Bruce Banner, The Incredible Hulk Appreciation 2022

[Golden_Guardian]

Finally got to Hulk #50 on Marvel Unlimited. Man that has to be one of the all time great runs on any character. I am not even a huge Hulk fan, but wow.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Incredible Hulk #370
“Strange Matters”

Cover Date: July 1990
Sale Date: April 17th, 1990
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Dale Keown
Inker: Bob McCleod
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Guest Stars/Supporting Cast: Doc Samson, Dr. Strange, Namor, Wong, Imei, and Rintrah
Villain: The Strange Matter Creature
Synopsis: Minutes before sunrise, the Hulk arrives in New York City and has an encounter with a Dr. Strange, in his sprit form, battling a strange matter creature in the apartment of the elderly lady from last issue. The Hulk unwittingly distracts Strange from his fight and then pulled into the dark dimension. The Hulk gives chase and with the help of Namor the Sub-Mariner (on the outside), is able to rescue Strange. Hulk and Namor exchange pleasantries but it’s interrupted by the morning transformation. Banner and Namor pick up where he and the Hulk left off and they take off for Dr. Strange’s “sanctum sanctorum”. Back in Connecticut, the Lassiter family is being interviewed by Doc Samson, who fills them in on who Banner really was. Cut back to New York, where Namor arrives and mistakes Rintrah, Strange’s new disciple, for a demon. A Star Trek reference halts Namor’s attack and Wong fills him in. Strange’s spirit form soon arrives and the three compare notes as to what it was they encountered. It’s then decided that they should team up to take care of this creature before it becomes an even greater threat. We also find out that the threat of the Earth’s destruction should the original Defenders reunite was a cosmic hoax and that Strange kept the truth a secret as the peace and quiet was a welcome change. The Eye of Aggomotto is activated and we see the Hulk and Banner have a tense exchange about the Defenders and Betty. Their walk through the mindscape is interrupted when they come across a giant, battered, barricaded door. Neither have a clue as to what it is. Before anything else can happen, the strange matter creature appears, having attached itself to the Hulk and begins taking over Banner’s body in the real world, and the Hulk’s body in the mindscape. It forces the transformation and a now-possessed Hulk declares its intention to rule this world.
Commentary: Fun issue. The exchange between Namor and the Hulk was an interesting twist, considering how irritable they were with each other in the Defenders title. I loved the “three very proficient liars” line by Namor. I don’t think I had anything past the death of Nighthawk in my Defenders collection, so the entire hoax gimmick was something I wasn’t aware of.
Bullet Points:
The scar on Banner’s back is noticed here.
The mental block!
The Hulk, Namor and Dr. Strange were all considered dead at his point. I have never been able to get into any of Strange's series, so I don't know the events that led to Strange's "death".
While agreeable to the reunion that morning, the Hulk is against it and brings up being banished to Crossroads. I found this comment interesting, as he specifically says, "And considering he's the quack who dumped me in the middle of dimensional nowhere a while ago, that was pretty nice of me." He said me. Not "him", "green goofball", "us", or whatever phrase to distinguish himself from Banner and the Green Hulk. Me. So we're still under the Milgrom explanation from green to gray from back in #326. A couple issues later, zip! Out the door.
The image of the Hulk from page one was touched up to add more hair to the Hulk's head and recolored green for a t-shirt either this coming summer or 1991 summer. I remember the ads and for the longest time, wanted it. The only thing I was able to get were some cheap shirts with old McFarlane art from #338 and #344. I think I still have one of them.

[Username taken]

New issue was more filler.

I think I’m going to trade wait these. Outside of a couple of conversations, nothing substantial happened in this issue.

For all the talk about this being the “craziest Hulk run ever” not much has happened after the first issue.

[Intothevoid]

Ok is Cates actually trolling at this point or??? The whole series has been hyped as being the "craziest" thing ever and 3 issues in 2 out of 3 are boring as hell. This was another issue filled with nothing but talking and none of it meaningful or really informative.

I also like how the issue ends on what is suppose to be a big revelation/cliffhanger, except the solicitations already spoiled it months ago.

I can't believe i have to say this, but can Cates wake up? Feels like he is sleeping through these issues.

[Dinosaur Hulk]

As much as I want to give the benefit of the doubt, it feels very lame and boring. This is what happens when you have story for 3 issues and try to stretch it to 6.
Maybe it will become better in second half of the arc. Don't know.
Can't brush off the feeling that even "Hulk mutants" look very bland, if it was Bennett drawing them... it would have looked so much better and interesting.
For some reason Hulk screaming to "dark Hulk" "please, please come back!!!" is hilarious.

[WAKANDA FOREVER!]

Bah! Again.

[Lukmendes]

Man, 3 issues reading like half issues lol.

I guess Cates is setting up the scenario for the run overall, but he's doing it in a pretty meh way, which's surprising, 'cause what I read of his stuff so far, his runs start alright but eventually drop in quality, maybe even after the first arc (It certainly happened with Venom), but now not even the first arc is alright... It would be nice if a reversal happens, but I doubt that, would be glad to be wrong though.

[Username taken]

Man, 3 issues reading like half issues lol.

I guess Cates is setting up the scenario for the run overall, but he's doing it in a pretty meh way, which's surprising, 'cause what I read of his stuff so far, his runs start alright but eventually drop in quality, maybe even after the first arc (It certainly happened with Venom), but now not even the first arc is alright... It would be nice if a reversal happens, but I doubt that, would be glad to be wrong though.

Exactly.

Cates normally starts very strong (say what you will about this Thor work but the first issues featured multiple massive battles between Galactus, Thor, the Black Winter, and even Beta Ray Bill) but this hasn't been the case here at all.

There's nothing worse than a dull Hulk book. This is looking like Jason Aaron all over again......

[Intothevoid]

Ok i am also gonna mention one specific thing from the issue that actually bothered me a lot and the more i think about it the more it bothers me. It's the part where the computer tells Banner that
123.jpg
Now i know it's hard to write super genius characters, but at the very least you should write them as being above average intelligence... let alone above being idiots. So i dunno about anyone else but Bruce Banner a genius with lots of experience and expertise in gamma and Hulk would NOT just dismiss his computer telling him his radiation randomly doubled and then went away as "Im sure it's nothing...."

Scientist Bruce Banner would not say that is "nothing". Like i am an amoeba compared to Banner but even i would at the very least tell the computer to keep an eye on it or investigate further or make my own hypothesis in my head like the very obvious one as in maybe another Hulk personality appeared.

But nah, Banner just COMPLETELY dismisses it for no reason... and what bothers me a lot as well apart from this whole sequence being frustratingly stupid is the fact that we all already know this will bite him in the ass, because the solicitations already spoiled it. So it's really, REALLY hard for me to swallow whats coming when Banner inevitable goes "Oh no what the hell is happening, what is this new Hulk? Where did he come from? How did we not notice him?"

I REFUSE to believe that Cates had this story planned out in his mind many years now... cause this is just so awful and lazy, especially when it's so easy to fix.

Oh and as everyone mentioned, Cates usually starts of the first arc great than goes down in quality with some ups and downs here and there, here he already started off really poorly... So what hope is there even for this series? Especially since after this art we go to 5 issues of a fight we have seen a million times before that i guarantee you now already despite all the promises wont even be the most brutal, hardcore fight Hulk and Thor have ever had let alone the most crazy fight in all of Marvel as Cates has promised. I feel like half of it will be boring talking and exposition and the other half some subpar action.

And then after that where do we even go? More talking and traveling to alternate realities that literally have no affect on any of the 616 stuff. We only just started and i feel like i am watching an anime filler arc that usually happens 100 episodes into a show lol.

[Frontier]

...Sounds like I'm definitely trade-waiting this .

[Cronus]

Cates tends to bill stuff as "epic", "spectacular" or whatever larger than life analogy you want to insert, but mostly his stuff is just a lot of "all dressed up and no place to go."

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I just got around to reading issue #2 today.
Based on the comments for #3, I'm not missing much.
I said I was giving this an obligatory 6 issue run before giving up on the book. Sounds like this might be an easy drop.
Alas, an ever-shrinking pull-list...

[Vordan]

Just read it. Nothing happened and the big twiiiiist at the end was 1. Spoiled in the solicits and 2. Not that big a deal? Ross is the President on an alternate Earth. Whoopty-doo. I did like how a Bruce who never became the Hulk still ended up trashing the world thanks to his gamma bombs, but otherwise this was a big ol’ nothing burger. It’s jarring going from Ewing who stuffed his issues with so much plot to Cates who stretches a barebones plot out for multiple issues.

[ChrisIII]

Ok i am also gonna mention one specific thing from the issue that actually bothered me a lot and the more i think about it the more it bothers me. It's the part where the computer tells Banner that
123.jpg
Now i know it's hard to write super genius characters, but at the very least you should write them as being above average intelligence... let alone above being idiots. So i dunno about anyone else but Bruce Banner a genius with lots of experience and expertise in gamma and Hulk would NOT just dismiss his computer telling him his radiation randomly doubled and then went away as "Im sure it's nothing...."

Scientist Bruce Banner would not say that is "nothing". Like i am an amoeba compared to Banner but even i would at the very least tell the computer to keep an eye on it or investigate further or make my own hypothesis in my head like the very obvious one as in maybe another Hulk personality appeared.

Didn't Ewing's earlier issues sort of imply that Banner was somehow losing his intelligence, with Devil being smarter than him somehow?

[Vordan]

Didn't Ewing's earlier issues sort of imply that Banner was somehow losing his intelligence, with Devil being smarter than him somehow?

Ewing nerfed Bruce so that he wasn’t a super genius like he was under Pak. He was still really smart just not “can build a teleporter with kitchen appliances” smart.