Hulk #8 Spoilers

[AriesWarlock]

Interesting scene at the beehive.

Another short, anticlimactic battle. Can't help but feel disappointed. You would think the Order of the Shield would provide Betty with all kinds of info and gadgets to protect herself and ensure her victory, but for some reason she's at home unprotected.

One of my favorite gones, I don't think I can't continue with this run.

Status quo needs to be reset.

Why does it need to be reset? Because I don't think it needs to be reset.

[resipsaloquitur]

I'll say this much: comics almost always reset back to their defaults. They can deviate for awhile, but the natural gravitation is for them to return to the "traditional" form in some degree. (Note that I said "traditional," not "original.") That's why Thor eventually brought back Donald Blake, or why Bendis' Avengers eventually went back to a Cap/Thor/Iron Man team, or why Spidey stopped being married.

Betty was not created to be a Hulk. She probably worked well as a Hulk, but so did a lot of characters who went outside their norm. (I think a lot of people liked Mac Gargan as Venom, but he's not Venom anymore.) It's inevitable that she would flip back to being normal Betty. Somebody might turn her back into a Hulk someday, but not now. Same with Rick.

Of course, this same principle gives me hope for Skaar, and Lyra and Jen IF they're affected. All three characters were specifically created to be Hulks. They won't work if they're NOT Hulks. (For Jen specifically, there's no way she won't be back very soon even if she were cured.) Some day, some writer will want to bring them back and turn them back into Hulks again.

For purposes of Mr. Duggan's story right now, though, he doesn't want all these Hulks around. He wants a specific Hulk incarnation to be curing them. WHY that is, we don't know (though if you've seen me post elsewhere, you know my theory). It's specific to the story he's telling and it'll eventually wrap up, and then some other writer will tell the story they want to tell. Nothing lasts forever in comics, so if you don't like something, give it a few years and it'll be something else.

[Gamma-Mutant]

I'm giving Duggan the benefit of the doubt with this arc. I enjoyed his Deadpool and Arkham Manor books, but I haven't really been loving his Hulk thus far. This arc feels like a shallow and hollow editorial mandate arc to wipe the deck clean of the Hulk family just so we can have one Hulk again. Let's face it we know they won't stay de-powered forever, the nanites coding will be rewritten or the nanites will be purged from their systems allowing them to become Hulks again. I like Red She-Hulk and Red Hulk as characters and don't want to see them go to the waste-side. Both characters are enjoyable and useful in their own way. Red Hulk's Thunderbolts was a good concept, but needed to be executed/written better. Also I don't know why they didn't put Red She-Hulk on another superhero team after Defenders, that was just a waste.

[Thad937]

I'm giving Duggan the benefit of the doubt with this arc. I enjoyed his Deadpool and Arkham Manor books, but I haven't really been loving his Hulk thus far. This arc feels like a shallow and hollow editorial mandate arc to wipe the deck clean of the Hulk family just so we can have one Hulk again. Let's face it we know they won't stay de-powered forever, the nanites coding will be rewritten or the nanites will be purged from their systems allowing them to become Hulks again. I like Red She-Hulk and Red Hulk as characters and don't want to see them go to the waste-side. Both characters are enjoyable and useful in their own way. Red Hulk's Thunderbolts was a good concept, but needed to be executed/written better. Also I don't know why they didn't put Red She-Hulk on another superhero team after Defenders, that was just a waste.

This sums it up for me as well. I really enjoyed Red She-Hulk and Red Hulk their books were amazing IMO. I think that there's a bigger story then just the de-powering of the Hulk family.

[Marvel_Is]

- I'm glad Rick admits to having hated being A-Bomb. (Because I hated him being it).

- Betty is a douchebag and needs to be put back 6ft under again.

- Profess, er, Doc Green yelling at the female doctor reminded me of when the Professor yelled at the Indian doctor during Jim Wilson's deathbed days back during PAD's run (#420, I believe).

[Dr. Banner]

- I'm glad Rick admits to having hated being A-Bomb. (Because I hated him being it).

- Betty is a douchebag and needs to be put back 6ft under again.

- Profess, er, Doc Green yelling at the female doctor reminded me of when the Professor yelled at the Indian doctor during Jim Wilson's deathbed days back during PAD's run (#420, I believe).

With the exception of the intelligence, even though Doc Green is much smarter that Merged Hulk, I don't see many similarities between the two.

[daedalus25]

I've never been a huge Hulk fan, and haven't really kept up with it lately, so I probably haven't really earned the right to complain about the recent events; but I have to say I really hope Red She-Hulk isn't gone for good. She was the ONLY reason I had any interest in the Hulk storylines at all, and it was her alone that got me to read all of the books leading up to her creation, and then everything she was involved with through her solo series. I even played Marvel Super Hero Squad Online just because she was a playable character.

I just today heard that she was depowered and had to find a thread discussing it to learn more about the circumstances and happened upon this thread. It made me so angry, I nearly hulked out myself! So again, I'm really hoping this is temporary or I'm more than likely done with Hulk books for good. Yeah, I know - what a shallow and empty threat considering I hadn't been buying Hulk books anyway. Well, if Betty had been involved in this storyline in a positive way, I would have gone out to buy them to read it all, just like I did back when I first learned about the character. (And if it turns out this is all temporary, I'll probably apologize and still go back to read it all anyway, since I hear it's very well written.) But for now I'm just going to go pout in the corner for a while.

I'll say this much: comics almost always reset back to their defaults. They can deviate for awhile, but the natural gravitation is for them to return to the "traditional" form in some degree. (Note that I said "traditional," not "original.") That's why Thor eventually brought back Donald Blake, or why Bendis' Avengers eventually went back to a Cap/Thor/Iron Man team, or why Spidey stopped being married.

I disagree with this somewhat (though mostly with what you consider the "traditional" version). Comic book characters are constantly evolving, and when they hit a popular "iconic" version, that's the one that typically exists for the long-term. Spider-man being unmarried is the deviation here, not the norm, and no doubt he'll be reunited with MJ (possibly very soon). Psylocke wasn't as popular as the British model, but when she became a Japanese ninja she stayed that way. The same thing happened when Ms. Marvel first put on the black costume - that lasted for a about 40 years before Marvel decided to try another evolution with her as Captain Marvel (which personally I'm hoping doesn't stick for much longer but most likely will stay).

I think Betty as Red She-Hulk turned a minor nobody into a big sensation, and it's one of those changes that should have stayed (and most likely would have if writers continued to see it through to her potential).