Bruce Banner, The Incredible Hulk Appreciation 2023

[Intothevoid]

An evil Hulk? How original.... Seriously i super dont care about the new Ultimates stuff, so they can do whatever they want.

[Vordan]

https://x.com/greenscar90/status/170...487sLx_4UoiJsQ

@PhillipKJohnson

I heard we're going to have another guest artist come onboard INCREDIBLE HULK after the Ghost Rider/War Devils arc.

Someone like @LeeGarbett, Geoff Shaw, Cory Smith, or possibly an artist who's worked on the Hulk in the past?

Somebody real fuckin good. You’re gonna dig it

Oh and PKJ was on Word Balloon again and said he wants to bring Man-Thing back again because he enjoyed writing him so much and he was surprised at how happy people were to learn Man-Thing was showing up.



-Arcs will be real short, he wants to have constant jumping on points
-Every arc will have a “Remberances of Eldest” back matter that has Eldest give their opinion on the monster Hulk has just faced
-Won’t be tying in Hulk to Hickman’s GODS “yet”
-All the monsters Hulk faces will be Earth based because the Mother of Horrors is tied to Earth’s creation
-Charlie has a lot of disdain for Bruce because she sees her own weakness in him
-Doesn’t know for sure if Hulk will crossover with the Avengers
-Plans to stick with the horror vibe for his whole run
-Next arc is a personal favorite of PKJ. Charlie still sees Hulk as an Avenger but Hulk doesn’t want to be a hero right now. Both Banner and Hulk end up being heroes even when they don’t want to do it

[ChrisIII]

Maybe Doctor Strange will show up. Think he largely sat out "Immortal" because he was dead or something like that but appeared in Cates's run. Hulk might not be happy at him for being involved in that...

[Vordan]

[ChrisIII]

Kind of cool that the "Immortal" name has been borrowed for X-men and now Thor (I think E-wing is also writing Thor?)

Regarding the horror angle, kind of interesting to see if PJK will focus on that but also incorporate more Hulk lore like Ewing gradually did.

[Intothevoid]

its kinda insane to me that Hulk is beating out Superman in terms of sales, it really shows just how popular Hulk had gotten post Immortal stuff. It might be time for Marvel to maybe consider a second series around Hulk the same way they do with Spider-man or X-men or how DC does it with Superman and Batman.

Kind of cool that the "Immortal" name has been borrowed for X-men and now Thor (I think E-wing is also writing Thor?)

Regarding the horror angle, kind of interesting to see if PJK will focus on that but also incorporate more Hulk lore like Ewing gradually did.

Y

Yea Ewing is writing Immortal Thor, he basically said if Immortal Hulk was his Old Testament, Immortal Thor is his New Testament.

[Vordan]

its kinda insane to me that Hulk is beating out Superman in terms of sales, it really shows just how popular Hulk had gotten post Immortal stuff. It might be time for Marvel to maybe consider a second series around Hulk the same way they do with Spider-man or X-men or how DC does it with Superman and Batman.

Y

Yea Ewing is writing Immortal Thor, he basically said if Immortal Hulk was his Old Testament, Immortal Thor is his New Testament.

Hulk has historically been a much stronger seller than Superman hasn’t he? At least that’s been my recollection, though I’m happy both of my guys are (maybe) selling well at the moment.

[Intothevoid]

Hulk has historically been a much stronger seller than Superman hasn’t he? At least that’s been my recollection, though I’m happy both of my guys are (maybe) selling well at the moment.

Unless i am having a massive brain fart i am pretty sure he hasn't? Guys like Batman, Superman, Spider-man and Wolverine have always outsold Hulk to my recollection. Except for obviously special occasions like Immortal Hulk.

[SanityOrMadness]

It might be time for Marvel to maybe consider a second series around Hulk the same way they do with Spider-man or X-men or how DC does it with Superman and Batman.

Second titles for solo characters don't usually work that well creatively, though (for teams like the X-Men/Avengers/Justice League/etc, you can just have different lineups, so they're basically the same team in name only). When they do work, it's usually because they have a very stable status quo for the lead character, within which the books can build different supporting casts, almost like different team books - like how Superman right now has main use of the Daily Planet & "Supercorp" casts, while Action Comics is heavy on the other "Super-" characters. (When they don't work, it's often because they have a main title whose writers get to act like they're the only title, and the other book(s) get battered around as the status quo changes and renders their plots redundant).

The Hulk is a character who's very rarely in that sort of situation, and certainly isn't right now unless PKJ has a major right-turn planned.

[Intothevoid]

Second titles for solo characters don't usually work that well creatively, though (for teams like the X-Men/Avengers/Justice League/etc, you can just have different lineups, so they're basically the same team in name only). When they do work, it's usually because they have a very stable status quo for the lead character, within which the books can build different supporting casts, almost like different team books - like how Superman right now has main use of the Daily Planet & "Supercorp" casts, while Action Comics is heavy on the other "Super-" characters. (When they don't work, it's often because they have a main title whose writers get to act like they're the only title, and the other book(s) get battered around as the status quo changes and renders their plots redundant).

The Hulk is a character who's very rarely in that sort of situation, and certainly isn't right now unless PKJ has a major right-turn planned.

I dont think it has to be in current continuity or even just a solo Hulk book. Like i would love to see a Joe Fixit comic during his mob days in Vegas.

[ChrisIII]

Wasn't there just a Joe Fixit miniseries?


Still would eventually like some sort of explanation for why Joe's gone dormant in the current series (Savage was pretty much in Cate's series when Banner wasn't in control, and Green Scar is supposed to be the current one).

[Vordan]

There were a few PAD miniseries. I would like a few Elseworld Hulk books myself, Hulk stories that could stand alone. Apart from Hulk Gray I don’t think he has any.

Incredible Hulk Writer Teases a Mysterious New Marvel Monster: Frozen Charlotte

“I will say, by nature, I’m finding myself pulled more in the direction of the new stuff, constantly. Like, I just wanna do new monsters,” Johnson said on the Spec Tales podcast. “The one for issues #9 and #10 — I’m so excited about those. I mean, I can’t say I’m more excited than I am for the Ghost Rider-War Devil thing, ’cause that one’s very personal to me, but … it’s called Frozen Charlotte.”
Johnson kept details regarding Frozen Charlotte close to the vest, though did offer some insight into how the new Marvel monster got its name. “If you Google that term, you can see what it means,” he said. “It’s a term for a specific kind of china doll — like, porcelain doll … You can get Frozen Charlottes at, like, [an] antique store. It’s kind of like Precious Moments from a hundred and something years ago — like, these little baby-looking dolls. So, instead of like a rag doll with a porcelain head, it’s just like a solid porcelain doll that’s usually very tiny.”
The writer clarified that Incredible Hulk’s Frozen Charlotte is not actually a Frozen Charlotte doll. “It’s a reference,” he said. “Like, there is connective tissue to the idea of the frozen doll — the little doll. But that’s not what the thing is at all.” Johnson added that the new monster is not only “cool,” but also “adds a lot of lore to the Marvel Universe” — and a “doorway to the next chapter” of his Hulk run.

[Gamma Irradiated Being]

Hulk has historically been a much stronger seller than Superman hasn’t he? At least that’s been my recollection, though I’m happy both of my guys are (maybe) selling well at the moment.

Hulk typically has been selling well and better than Superman since Greg Pak's era.

Unless i am having a massive brain fart i am pretty sure he hasn't? Guys like Batman, Superman, Spider-man and Wolverine have always outsold Hulk to my recollection. Except for obviously special occasions like Immortal Hulk.

Hulk written correctly will sell as well as any of the characters mentioned above given direction and purpose. The book needs writers that "get" the character and can go in depth with gamma science and the psychological effects of it like Peter David did with the adventures that Greg Pak took us on.

Second titles for solo characters don't usually work that well creatively, though (for teams like the X-Men/Avengers/Justice League/etc, you can just have different lineups, so they're basically the same team in name only). When they do work, it's usually because they have a very stable status quo for the lead character, within which the books can build different supporting casts, almost like different team books - like how Superman right now has main use of the Daily Planet & "Supercorp" casts, while Action Comics is heavy on the other "Super-" characters. (When they don't work, it's often because they have a main title whose writers get to act like they're the only title, and the other book(s) get battered around as the status quo changes and renders their plots redundant).

The Hulk is a character who's very rarely in that sort of situation, and certainly isn't right now unless PKJ has a major right-turn planned.

All it takes is the right creators. Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Jeff Parker were really taking gamma into its own sector, but Marvel totally lost focus after canceling their books in favor of continuity mishaps. There's no story to tell with no focus.

[Gamma Irradiated Being]

And another thing...it's easy for Hulk to be able to carry two independent titles if writers truly understand the Banner factor. Everyone seems to look past the fact that Bruce Banner is a scientist supreme. His instincts should be to hit the labs, but his talents are downplayed and overlooked by nearly every writer.

[GreenScar1990]