Bruce Banner - The Hulk Appreciation 2021

[Immortal Hulk]

Gotta feeling we will know more once issue #50 hits, probably saving announcements till after. Chip writing a new ongoing would be amazing though.

Dream late 2021-2022 lineup for Hulk titles would be something like

Hulk Series continuing his war on humanity, get some new characters in or whatnot for it -OR- if Jackie M somehow ended up with Hulk powers, have a new ongoing be centered around her. New writer(Chip Z would def be high on the list, maybe Declan Shalvey on art, Bennett on cover art)

Defenders series helmed by Ewing that Hulk/Red Harpy are a part of

Gamma Flight upgraded to ongoing letting Gamma stories continue and playing catchup with some Hulk characters we havent seen much of in years, a very monster of the day series with HPG/ORCHIS overarching story, maybe even some teamups with SWORD, Red Hulk, She-Hulk, and others. Fraiser helming it with Ewing popping in when he feels like it.

Joe Fixit miniseries just telling a few additional stories of his time in Vegas. Just some fun mob stories, maybe Bennett on art.

That would a dream. A stellar "Gammaverse".

And about Chip, probably they're waiting to reveal something at least around #49 because it might spoil the new Hulk status quo.

[Intothevoid]

Lets also not get too ahead of ourselves. While it is possible Chip might end up writing Hulk after Ewing it's nothing more then speculation for now. So in case it doesn't happen, lets be more skeptical about it.

Personally i would love it to be the case, but i am still afraid it might be Cates or someone else in the end, let's hope not.

[Immortal Hulk]

Lets also not get too ahead of ourselves. While it is possible Chip might end up writing Hulk after Ewing it's nothing more then speculation for now. So in case it doesn't happen, lets be more skeptical about it.

Personally i would love it to be the case, but i am still afraid it might be Cates or someone else in the end, let's hope not.

Of course, you're right. The thing is that, at least in my mind, a sign Marvel wants top talent, which makes a lot of sense, in the next book. The thing that makes me afraid is Cates sells a lot, even though he's nowhere as talented as the top 3 at Marvel.

[Intothevoid]

Of course, you're right. The thing is that, at least in my mind, a sign Marvel wants top talent, which makes a lot of sense, in the next book. The thing that makes me afraid is Cates sells a lot, even though he's nowhere as talented as the top 3 at Marvel.

Yep, not to mention he is finishing up Venom which opens him up for another big book and i am afraid he might go for Hulk, lets hope it's Chip in the end. I do remember last time Ewing talked when he got the book that it was a fierce competition at the meeting because several other people pitched in their stories about Hulk and that's what scares me...

[Immortal Hulk]

Yep, not to mention he is finishing up Venom which opens him up for another big book and i am afraid he might go for Hulk, lets hope it's Chip in the end. I do remember last time Ewing talked when he got the book that it was a fierce competition at the meeting because several other people pitched in their stories about Hulk and that's what scares me...

True, I do remember what you mentioned. And I always stress Cates has a pitch for the Hulk, not to mention that not only Venom is ending, but so is his Crossover series for Image.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Incredible Hulk #330
“Head Games (An Old Soldier Dies!)”

Cover Date: April 1987
Sale Date: January 6th, 1987
Writer: Al Milgrom
Artist: Todd McFarlane
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Guest Stars/Supporting Cast: Bruce Banner, Betty Banner, Doc Samson, Clay Quartermain, “Thunderbolt” Ross, the Hulkbusters, Rick Jones
Villain: The Nevermind
Synopsis: Bruce Banner is coaching the Hulk into lifting a piece of wreckage after hearing cries for help. He’s stunned to find it’s Betty, and the Hulk takes them back to Gamma Base. The sun rises and he transforms back to Rick before he can leap away. Quartermain questions Betty about Banner and the Outcasts but she brushes them off to go visit her comatose father, who miraculously awakens. Cut to an airport in South Carolina, where the creepy butler from a couple issues back is boarding a plane and appears to be nervously talking to himself. Back at Gamma, Quartermain and Banner are exchanging words when he’s interrupted about Ross’ recovery. Betty is unsure of his condition but Ross assures her he’s fine and that he’s also kept some of Zzzax’s power and vows to kill the Hulk once again. This puts Betty over the edge, as she repeatedly and uncontrollably babbles “no no no”. Elsewhere in the complex, the remaining Hulkbusters are mulling over the offer Quartermain had made to LaRoquette about joining SHIELD. Sometime later at the airport, Creepy Butler has landed in New Mexico, and is now severely emaciated and drained. He pulls off his hood and a small tentacled creature leaps from his head to his plane-mate. He then directs his new victim to head towards Gamma Base and ends up taking control of a guard. The body begins to deteriorating too quickly and after a quick mind-scan, is able to locate Doc Samson, who has finally managed to calm Betty down, and take control of him. Betty faints, and the creature directs Samson to the central control post. Bruce and Rick are saying their goodbyes, as Rick believes that being in the company of Captain America or perhaps the Avengers would be a better option for his Hulk. Suddenly the doors are sealed and everyone heads to the control center. They’re shocked to see the creature atop Samson’s head and we get a small backstory on his plight. The sun goes down and Rick transforms, with his Hulk intent on rescuing Betty. Samson is directed to battle the brute and the creature decides to try his luck on possessing Betty. Banner leaps to her defense, leaving a stunned Ross to suddenly reconsider his feelings for Banner and the Hulk. The Hulk is too far away and Ross jumps to Betty’s defense this time. Before he can fully take control of Ross, the former general reaches up and fries the creature with the remaining power he retained from Zzzax. The Hulk escapes and a dying Ross confides in Betty that he had misjudged the Hulk and Banner, and that the only that came between them was his own unreasoning hatred. He sheds a tear and mutters his love for Betty before quietly passing away. Banner swears to take care of Betty for him and LaRoquette quietly vows to continue his crusade against the Hulk in his place. The book closes with a nice splash of Betty cradling her father in her arms, as Bruce silently sobs and Quartermain and the Hulkbusters somberly look on.
Commentary: First McFarlane on the Hulk. This is not superstar McFarlane art either; he was still very green and very much reigned in by editorial. I believe he said that Bob Harras wasn’t going to let him do the “crazy” stuff he’d been doing on Infinity Inc. over at DC. I’m not sure what Harras meant by “crazy” either; I’ve seen his Infinity Inc. stuff. Pretty tame. Unless he was referring to the odd panel structures. He also did the cover to this, but the final product is a far cry from the thumbnails and sketches we see in his art bio book. I found a nice B&W scan and recolored it in Photoshop with a more color-accurate look to it. I could never figure out what the heck Banner was wearing for the longest time and then realized, ugh…that’s his Hulkbuster uniform, not casual dress. This one was a want, but I was in a situation where I couldn’t get it when I saw it on the stands. Since there was no letter column or next issue blurb, I actually thought the book was over & done since Banner wasn’t the Hulk anymore and they killed off Ross. After seeing #331 on the stands, I rejoiced but it took me a long time to find it and lots of yardwork and lawn mowing to get it, because it had reached a pretty hefty price on the back issue market by the time I saw it again in the comic store (around the time McFarlane was making waves on ASM). I think I plunked down $30 for this book and not in the greatest condition either…

[Immortal Hulk]

It seems we'll see some FF again in Immortal Hulk.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

IH330 recolored.jpg

Took some digging around, but found my recolored cover. Hope it looks good...
**Yeah, looks ok...***

[Vordan]

It seems we'll see some FF again in Immortal Hulk.

If the OAA is going to be showing up, I wonder if he’ll still look like Jack Kirby?

[king of hybrids]

If the OAA is going to be showing up, I wonder if he’ll still look like Jack Kirby?

Can you think of a better “Hey Stan, screw you!” Opportunity for a Marvel writer?

[Immortal Hulk]

If the OAA is going to be showing up, I wonder if he’ll still look like Jack Kirby?

Maybe. But I think Ewing show him like we've already seen in "the book of Job" and the cover for #50.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Incredible Hulk #331
“Inconstant Moon”

Cover Date: May 1987
Sale Date: February 10th, 1987
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Todd McFarlane
Inker: Kim DeMulder
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Guest Stars/Supporting Cast: Bruce Banner, Betty Banner, Clay Quartermain,
Antagonists: The Hulkbusters.
Synopsis: The Rick Jones Hulk stands atop a butte howling in rage at the new moon in the New Mexico desert as John LaRoquette musters the Hulkbusters to go out and recapture him. A distraught Betty is trying to come to terms with her father’s death as Banner blurts out that he should be the one to capture the new Hulk by becoming the Hulk again himself. A flabbergasted Betty berates him for saying such a thing, leaving Banner to wonder what possessed him. Quartermain, worried about his superiors reactions to recent events, gives the ok for the Hulkbusters to head out and decides to call in a local morgue for the deceased Thunderbolt Ross. Words are exchanged between the two and a soon-to-be-retired Lenny is forced to bring along a less than ideal coworker named Sterns as help. The Hulkbusters have mobilized and are scouting for any signs of the Hulk, with Banner monitoring the situation back at Gamma Base. During a quiet moment, Bruce let it slips to Betty that he would occasionally use a gamma ray projector to purposely change into the Hulk during the early days. Betty is shocked at this admission, and leaves the area after a smart remark about being a distraction. A thumping noise makes Hideko believe she hit something and Martel drops back to find the Hulk atop her ship. Bruce makes the comment that something has happened, as he looks larger and fiercer than before, and that the change must be progressing even further. Hideko tries shaking off the Hulk with no luck. Banner panics and shouts into the communications line “Rick, let go! Don’t do it! Don’t let the Hulk win!” LaRoquette overhears this and holds onto this information for later. Hideko is able to shake the Hulk off and the others make their move. Banner, however, is stressing over the situation, and is unsure of the last few minutes. Did he call Rick’s name a moment ago? He sees Betty sobbing over her father’s body and tries to comfort her, but she rejects him. Banner storms off stating that he started this, and he’ll finish it…bumping into creepy morgue helper Sterns, who has been making odd comments at the Hulk on the monitor. Lenny tells him to get going and moments later, starts following Banner rather than heading back to the city morgue. Lenny’s had it and as he tries to take the wheel, gets his skull crushed for his trouble. Back in town, we see a character named Ramon at the police station asking about Betty, as he claims that he’s her husband. Back in the desert, LaRoquette gets more than he bargained for as a lucky shot angers the Hulk and he ends up breaking through the ship’s flooring and crushing his ankle. Saunders comes to the rescue with three close-up shots of armor piercing shells, leaving the Hulk slightly bloody. Martel has had it and uses an electrified net to try and end the battle. Saunders isn’t down for playing nice and wants another shot at the brute. The Hulk ends up flipping the net over Saunders’ ship, shorting everything out and sends it sailing into a nearby cliff with a thunderous punch. The Hulk leaves and the battered Hulkbusters head back to Gamma Base, and LaRoquette lets everyone else in on the knowledge that Rick Jones is now the Hulk. Elsewhere, we find Banner in his old cave hideout, getting ready to use a gamma ray device to transform himself back into the Hulk, with the belief that he’ll retain his own intellect. As he starts to change, he realizes it was all a trick and the Gray Hulk is back, claiming he’s here to stay. He smashes the machine and we now understand the reason for Banner’s verbal mishaps earlier, as he was influencing his actions the whole time. The Hulk is interrupted by the creepy but now tearful Sterns, who berates the Hulk for smashing the equipment. Turns out that Sterns is actually SAM Sterns, aka the Leader – who we last saw falling into a volcano. Sterns avoids answering the Hulk’s question on why he’s normal and the two end the issue by agreeing to team together to get rid of Banner and Rick Jones…
Commentary: Here it is, in it’s infancy, but we get Peter David as the new writer for the book. As written in the intro to the first Visionaries volume, he wasn’t planning on lasting more than 6 months. Bob Harras pretty much gave him cart blanche, as he could keep using Rick as the Hulk, keep Banner gray or change him back to the more-familiar green Hulk again. The gray Hulk intrigued PAD more than anything, so that’s the direction he went with. The next few issues are going to be spent tying up loose ends from both Byrne and Milgrom’s run, but seeds are planted for his own work that eventually culminates into the merger a few years down the road. McFarlane’s pencils are a little rough around the edges, but I tend to think it was the inker. McFarlane admits to this being a frustration early on because he didn’t like the end results. This issue wasn’t that bad, compared to next. It’s been a while since I’ve called out a Fat-Head Alert, but I will be doing some Swipe Alerts during this run. First one up is page 21, first panel is a swipe from Mignola from page 13, left panel in issue HULK #313. Second one is kind of a stretch, but the second panel from page 21 is also really familiar. At best, it looks like it’s a very similar smashing pose to the top panel of page 19 from HULK #314.

[ChrisIII]

Finally got #45. I'm guessing they're hinting that Devil might not be quite dead, as he seems to be possibly communicating with Bruce possibly (The whole leaving enough room for Joe).

However Banner and Devil are still stuck in gamma hell while Joe and Savage are out. Kind of curious what the new incarnation (NuJoe?) will possibly have as a human form. The Mustached, long-hair one he's had for a while? Or maybe even have Savage Banner with Joe as the Hulk? I'm guessing perhaps Bruce and Devil escape at the end, possibly setting up the next run, although back to the Bruce/Devil dynamic.

[Dinosaur Hulk]

APR210920.jpg
Bennett's variant for # 47. Gorgeous as always.

[ChrisIII]

Seems to be a homage cover, I don't think it'll deal with a storyline.


One other thought did occur to me-what if Devil/Banner escape in a seperate body somehow (Sterns?), and Fixit/Savage also remain as the Hulk? We've already introduced the whole body-swapping thing with Samson and Sasquatch, and also bursting out of bodies has been done a few times with the new transformations too.

Banner and the Hulk have of course been separated bodily before, but not Hulk incarnations. That could set up an interesting dynamic, with Joe/Savage being one Hulk and Banner/Devil being the other. Just a thought. The "brothers" (Which is pretty much their relationship now) and the "Father & Son" (As Devil is sort of a "father figure" to Banner in a weird way).