Bruce Banner, The Incredible Hulk Appreciation 2023

[Mantis-Ray]

Its interesting to note that in Immortal Hulk Professor Hulk was explicitly listed as missing and it was never resolved where he is.

Green Skar at least got an explanation that Leader mind-jacked him but we don't know what happened to the Professor.

[Rzerox21xx]

Anyone hoping when PAD feels better and he's good enough and desire enough to do another Hulk flashback mini series. This time in the 90s Merged Era, maybe when he was leading the Pantheon with Blonde Betty? I think it would be fun, what artist would be ideal?

[krazijoe]

Anyone hoping when PAD feels better and he's good enough and desire enough to do another Hulk flashback mini series. This time in the 90s Merged Era, maybe when he was leading the Pantheon with Blonde Betty? I think it would be fun, what artist would be ideal?

Brian Gordon...

[The Cool Thatguy]

No. The “ Professor “Hulk lasted appeared in the Paul Jenkins run, where the retcon of him being a separate individual personality happened. The entire run is collected in “The Dogs of War” omnibus. The retcon totally removed everything that made the Merged Hulk interesting, and Peter David absolutely hates it still to this day.

After the retcon, no writer seems eager to bring the Professor back, not even Al Ewing, considering that immortal Hulk was the perfect time to do it

Yeah, retconning the Merged Hulk into another persona creates an endless cycle where all Hulks are just personas, pretty much eliminating forward progress, while glossing over the fact that the Merged under PAD had plenty of slippage moments.

A better take would have been to treat the PAD era Hulk as actually a merged persona, and that Bruce simply backslid from the stress. Mental health is a marathon, not destination.

Speaking of Ewing and PAD stuff, am I the only one who finds it odd he never used Maestro in his Hulk?

[Vordan]

In the pages of Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley’s action-packed run of HULK, Bruce Banner jetted off to the far reaches of space and found a new home for himself—an entire planet of Hulk-like creatures thriving under the heat of a gamma star! On this Hulk Planet, Bruce is worshipped and enjoying a peace he’s never known… but where the Hulk goes, destruction follows.
Titan, the deadliest Hulk in Marvel Comics history, refuses to be suppressed any longer, and Bruce is about to pay a terrible price for believing he was ever in control. Written and drawn by Ottley, the breathtaking finale to this dramatic new HULK saga will be told this April in HULK #14, and fans can expect surprise revelations and shocking twists that will smash open the way to what’s next for the character.
Titan is now in control, and his endless rage may destroy Hulk Planet. Within the remaining fragments of the Mind Palace, Bruce Banner must reckon with the harm he has inflicted on the Hulk if either of them are to have any chance of regaining control and saving the planet. But Bruce knows better than anyone that once a part of the Hulk has unlocked itself, there’s no closing that door ever again…
“It’s been so much fun to finally tackle working on the HULK. And being able to write the last four issues of this arc and bring some story elements to fruition was such a challenge but I’ve enjoyed it the whole way,” Ottley said. “Drawing comics is what I’m used to; writing is a whole different animal, but doing both jobs was great and makes me want to do it more often! Feels sad to wrap up the arc and move on, but it’s definitely one of my favorite comic experiences. Hulk will always be one of my favorite Marvel heroes. And now with Titan added to the rogues gallery, hopefully we’ll see him again someday in all his fury and glory!”

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comi...nkId=195891202

[Frontier]

This was definitely an era of the Hulk.

[HeavenlyDemonic]

Yeah, retconning the Merged Hulk into another persona creates an endless cycle where all Hulks are just personas, pretty much eliminating forward progress, while glossing over the fact that the Merged under PAD had plenty of slippage moments.

A better take would have been to treat the PAD era Hulk as actually a merged persona, and that Bruce simply backslid from the stress. Mental health is a marathon, not destination.

Speaking of Ewing and PAD stuff, am I the only one who finds it odd he never used Maestro in his Hulk?

Right. I feel a good compromise would have been to say that the Merged Hulk lasted until the end of issue #425, where Betty was shot and the Hulk had a breakdown. From issue #426 until the end of the onslaught event, the trauma from 425 caused the Professor personality to be created.

Saying that the Professor personality was always separate, just invalids everything that PAD spent years building up to

[Vordan]

This was definitely an era of the Hulk.

It was certainly a Hulk comic that came out

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, retconning the Merged Hulk into another persona creates an endless cycle where all Hulks are just personas, pretty much eliminating forward progress, while glossing over the fact that the Merged under PAD had plenty of slippage moments.

A better take would have been to treat the PAD era Hulk as actually a merged persona, and that Bruce simply backslid from the stress. Mental health is a marathon, not destination.

Speaking of Ewing and PAD stuff, am I the only one who finds it odd he never used Maestro in his Hulk?

There was a moment early on where Banner was considering labeling the Devil Hulk as the Maestro, but that conversation got interrupted by the Rick Jones Abomination.

[Kurolegacy]

Thank God the ending of that stupid Starship Hulk status quo is in sight. Never even bothered to give us any answers on how Bruce went from how he was at the end of Immortal to this especially with regard to his relationship with his Hulk persona.

[Frontier]

Jenkins retconning Professor Hulk into just being another alter was an extremely poor decision that came out of nowhere. Same with giving Banner ALS. Jenkins seemed very intent on pouring more and more misery onto Banner.

The merged Hulk IMO was the logical end to Banner’s struggle with his personalities. If Jenkins wanted to split his personalities again he should have just done that without the retcon.

It’s pretty telling that writers have basically left that particular version of the Hulk alone since the end of that run.

I would say maybe he didn't want to touch on Maestro because that's PAD's baby (moreso than Joe because PAD keeps writing mini's for him).

I actually wonder if that's why the real Green Scar never showed up is because Ewing didn't want to step on Greg Pak's toes.

(I think he said he wasn't interested in Professor/Merged which is why he never showed up?)

[Hypestyle]

Right. I feel a good compromise would have been to say that the Merged Hulk lasted until the end of issue #425, where Betty was shot and the Hulk had a breakdown. From issue #426 until the end of the onslaught event, the trauma from 425 caused the Professor personality to be created.

Saying that the Professor personality was always separate, just invalids everything that PAD spent years building up to

I didn't like how PAD kind of invalidated the Bruce Jones era with the Nightmare Island arc...

[Digifiend]

Anyone hoping when PAD feels better and he's good enough and desire enough to do another Hulk flashback mini series. This time in the 90s Merged Era, maybe when he was leading the Pantheon with Blonde Betty? I think it would be fun, what artist would be ideal?

Betty was blonde in the comics in the 90s? Is that why she's blonde in the cartoon? I just assumed they'd deviated from the comics design for her for some reason.

[4theEarth]

Yeah, retconning the Merged Hulk into another persona creates an endless cycle where all Hulks are just personas, pretty much eliminating forward progress, while glossing over the fact that the Merged under PAD had plenty of slippage moments.

A better take would have been to treat the PAD era Hulk as actually a merged persona, and that Bruce simply backslid from the stress. Mental health is a marathon, not destination.

I am very confused here - Help? I peeked in on this thread to see if I could re-familiarize with a title that I dropped way back after Planet Hulk and the Red Hulk appeared on the scene.

When you say retcon I am assuming that there has been a reset of the mythos around the AlterEgo that is the Hulk. It has frankly been a bit of a mess over the years with the manifestations being ascribed to either real entities or fragments of Bruce's personality made manifest.

Wikipedia's Bio is just a ramble of eras where the MU reset seemed like a reset of the character as well. Is that the retcon?

[Cth]

Ok presuming that the cover of Hulk #14 shows a basic mindscape.. who's that guy hanging out on the right?

The one with the Tyrannus/Dr Strange looking cape?

Given the quick wrap up, it's probably Strange.