Bruce Banner, The Incredible Hulk Appreciation 2023

[Intothevoid]

I don't think anyone can do anything with the immortality the way Ewing did so I don't need to see that again.

I dunno, I get we're going for horror again but I want it to feel different than Ewing.

I guess we will have to see, i think there is certainly more to explore there, somehow i don't think they would specify that some "immortal" is going after Hulk throwing monsters at him otherwise.

I think one thing that most Hulk fans agreed on is that Ewings run ended too early, it even felt a bit rushed at times, especially in the end, not to mention Ewing kinda crammed 4 issues into one just to get that 50 number. There was a lot more to explore there than what we had. Not that i want this run to be a carbon copy of it, or that i want PKJ to try and just copy Ewing, but i am glad that he is at least taking great influence from the run, out of all the runs taking influence from Immortal Hulk while it's still fresh is probably the best, which is why i am excited about his recent tweet about it as well

https://twitter.com/PhillipKJohnson/...59709730193410

"There's an acknowledgement of the most recent run, but it's a fresh start. It owes a lot to the original vision of the character and to Immortal Hulk."

This sounds great to me, more of horror Hulk.

[Intothevoid]

I see nobody's mentioned the adjective? This is the first time in a while that Bruce's book is called Incredible Hulk. The last time the book was called that it was Amadeus's last two arcs. The time before that was over a decade ago.

I mean it's cool to have the old title back again, Ewing changed it to fit the theme of his run better and it made sense and Cates also had just "Hulk" for unexplained reasons, but I am definitely glad it's back. Not much else to say, i think people are just more excited about every other bit of news surrounding it in the end they could have called it the "Impetus Hulk" i wouldn't care much as long as the substance of it looks promising.

[Dinosaur Hulk]

I am very hyped for this new run. I've never read anything from this author but I am willing to give a try.

[ChrisIII]

He did not shy away from drawing parallels between Superman and Moses, I would not be surprised if he also incorporated religion and myth into Hulk too. Given he name drops Ewing I’m sure there will be Immortal callbacks.

We saw a lot of that in Ewing's run too. Didn't a few issues start with bible quotes? Plus a lot of references to the book of Job.

[Frontier]

I guess we will have to see, i think there is certainly more to explore there, somehow i don't think they would specify that some "immortal" is going after Hulk throwing monsters at him otherwise.

I think one thing that most Hulk fans agreed on is that Ewings run ended too early, it even felt a bit rushed at times, especially in the end, not to mention Ewing kinda crammed 4 issues into one just to get that 50 number. There was a lot more to explore there than what we had. Not that i want this run to be a carbon copy of it, or that i want PKJ to try and just copy Ewing, but i am glad that he is at least taking great influence from the run, out of all the runs taking influence from Immortal Hulk while it's still fresh is probably the best, which is why i am excited about his recent tweet about it as well

https://twitter.com/PhillipKJohnson/...59709730193410

"There's an acknowledgement of the most recent run, but it's a fresh start. It owes a lot to the original vision of the character and to Immortal Hulk."

This sounds great to me, more of horror Hulk.

I think there will be a lot of monster fights in this run.

[Cth]

I wonder what that being hovering in the background over the Hulk is.

Given how PKJ likes to revamp goofy characters, and there was a question why we never saw Half Life, I wonder if he might get used again. Interesting how he did that "pull himself together" trick that Hulk did during Ewing's run.

Only problem is the character seems to have horns (sort of) so it can't be him.

[Intothevoid]

I wonder what that being hovering in the background over the Hulk is.

Given how PKJ likes to revamp goofy characters, and there was a question why we never saw Half Life, I wonder if he might get used again. Interesting how he did that "pull himself together" trick that Hulk did during Ewing's run.

Only problem is the character seems to have horns (sort of) so it can't be him.

It's either the "immortal" character PKJ is talking about or the Mother of Horrors, probably Mother of Horrors, i doubt it's someone third.

We only see a small glimpse of it, so i could be way off but it gives me Diablo 4 Lilith vibes.

234.jpg

Ironically both are referred to primordial evils and "Mothers". As i said i could be way off and it's a completely different character, but for some reason it gives me that vibe a lot.

[Vordan]

I see nobody's mentioned the adjective? This is the first time in a while that Bruce's book is called Incredible Hulk. The last time the book was called that it was Amadeus's last two arcs. The time before that was over a decade ago.

Not really a big deal to me, I suppose it’s long overdue for a return.

I wonder what that being hovering in the background over the Hulk is.

Given how PKJ likes to revamp goofy characters, and there was a question why we never saw Half Life, I wonder if he might get used again. Interesting how he did that "pull himself together" trick that Hulk did during Ewing's run.

Only problem is the character seems to have horns (sort of) so it can't be him.

At first I thought it was Xemnu but it might be a new character. Wouldn’t surprise me if Xemnu makes a return here.

It's either the "immortal" character PKJ is talking about or the Mother of Horrors, probably Mother of Horrors, i doubt it's someone third.

We only see a small glimpse of it, so i could be way off but it gives me Diablo 4 Lilith vibes.

234.jpg

Ironically both are referred to primordial evils and "Mothers". As i said i could be way off and it's a completely different character, but for some reason it gives me that vibe a lot.

Hulk could use more prominent female villains, I’m fine with PKJ creating more. I’m pretty bored of Marvel’s endless hero vs hero stories, an expansion of Hulk’s Rogues Gallery sounds good. I just want some of the monsters to be more than physical matches from Hulk, let’s get some foes who are threats to him in other ways beyond being able to slug it out with him.

[Intothevoid]

Hulk could use more prominent female villains, I’m fine with PKJ creating more. I’m pretty bored of Marvel’s endless hero vs hero stories, an expansion of Hulk’s Rogues Gallery sounds good. I just want some of the monsters to be more than physical matches from Hulk, let’s get some foes who are threats to him in other ways beyond being able to slug it out with him.

I agree, i am tired of hero vs hero crap, i wanna see Hulk take on more villains. Yea Hulks rogue gallery is one of the worst, 90% of it is just copies of him with an added twist or two. One problem with newer villains though they never seem to stick... speaking of female Hulk villains we had one really powerful and unique one in the form of Vista(Patty Wolman) but that went nowhere, unfortunately Al Ewing never had the time or desire to incorporate that plot line, the way he at least did with Gammon when he merged him with Leader.

Either way i do hope we are gonna get more villains that can do other stuff rather than just trade punches with Hulk, i am fine if the fodder monsters being throw at Hulk are this way but once introduce some more powerful beings that will stand in his way, i would love to see some more variety.

[Vordan]

I agree, i am tired of hero vs hero crap, i wanna see Hulk take on more villains. Yea Hulks rogue gallery is one of the worst, 90% of it is just copies of him with an added twist or two. One problem with newer villains though they never seem to stick... speaking of female Hulk villains we had one really powerful and unique one in the form of Vista(Patty Wolman) but that went nowhere, unfortunately Al Ewing never had the time or desire to incorporate that plot line, the way he at least did with Gammon when he merged him with Leader.

Either way i do hope we are gonna get more villains that can do other stuff rather than just trade punches with Hulk, i am fine if the fodder monsters being throw at Hulk are this way but once introduce some more powerful beings that will stand in his way, i would love to see some more variety.

A problem across the board it seems. The last new villains added to an existing franchise which really take off was Court of Owls for Batman and ORCHIS for X-Men. Those two have outlasted their creators tenure on the books. For Superman the last major new villain to stick was Manchester Black.

For Hulk… uh I guess maybe Fortean? Someone else created him and Ewing used him but he doesn’t feel like a major addition even so, probably because he’s unlikely to stick as the new Abomination. Ewing already brought back Blonsky himself. OBA might count but I doubt he will be a reoccurring foe given his nature. Hoping for a repeat of what PKJ is doing over in Action where it’s a mix of revamping old Rogues alongside introducing some new ones.

[Mantis-Ray]

I guess we will have to see, i think there is certainly more to explore there, somehow i don't think they would specify that some "immortal" is going after Hulk throwing monsters at him otherwise.

I think one thing that most Hulk fans agreed on is that Ewings run ended too early, it even felt a bit rushed at times, especially in the end, not to mention Ewing kinda crammed 4 issues into one just to get that 50 number. There was a lot more to explore there than what we had. Not that i want this run to be a carbon copy of it, or that i want PKJ to try and just copy Ewing, but i am glad that he is at least taking great influence from the run, out of all the runs taking influence from Immortal Hulk while it's still fresh is probably the best, which is why i am excited about his recent tweet about it as well

https://twitter.com/PhillipKJohnson/...59709730193410

"There's an acknowledgement of the most recent run, but it's a fresh start. It owes a lot to the original vision of the character and to Immortal Hulk."

This sounds great to me, more of horror Hulk.

Something to think about, whether the book would have lasted longer had Ewing not eventually grown disgusted of Joe Bennet being a terrible person.

I still remember that issue devoted to setting up an alliance between Bruce now in control of Shadow Base with Namor to change the world, and nothing ever came of that. Would have been interested seeing those 2 team-up written by Ewing.

[Intothevoid]

A problem across the board it seems. The last new villains added to an existing franchise which really take off was Court of Owls for Batman and ORCHIS for X-Men. Those two have outlasted their creators tenure on the books. For Superman the last major new villain to stick was Manchester Black.

For Hulk… uh I guess maybe Fortean? Someone else created him and Ewing used him but he doesn’t feel like a major addition even so, probably because he’s unlikely to stick as the new Abomination. Ewing already brought back Blonsky himself. OBA might count but I doubt he will be a reoccurring foe given his nature. Hoping for a repeat of what PKJ is doing over in Action where it’s a mix of revamping old Rogues alongside introducing some new ones.

I would say Red Hulk was probably the last villain created that has actually stuck around, we have seen him appear in multiple Hulk books since then, a "dead" version of him appeared in Immortal Hulk as well and we know Ewing wanted to use him instead of Fortean but couldn't due to him being "dead" in the Captain America book which turned out not to even be true...

I just hope PKJ does revamp some old heroes and tries to make them stick, some more interesting and versatile ones. Like the U-Foes, like Xemnu. I know we just had them but i honestly wouldn't mind seeing them again, the U-Foes made a really short appearance i wanted way more of them. But most importantly i wanna see new fresh blood, give me some imaginative new villains. You even have the Below Place excuse now, you can pull out all kinds of demons and whatnot from there that we haven't seen before. I remember literally asking Ewing when he first mentioned Below Place(hell) and when he was referencing angels and religion if this had any possible ties to like Biblical creatures like the Leviathan, Behemoth, etc... And he said it's certainly possible and now that i am seeing some religious undertones from the artwork i wouldn't mind seeing some stuff like that. Or just go full Lovecraft and have some creatures inspired by that, i have to assume the "Eldritch monsters" thing will have a satisfying pay off in the end.

[Frontier]

Is Thunderbolt Ross still dead? I forget.

[ComicNoobie]

I would say Red Hulk was probably the last villain created that has actually stuck around, we have seen him appear in multiple Hulk books since then, a "dead" version of him appeared in Immortal Hulk as well and we know Ewing wanted to use him instead of Fortean but couldn't due to him being "dead" in the Captain America book which turned out not to even be true...

I just hope PKJ does revamp some old heroes and tries to make them stick, some more interesting and versatile ones. Like the U-Foes, like Xemnu. I know we just had them but i honestly wouldn't mind seeing them again, the U-Foes made a really short appearance i wanted way more of them. But most importantly i wanna see new fresh blood, give me some imaginative new villains. You even have the Below Place excuse now, you can pull out all kinds of demons and whatnot from there that we haven't seen before. I remember literally asking Ewing when he first mentioned Below Place(hell) and when he was referencing angels and religion if this had any possible ties to like Biblical creatures like the Leviathan, Behemoth, etc... And he said it's certainly possible and now that i am seeing some religious undertones from the artwork i wouldn't mind seeing some stuff like that. Or just go full Lovecraft and have some creatures inspired by that, i have to assume the "Eldritch monsters" thing will have a satisfying pay off in the end.

I would love to see the U-Foes back as regular Hulk antagonists. I've always enjoyed them from their first appearance of being mad at Bruce for daring to save their lives when they were trying to be FF knock offs. So I say make them return as Hulk foes, maybe give them more upgrades to stand more of a chance. Xemnu is another villain I'd like to see come back. Though that's mainly because I enjoyed his wacky 70's appearances in the Defenders pages lol.

[Cth]

Is Thunderbolt Ross still dead? I forget.

Nope, last I remember he showed up and was able to turn into a Red Hulk with a moustache in Captain America. I skimmed the arc to be honest.