out of the room after Iron Man halts her attempt to film the situation in a restricted area. Enter the She-Hulk, who has a long talk with Bruce about her transformation. Bruce feels guilty, but Jen says she enjoys her life as the She-Hulk and that she is grateful for the accident. Their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of Arsenal, a robot created by Tony Stark’s father towards the end of World War II. It had malfunctioned and gave the Avengers some grief, who had believed it destroyed. The Hulk and She-Hulk tackle it but make little headway against it. Seeing that Bruce is still not comfortable as the heroic Hulk, she feigns a fatal injury that angers him to near-savage Hulk status. After destroying Arsenal, the Hulk and Avengers agree to tackle the Leader together.

Commentary: The first Hulk/She-Hulk team-up. Long overdue. And so much for the Bruce/Bereet relationship. In fact, Bereet isn’t long for the book much longer. Not sure if Mantlo had read the first She-Hulk series, but the first dozen issues or so, Jen was NOT having a good time as the She-Hulk. Sal & Joe do a spectacular job when the Hulk is thrashing Arsenal…I get that growl panel could be Fat-Head alert too…

[Intothevoid]

Thanks to the stay at home orders, I'm getting caught up and reviews. But dammit, I didn't get the latest Hulk issue before the owner closed up shop.

Damn, the last issue might have been the best one of the series tbh.

The comics shops are gonna open up again eventually.

[Vordan]

I would unironically want Grant Morrison to do a Hulk mini for an anniversary or something.

I love Morrison but his outlook on superheroes would clash with what Ewing is doing. Immortal Hulk is very much a horror comic and Hulk himself is not at all 100% a good thing, for Bruce or for humanity. Morrison is big on the positive aspects of superheroes, how they show the best part of humanity and help us aspire to be better. You see that in his work on Batman and Superman. Ewing meanwhile is using Hulk to explore the opposite side of that. Hulk is all the parts of us that we don’t want to see, the parts that disturb or even scare us. It would be interesting to see Morrison’s take on Hulk, I’d want to ask him how he views the character given his usual views on superheroes and how Hulk has both embodied and defied that outlook throughout his history.

Damn, the last issue might have been the best one of the series tbh.

The comics shops are gonna open up again eventually.

DC is going to (hopefully) start releasing stuff at the end of April and if they do I guarantee you Marvel will as well. God I want the next issue of Immortal Hulk, I need that Leader issue. I wanna know just how deep and far back his influence goes.

[a2542]

Didn’t enjoy Totally Awesome Hulk either, but I can’t agree that Pak doesn’t have range. His DC stuff, Batman/Superman and Action Comics were different in tone from Hulk and were great when he wasn’t getting screwed by DC’s idiot editorial mandates. His Darth Vader comic right now has been enjoyable so far. But whoever the next writer is, I’d prefer them to be someone new. None of Marvel’s current big names really appeal to me for writing for Hulk except maybe Hickman.

Agree with the Pak stuff entirely, his work after his Hulk run was a mixed bag. TA Hulk was a let down, but I did too enjoy his Batman/Superman stuff. Even forgot he did Action Comics too. Him doing Hulkverine was rather meh for me in all honesty, but I do like what he's doing with Darth Vader. Though to be fair I'm a sap for Darth Vader stuff even back when it was on Dark Horse, I still loved reading those along with the current ones under Disney's Marvel. I personally don't think Pak needs to return writing any Hulk stuff or should, a different writer is needed but it depends on what the tone of The Hulk's story after Ewing will be. Hickman is probably busy as hell doing his X-Men thing, but admittedly I've always wanted him to do a Hulk book and create a cool scientific Cosmic Horror story centrally focused with The Strongest One There is especially after his Fantastic Four/Future Foundation and Avengers/New Avengers runs.

[H-E-D]

Can’t see Hickman taking over Hulk. I think being total creative control over the X-Men was the only way for Marvel to get him back. He’s said X-Men was his dream job. Otherwise I think he just wants to do creator owned (or Legion of Super Heroes at DC)

[ChrisIII]

I thought Pak had a mostly strong run until the "Hulk family"/"Incredible Hulks" stuff. Kind of like how he worked with the de-powered Banner with his "Bannertech" and him training Skaar, and the return of the worldbreaker.


I did kind of like the Hulk/Betty/Tyrannus story, but that's because I'm a Bond fan. (Pak's currently writing the James Bond monthly I think as well).

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Damn, the last issue might have been the best one of the series tbh.

The comics shops are gonna open up again eventually.

Yeah...not too concerned with him going out of business.
There was a YouTube video about upcoming Epic collections recently -- sounds like the Byrne & Milgrom runs will be collected at last. This was on my Epic wishlist as far back as announcing the line over the Essentials. Couldn't find a release date, but with the virus, who the hell knows now...