Opinions on the Professor 90s of the Hulk in PAD run.

[LordMikel]

kinda weird to leave halfway the arc and not finished off his run on the milestone issue 400 athough.

It was the "in" thing to do at the time, jump to Image. I do wonder how many artists that made the jump wish they had not.

[Coco Loco]

The Pantheon was an ahead-of-its-time cool idea but the individual members of the group, and their interpersonal dramas, were dull as dishwater and took up way too much space in the book during that era. I liked the Professor Hulk and didn't see him as a genetic strong guy at all. He had a very specific type of edge to him that we don't see in a lot of superheroes. Good guy but still kind of an a'hole - but not really an anti-hero type either.

[Gaastra]

Liked this version of the hulk. He was the best of both hulks and liked he was married to betty.

The Pantheon story was not as good as the pre stories but some good things like the wedding issues and did deal with some big subjects in the book. (the man thing two parter was dark.) It could go from dark to comedy just like that. Only thing that annoyed me was why was a hulk with bruces mind not in the avengers book? This would have been a great time for him to rejoin.


This issue is still alot of fun to read.

[IMG][/IMG]

And of course cap hires a magician only to find out she was a stripper then has "something in his eye" later and can't look. Fun issue.

[IMG][/IMG]


I kind of miss this hulk.

[K7P5V]

I feel pretty much the same. PAD is a good storyteller and his Hulk run is great, but marred by the fact that Hulk feels like a generic green strong guy.

It's a flaw that's not really noticeable if you read an arc individually, but becomes more and more apparent the more you go through his run.

True. But a generic, green strong guy with a genius-level/scientific intellect. Something you don't really come across that often, I'd wager.

The Pantheon was an ahead-of-its-time cool idea but the individual members of the group, and their interpersonal dramas, were dull as dishwater and took up way too much space in the book during that era. I liked the Professor Hulk and didn't see him as a genetic strong guy at all. He had a very specific type of edge to him that we don't see in a lot of superheroes. Good guy but still kind of an a'hole - but not really an anti-hero type either.

In agreement with you about Banner having an edge which was lacking in most heroes during that time.

Also, that callous/"jerky" attitude came to the forefront against Onslaught in this example from IH #445 (1996):

[phantom1592]

Only thing that annoyed me was why was a hulk with bruces mind not in the avengers book? This would have been a great time for him to rejoin.

That was touched on during the infinity gauntlet. He was holding a grudge since the avengers abandoned him in the early days. Someone pointed out that was when he was mindless, now that he had intelligence again, he could come back. His response was 'That'll do for now'.

I guess they never went anywhere with it... but it did establish he was holding a grudge.

[Rzerox21xx]

That was touched on during the infinity gauntlet. He was holding a grudge since the avengers abandoned him in the early days. Someone pointed out that was when he was mindless, now that he had intelligence again, he could come back. His response was 'That'll do for now'.

I guess they never went anywhere with it... but it did establish he was holding a grudge.

Just got the Future Imperfect 2 one shots in the mail in great condition and in a great price. i noticed it was released a year apart from now late 92 and late 93. yeah great stuff. that story did touched on a sensitive subject on female on male rape where Hulk was paralyzed by Maestro and he had one of this sex slaves "attend" to him with Bruce pleading for her to stop, and to add insult, the slave was named Betty. that actually traumatized Bruce to the point that he had to talk about it to Samson in a session right before Rick's bachelor party in 417. it was a big deal especially for a highly masculine characters like the Hulk. unfortunately i have some pretty toxic friends that made fun of that scene and said the Hulk should just have enjoyed the ride with the hot slave girl. ..........yeah these same friends also make light of my mental illness problems and think people are raising their kids too softly with therapy and medications...... you can see why i stop lending them my comics.

[HulkSmash!]

kinda weird to leave halfway the arc and not finished off his run on the milestone issue 400 athough.

Dale Keown planned to leave at #400; however, when his plan to go to Image leaked to Marvel editorial, they hastily fired him. Hence the next few issues were fill-ins until Gary Frank took over with #403.

~G.

[kilderkin]

I really think this hulk was very much the opposite of a generic strong guy, it's one of the reasons I liked him so much

I can't think of many super smart tough strong guys before, to a highly lesser extent of ability it has touches of doc savage (though the similarities with several superheroes are evident there in a way)

The pantheon idea I loved, but I do think that a lot more could have been done with them, Atalanta and Ajax were great I thought

Loved the use of rick, Marlo and Betty and even doc Samson was used better (the similarities with Samson as a smart strong guy is not lost on me upon reflection)

All on all I think it's still the only hulk run that I compare with planet hulk surpassingly imo

[Alan2099]

It's not the ideal version of the Hulk to me, but it's an interesting one. The run itself was wonderfully written and full of fun and great ideas.

The Pantheon though, they kinda sucked.

[K7P5V]

I really think this hulk was very much the opposite of a generic strong guy, it's one of the reasons I liked him so much

I can't think of many super smart tough strong guys before, to a highly lesser extent of ability it has touches of doc savage (though the similarities with several superheroes are evident there in a way)

The pantheon idea I loved, but I do think that a lot more could have been done with them, Atalanta and Ajax were great I thought

Loved the use of rick, Marlo and Betty and even doc Samson was used better (the similarities with Samson as a smart strong guy is not lost on me upon reflection)

All on all I think it's still the only hulk run that I compare with planet hulk surpassingly imo

In agreement with you about Doc Samson, as well as Banner's supporting cast. Peter David racked-up a lot of millage when it came to his supporting cast.

Doc Samson's appearance in Peter David's X-Factor will always be a personal favorite, though...

[phantom1592]

I really think this hulk was very much the opposite of a generic strong guy, it's one of the reasons I liked him so much

I can't think of many super smart tough strong guys before, to a highly lesser extent of ability it has touches of doc savage (though the similarities with several superheroes are evident there in a way)

I suppose you had to be actually reading the actual run to get the 'super smart guy' aspect. He was in a LOT of crossovers and team ups and was right up there with Wolverine and Punisher for guest stars.... so I saw a lot of professor Hulk... but most writers did a pretty poor job of conveying that. It's actually what annoyed me the most about him. They said he had Green's strenght and Banner's smarts... and Grey's attitude.... but he had a LOT more friends than Grey should have had and usually seemed rather pleasant... He was smarter, but only in the 'Let's have a plan instead of Hulk Smash'... and the abiltity to use giant guns.

PAD may have been showing things a lot better... but in general, I always felt that 'merged hulk' was seriously misused... Usually felt replacable with Savage Dragon.