Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2020

[Vordan]

I wrote the article series in question a few years ago. Glad to see people are still getting mileage out of it!

Somewhere in Byrne Robotics--his message board--somebody brought the article to Mr. Byrne's attention. He liked it right up to the part where I brought up any small criticism of his run. That was...interesting. But hey...he read my stuff!

~G.

Went off on you didn’t he? Yeah I’ve heard he runs that board as a full blown authoritarian. You say anything he doesn’t like or agree with and it’s an instant ban for you. Good series though, I love reading about what might have been.

Here's a larger version of that image, there's a lot of detail packed in there...



I wonder if this appearance Hulk will see the "light of day" as it were.

Good to see Bennett’s still working. I really hope Marvel gets their act together soon. DC is going to be starting up in June in full and I’d like to see Marvel do likewise. We’re getting another Hulk issue this month right?

[Intothevoid]

Ron Garney also posted this on his instagram. Not sure what it means, maybe Maestro will appear in the Juggernaut series? Or maybe Ron is gonna draw a future issue of Immortal Hulk and Maestro appears in some form.

[Intothevoid]

Good to see Bennett’s still working. I really hope Marvel gets their act together soon. DC is going to be starting up in June in full and I’d like to see Marvel do likewise. We’re getting another Hulk issue this month right?

Nope unfortunately Marvel is rolling out their comics slowly, we wont get Immortal Hulk 34 until June 24th.

[ChrisIII]

Looks a lot like it could be Devil, who still appears in a reptile form in the "Mindscape" (Which this could be, I'm guessing the kid is Bruce). Guilt often kind of has a more elongated head. It'd be easier if there was color, as he's usually portrayed as dark yellow.


Either that or it's Stegron, which given Ewing's use of some more obscure villains (Xemnu, Bushwacker, Hotshot) in addition to the classics (Leader, sorta abomination, Absorbing Man) could also qualify. Although I'm pretty sure Stegron is more 'beaked'.

[Hypestyle]

what is the "guilt Hulk"? why the reptilian body?

[Vordan]

what is the "guilt Hulk"? why the reptilian body?

Exactly what it sounds like. Bruce’s guilt and self-hatred personified. If Devil Hulk personifies the rage Bruce feels towards the world for the way he’s been treated, Guilt Hulk personifies Bruce’s self-hatred for stuff like creating the Hulk and gamma bombs. I believe he first showed up in Jenkins run along with Devil Hulk. Guilt Hulk threatened to take over, with Devil urging Bruce to let Devil out, as Devil claimed he was the only one strong enough to beat Guilt. Devil and Guilt are kinda opposites of one another, so I could definitely see Ewing playing with that.

[Intothevoid]

I still feel like he doesn't look like Devil Hulk inside Banners mind



Bennett already drew him as being reptilion but still humanoid, especially regarding his round head, while this new Hulk looks way more reptilian almost like a dinosaur, he even has a tail.

[GreenScar1990]

Here's a larger version of that image, there's a lot of detail packed in there...



I wonder if this appearance Hulk will see the "light of day" as it were.

You have got to love the detail Joe Bennett puts in his work! This illustration of Devil Hulk is really proof of how great an artist he is.

[GreenScar1990]

Ron Garney also posted this on his instagram. Not sure what it means, maybe Maestro will appear in the Juggernaut series? Or maybe Ron is gonna draw a future issue of Immortal Hulk and Maestro appears in some form.

Would be interesting if Juggernaut and Hulk face-off against The Maestro who is the true threat in that mini. The Maestro definitely deserves to be totally reinvented as his treatment over the years has been super, ultra disrespectful and insulting. The Maestro should be an elite villain on par with Thanos & Dr. Doom in terms of power & intelligence. Hoping this is a step in the right direction.

[ChrisIII]

I think that sometimes the Hulks can alter their appearance in the mindscape; although Ron Garney seemed to draw the Devil as muscular and therefore Hulkish, Romita Jr made him more of a thin lizard-like creature.

During the Paul Jenkins run when Bennett actually drew a few issues he gave the Devil Hulk the Romita Jr. look. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_Hulk (second picture)


Joe's image in the mindscape seems to have been changed to reflect his new form too (Basically, Bruce with Hawaiian shirt, mustache and sunglasses). Curiously, Devil Hulk's attempt to take over in Jenkin's run show Joe in a thinner, emaciated form (A bit like when he was dying in the last Vegas issues) but still Grey.

Regarding the Guilt Hulk, although this version did appear in Jenkins run along with Devil it's worth noting that it closely resemble's Bruce's image of his father from #377. During Chaos War Brian basically became that too.

Come to think of it, maybe this thing represents Brian....

[PlatinumThorns]

I agree that it might be Devil Hulk. Just looking at it, it looks like he's trying to be "nice" to a young Bruce but Bruce is of course frightened. The issue is, there's very little context for this scene as with with Joe's other WIPs and Ewing likes to through curve balls, so it's hard to make any definitive guesses.

[Cth]

Important detail that leads me to think it's Devil Hulk..

He's holding an apple in his left hand.

[ChrisIII]

Kind of makes me wonder, it's kind of been strongly implied over the years that Bruce was already mentally not well prior to the gamma and the Hulk personas pretty much were already there, just not manifested as super-strong monsters yet. For instance the "savage" manifested when he was a kid, "Joe" showed up a few times in his college years etc.


What if Banner didn't have these personas when he got the radiation? Would he pretty much just be like the other gamma mutates who pretty much retain their human personas (Ross, Jen and Cho for the most part, and Ewing seemed to kind of imply that their "savage" sides are actually from the "Bruce" radiation they got, as Samson stated). Maybe something like the merged/professor?

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I wrote the article series in question a few years ago. Glad to see people are still getting mileage out of it!

Somewhere in Byrne Robotics--his message board--somebody brought the article to Mr. Byrne's attention. He liked it right up to the part where I brought up any small criticism of his run. That was...interesting. But hey...he read my stuff!

~G.

It's one of the reasons I stopped actively participating on his forum. Sometimes it feels like unless the criticism comes from Byrne himself, it's NOT okay to do so. And then to actively counter his criticisms...ugh. And the un-ending "It's all Shooter's fault"...
I still want to know exactly what happened with his firing on his second Hulk run! He will NOT divulge any info on that....

[ChrisIII]

Reaching a bit here but it's possible both Guilt and Devil owe a bit to the appearence of the Goblin, since Peter David, Jenkins, and Ewing all owe a lot to Mantlo's run especially the Crossroads saga. Although Goblin, along with Guardian and glow, don't represent any Hulk personas really as much as much as the Bruce persona trying to put itself back together again after pretty much burying itself real deep during the NY rampage.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Gobli...ad)_(Earth-616)



I think there's also a fan theory that the mute mindless Hulk at it's most violent is actually the Guilt Hulk, with the reptilian form just it's form on the mindscape.