Bruce Banner - The Hulk Appreciation 2021

[Intothevoid]

Griffin: What can fans expect from your take on Hulk, Donny? Is Hulk getting the Venom treatment? Are we going to hear about some lore? What's your Hulk going to be like?

Donny: No, I don't know that it's gonna be like that really. It's a very additive approach. We're going to go to different places, we're gonna have new bad guys, we're gonna have new characters. It's a bit of a symptom of following Al [Ewing]. Al did, essentially, what Ryan and I did for Venom and came in and brought all this lore into it and this mythology to everything. Al just got done doing that with Immortal Hulk. And so I don't really feel like that's my lane on Hulk. Without spoiling how his run ends, it ends on a very succinct note that sets a very grand stage for the next iteration. The thing I could probably compare it to and- I said this on the live stream- is Mark Waid's Daredevil which, when it started, people were very, very confused by it. Confused about why it was all sunny, why everything was okay. Why was Matt Murdock happy? Why wasn't he addressing the fact that he was outed? It took a little while for Mark Waid to kind of turn the key on that and show you what he was doing and show you his hand. That's what we're doing on Hulk. Things are gonna seem real fucking weird and really fuckin angry for a while and if you'll just be patient with me, you'll see what it is that we're actually doing.

Ethan: What was appealing to you about shooting Hulk back out into space?

Donny: Well, it's funny... that Free Comic Book Day issue, and the title "Smashtronaut," seems to have given people the impression that we're going to go into space. That is not entirely true. We're going somewhere. I don't know if I would call it space but, we're going somewhere really fucking weird.

Ethan: (That's a good tease.)

Griffin: So, you just brought up Mr. Al Ewing. Of course, you've got this handoff happening here, as Al is taking over Venom, you are taking over Hulk. So how has that handoff been? What's exciting for you about seeing Al on Venom? And what do you hope you can give to Al in your own work?

Donny: I've stayed pretty far away from Venom since I left. I never want to be the guy who hangs around and gives notes on a thing that I'm not writing. It doesn't matter that I wrote it for so long or anything. It's their book now. I'm also not one to get my fucking feelings hurt if they change something about my run because, unless they invent time travel, they can't get rid of my run. I mean, if in the first issue of Al's run out, Eddie wakes up out of a dream and is like, "oh, that was weird," yeah, that's fine. I don't give a ****. That's fine. That being said, I have read the first three issues of their run. It is fucking unreal. It's so good. It's really, really, really good. Al is handling the Eddie, King in Black, god of the symbiotes stuff. It's kind of ethereal, very heady, kind of cosmic spiritual stuff. And Ram [V] is handling the boots on the ground, Dylan becoming Venom kind of thing. And it's quite beautiful, actually. As far as Hulk, Al has showed me the exact same respect back. I don't know if he's read what I'm doing or not. We exchanged some notes at a summit once. But, I think we're both of the same mind that whoever's name is on the book, that's their book. You don't jump into someone else's ****. So, I'm less concerned about Al than I am about Al's fans. Look, I can't control if you guys like it or not. I hope that you do. It's never my intention to make a bad product. That being said, I'm not Al. I write differently than Al does and Al writes differently than me. And so, if you liked Al's run, I hope that you'll give us a shot. If you don't like it, that's also fine, too. And if you don't like it, it's also fine for you to not tell me. It's also completely allowed to not get on Twitter and scream at me. I don't know if people know that or not. You don't have to actually do that.

Griffin: And also, as a fan, isn't that what we want? At the end of the day we have Al Ewing's whole run, which is incredible, but we're getting a complete and total tonal shift with you. Immortal Hulk with Al ran for, what, three or four years?

Donny: Yeah, it ran for the exact amount of issues and time as mine and Ryan's run.

Griffin: Exactly. And so I feel like now is a great time for a new era of Hulk and- this shift, this switch? Yeah, I couldn't ask for anything better.

Donny: I'm going full-on fucking Gonzo with it. The closest in tone would be Nextwave. It's fucking ridiculous. It's so fucking stupid and big and mean. It's fucking crazy.

Griffin: And Ryan Ottley is gonna draw a bunch of blood all over it.

Donny: Oh my god, dude. You have no fucking clue. It's so insane.

Ethan: All of your Marvel work kind of flows one thing into the next. You have a lot of crossover between things, a lot of lore that spills over. It can kind of be viewed as Donny Cates' Marvel saga, in a way. Would you prefer that people look at this series as the next step of Donny Cates' Marvel work or more so as its own thing?

Donny: Well, it definitely has its hooks in a couple of other little plotlines that I've put in other books. You know, next year is the anniversary of Thor and Hulk. It's like the 60th or something anniversary of both characters. And there hasn't been a writer writing both of those books at the same time since Stan. And as far as the Donny Cates like, whatever saga or mythology goes, I would be remiss if I didn't take that opportunity to make the fucking craziest fight that Marvel Comics has ever seen. Marvel saw fit, somehow, to give me the most powerful characters in the entire pantheon. And then they were, like, shocked when things got violent. That being said, there's definitely going to be some Thor antics. And then there's one fun little thing that happens, which is... Remember in King in Black, when Tony Stark rode a dragon into a Celestial's body and took it over and fuckin’ became an Iron Celestial? Well, Tony still has it.

Ethan: Mhm...

Donny: And he's been working on it.

Ethan: Oh my god.

Griffin: Jesus.

Donny: So that might be fun to play with.

Griffin: You son of a bitch. That's so awesome.

Ethan: Alright, time for the dumbest question: Who wins between Hulk at the start of your run and Venom at the start of your run?

Donny: Well, at the start of Venom, Eddie and the symbiote weren't getting along and the symbiote was losing its mind slowly because, it was being poisoned. And at the beginning of Hulk... There's some other **** happening... I would put money on Hulk. For sure. Yeah, he would **** him up.

Griffin: So, to wrap it all up, sir: If you could share one word to hype the entirety of your Hulk run, what would it be?

Donny: Incredible.

[Spiderfan001]

First of all a massive thanks for posting this here

Donny: I want to elicit emotional responses. It's kind of at the heart of everything that a writer does. But when I say that I'm experimenting with this, I'm trying something and I don't know if it's gonna work or not, because it's my contention that art is not candy. It's not meant to just do one thing, which is to make you happy. Art can be a variety of things. There's a very big difference between a song from Pantera and a symphony, right? One is filled with beauty and awe and makes you feel like your spirit and soul was rising out of you. The other one makes you want to fucking smash a brick wall out. And I would really like it if people read this book and felt a great degree of rage as they read it. Something I've been pushing with [Ryan] Ottley is to make the pages feel hot. Like this book was made out of anger.

Seems like he's going all for the rage/violence.I hope get's the right rage and doesn't just anger the readers...

Donny: Yeah, I do. I've been fairly open with the public about my problems with addiction and depression and anxiety and all these kinds of things. It does put me in a better headspace to kind of... how do I say this without sounding horrible? Bruce is not a healthy human being. You don't develop a Hulk inside of you by being an awesome person. And so I feel as though it is very cathartic for me to write somebody who is essentially- and I can't really give away too much of the plot- but from the first issue, you'll see that the journey he's on is not going to end well. He is speeding headlong into a wall. And everyone is telling him that and he can't hear them. It's the Breaking Bad of Hulk stories. The founding principle of the run is this idea that we've always thought that the Hulk was this personification of his 10 year old, abused self that is just lashing out, right? That's his monster. That's his shadow, his id. But what if that's not true? What if the Hulk is actually there to protect us from Bruce? What would Bruce do if he didn't turn into the Hulk when he got furious? Maybe the Hulk is there to stop that from happening. And in this run, we get to see just exactly what that looks like. And it's... not awesome.

Seems like Banner is going to made into a monster worse than the hulk.I don't like this so far...

Donny: No, I don't know that it's gonna be like that really. It's a very additive approach. We're going to go to different places, we're gonna have new bad guys, we're gonna have new characters. It's a bit of a symptom of following Al [Ewing]. Al did, essentially, what Ryan and I did for Venom and came in and brought all this lore into it and this mythology to everything. Al just got done doing that with Immortal Hulk. And so I don't really feel like that's my lane on Hulk. Without spoiling how his run ends, it ends on a very succinct note that sets a very grand stage for the next iteration. The thing I could probably compare it to and- I said this on the live stream- is Mark Waid's Daredevil which, when it started, people were very, very confused by it. Confused about why it was all sunny, why everything was okay. Why was Matt Murdock happy? Why wasn't he addressing the fact that he was outed? It took a little while for Mark Waid to kind of turn the key on that and show you what he was doing and show you his hand. That's what we're doing on Hulk. Things are gonna seem real fucking weird and really fuckin angry for a while and if you'll just be patient with me, you'll see what it is that we're actually doing.

I believe him in that he has a plan and isn't just lying to get us to buy more issues but I would have liked a time frame for when it starts adding up.

Griffin: Exactly. And so I feel like now is a great time for a new era of Hulk and- this shift, this switch? Yeah, I couldn't ask for anything better.

Donny: I'm going full-on fucking Gonzo with it. The closest in tone would be Nextwave. It's fucking ridiculous. It's so fucking stupid and big and mean. It's fucking crazy.

Oh no no no no no.He's being upfront about it being a massive tonal shift .Which means the intricate and nuanced storytelling of IH will be gone and replaced w/ weird and angry here.

Not to mention I read Nextwave less than a week ago because they are playing a part in Spider-man Beyond and this is terrible knews.It's fun and lighthearted w/ a lot of action but not much depth.It's like a deadpool-esque comic, works their but definitely not for the Hulk

Griffin: And Ryan Ottley is gonna draw a bunch of blood all over it.

Donny: Oh my god, dude. You have no fucking clue. It's so insane.

Seems like gore for the sake of gore, I'm all for it but it doesn't add to the story.A strong story can be made more appealing by great application of violence but it doesn't make or carry the book.

Donny: Well, it definitely has its hooks in a couple of other little plotlines that I've put in other books. You know, next year is the anniversary of Thor and Hulk. It's like the 60th or something anniversary of both characters. And there hasn't been a writer writing both of those books at the same time since Stan. And as far as the Donny Cates like, whatever saga or mythology goes, I would be remiss if I didn't take that opportunity to make the fucking craziest fight that Marvel Comics has ever seen. Marvel saw fit, somehow, to give me the most powerful characters in the entire pantheon. And then they were, like, shocked when things got violent. That being said, there's definitely going to be some Thor antics. And then there's one fun little thing that happens, which is... Remember in King in Black, when Tony Stark rode a dragon into a Celestial's body and took it over and fuckin’ became an Iron Celestial? Well, Tony still has it.

Donny: And he's been working on it.

Looking forward to the Hulk vs Thor thing because I 100% believe the fights in this book is going to be insane.

And it's definitely a Tony thing to do w/ the celestial, again the question is what is her doing w/ it and I hope it's interesting.

[Uggha]

There are some early reviews out on comicbook roundup.

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-b.../hulk-(2021)/1

[Cth]

There are some early reviews out on comicbook roundup.

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-b.../hulk-(2021)/1

For those worried about spoilers, only cameos are spoiled.

spoilers:

The Red and Yellow narration is Dr. Strange apparently.

end of spoilers

[Vordan]

There are some early reviews out on comicbook roundup.

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-b.../hulk-(2021)/1

So far it seems to be reviewing well. This bit from the interview gives me pause however:

Donny: I didn't really grow up as the biggest Hulk fan in the world. I found it later in life. When I was a retailer, I made it my duty to read every single comic book that was in that store. And I ended up going through the entire Peter David run and the Bruce Jones stuff with Mr. Blue and all that kind of stuff. It's always been a character that I found, I don't know, somewhat challenging to get my head around as a creator, as a writer.

That reminds me of how Waid felt about the character

[Intothevoid]

That reminds me of how Waid felt about the character

Yea same, although to be fair in Waids case it was so much worse. I found on Donnys twitter that he had a Hulk story in mind since at least 2013 that he REALLY wanted to do, with Waid he openly said he had no interest in the character or doing any stories with him, he was likely forced by editorial. So we will see how it turns out. I mean Cates admits Hulk is challenging, while i felt Waid didn't understand the character and just thought he was a boring, rage monster or something.

[Vordan]

Yea same, although to be fair in Waids case it was so much worse. I found on Donnys twitter that he had a Hulk story in mind since at least 2013 that he REALLY wanted to do, with Waid he openly said he had no interest in the character or doing any stories with him, he was likely forced by editorial. So we will see how it turns out. I mean Cates admits Hulk is challenging, while i felt Waid didn't understand the character and just thought he was a boring, rage monster or something.

Picking up the first issue tomorrow, hoping for the best. Long as it’s entertaining I’m prepared to accept Cates basically tossing everything Ewing did. Nature of the game when it comes to ongoings set in the mainline continuity.

[Cth]

Picking up the first issue tomorrow, hoping for the best. Long as it’s entertaining I’m prepared to accept Cates basically tossing everything Ewing did. Nature of the game when it comes to ongoings set in the mainline continuity.

Yes and no...

spoilers:

He references the Hulk is immortal. Betty shows up. Apparently, Bruce has intentionally fractured his mind, presumably this is the "Hulk is a ship" (ha ha, Hulk being literally an old ship stripped of fittings and permanently moored, especially for use as storage or (formerly) as a prison.) idea.. in a way, I thought of scenario along these lines when Jenkins was going to have Bruce die of ALS and exist only on the mental plane. Basically, he knows one day "Bruce" will die, and Hulk will take over. He references everyone trying to get rid of him and he's going away because he thinks no one will be able to handle what he becomes in the future.

end of spoilers

[Spiderfan001]

Read it and thought about it and here are some thoughts

spoilers:

1)Bruce seems sick of the hulk, and scared of him.Any other time I'd be all for this but Immortal hulk after 50 gruesome issues was all about Mercy and forgiveness and they went right back on it... 2)I wish the fight wasn't just Tony vs Hulk but Illuminati members vs Hulk.They had most of them available.Maybe even have some wholesome interactions w/ people who Bruce has better relationships w/ like one of his inner circles, Jen and Peter Parker.Maybe have Spider-woman who toyed w/ him and prefered hulk for more rage, etc. Just more interactions before he went way would have helped this issue 3)The art work is great.

end of spoilers

Looking forward to the next issues, I've already accepted the Bruce we are getting in this and no point in dwelling on that.

[Superfan90]

This has all the "tics" of a Donny Cates comic. Bruce comes off as entirely unlikable here.

[Superfan90]

Yeah, that's just dumb and not in a fun way.

[SanityOrMadness]

Picking up the first issue tomorrow, hoping for the best. Long as it’s entertaining I’m prepared to accept Cates basically tossing everything Ewing did. Nature of the game when it comes to ongoings set in the mainline continuity.

The way I would think about it (and I'm not really interested in it - I might glance at stuff here and there, but I don't intend to buy the book. The premise sounds distinctly uninteresting) is that Banner spent the last year-and-change of Immortal Hulk in Hell. And not just being tortured, being hollowed out. And there's no follow-up to that - when what's left of him is carried back through the portal, and he, Joe & Savage collapse back into one form, there's only a few pages left. He claims to be all better in some cursory narration, but it's practically the end of ST:Voyager, where we don't see what happens when they get home.

What if not all of him came back? What if some of what was lost stayed lost?

[xcoijoi]

Well, I was looking for an excuse NOT to continue reading Hulk after Immortal. But I was tempted to 'just check out the first issue' after IH.

This interview released any temptation to jump back in.

IH was a great run, and a perfect finale. Thanks Ewing and Bennett.

[Hulkbanner12]

I thought ya'll were doubting Donny cate take on hulk. Look at ya'll now liking it. Lmao. Human beings. lol

[Intothevoid]

I thought ya'll were doubting Donny cate take on hulk. Look at ya'll now liking it. Lmao. Human beings. lol

No i still don't like it, in fact i despise what he did to Banner here. This reminded me so much of Aarons "mad scientist" Banner that it made me almost vomit.

Also one thing that surprised me that i didn't expect to actually suck/be underwhelming was the action... Was anyone else underwhelmed how pathetic the action was? The gore is nowhere near the level of what Bennet drew, the action isn't groundbreaking and none of the hits feel like they carry much weight, there are too many close ups/zoom ins on the Hulk instead of more zoom outs giving you the sense of scale, power, explosion.

Can't believe Ottley let me down here... now i actually don't have anything to look forward to in this run.

I will at least say that i am glad Cates did not undo Hulk being immortal, that's literally it.