Red Hulk Appreciation: The incREDible Hulk

[SickAlice]

On Jeph Loeb:

Loeb is a lot of ground to cover in short verse. I think he's a nice man and he got an unfair shake. He get a lot of hate he didn't deserve over something he himself didn't even conceptualize. Everyone's beloved Pak was actually responsible for Red Hulk and Jeph was brought in to manage the character while Pak worked other sides of the Hulk family line and mythos expansion. The reason I make note of it was Loeb is often credited with " taking away " The Hulk and doing so abruptly, which was not the case. Red Hulk was Pak's plan for the thing the whole time. Many readers were justified in that they really came to love Worldbreaker Hulk and didn't want to see that version of the character go and naturally needed something to vent the frustration on. And there was Red Hulk and Jeph. Interesting how Jeph actually rolled with that fanrage and used it for his story, I think he deserves credit for that.

To date Jeph gets a lot snub for being a terrible/worst writer but the butthurt-from-yonder over that really doesn't speak for his actually writing ability nor do I think the sum of work or person in real life. That to me has always been unfair. It's like saying George Lucas has no skill because the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was disagreeable. As well his work on Red Hulk did land Jeph the big chair over in the animation division so the proof is the pudding. I wonder how the fan reaction would have been had they found a way to keep Worldbreaker and Red Hulk at the same time? I think it would have turned out people would have been less critical of Loeb and gave Red Hulk a less bias chance. Either way it just doesn't speak for his abilities in reality, and definitely not nor should for the kind of man he is. I have to note here again though it was Pak and Loebs Hulk, not either or as people seemed inclined to think. Everything that goes after WWH to Parker coming on board was a collaborative effort. I think people need to mind that when looking at the big picture.

For the story itself I think the identity reveal went on to long though more it was maybe played up a little to hard and detracted from the storytelling itself. It on one hand helped to keep the reader from thinking about the Ross character and focus on getting to know the Red Hulk end of it, a trope used readily by Marvel to date (Marvel NOW! Thor). There was clearly a lot of filler in the first half of his run to compensate for this (Revengers, Code Red) that while fun stuff clearly hurt the overall composure and story structure. The Watcher thing was thoroughly explained. I can only think persons who still have an issue with that are ones who saw scans via Battle threads much like the ones who still think the " cosmic armbar " was actually a thing. In any case there was a lot of hokey stuff in the first half and it's hard to deny when anyone calls it as such. The second half came out better, once they had Ross's identity out and all cards on the table. I'm speaking of course for The Intelligencia, Fall Of The Hulks and World War Hulks. This to me is where the run really shined and came out with one imaginative effort after another. I would even support that this was one of the best era's for the Hulk franchise as a whole given how much was being added here. All in all I think Loeb did a great job and gets way more flack then is actually deserved. At best persons seems to be able to point out a one liner or two, the punching Uatu thing (again it was explained and finished by Parker) and the Grandmaster (this was played rather silly, I think Loeb was just taking a breather here). At worst that WWHulk ended and it was somehow the fault of the next book. Really I've never seen enough substantial evidence put forth to actually support why the Red Hulk series was " terrible " nor the era of Hulk overall.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Red Hulk was PAD's plan for the thing the whole time.

Please enlighten me on how Peter David is responsible for the Red Hulk, when the concept of everything the Red Hulk was doing in those initial issues was originally going to be a limited series with the green Hulk called "The Strongest One There Is!" -- until Joe Q. said "make this Hulk red and his identitly a secret."

[Thad937]

I thought the introduction of the Red Hulk was absolutely amazing as he was a menace unlike anything the Marvel Universe had seen before: a Hulk that was more than just crazy powerful, but cunning, intelligent and utterly vicious. I also enjoyed Jeph Loeb's run (just started re-reading it) and Mighty Roman's description of it as "action movie fun" (Rulk's throwdown with Thor was classic) was right on target, and while it could be argued that Loeb unnecesarily stretched out the mystery of Rulk's identity, when it was finally revealed, it shocked even me, and I like to think I'm old enough not to surprised by anything that happens in super hero books. All in all, a great character who deserves more exposure.

A lot of comics seemed to be just endless dialog where nothing happened. I came back to comics when Red Hulk first appeared. I'm re-reading the entire series it's fantastic! I thought that Rulk was Glenn Talbot the entire time; it was a great mystery.

I absolutely loved Parker's run. Zero/One was my favorite character seconded by Annie. I was going to put that in the Unpopular Opinions thread, however it's nice to see I'm not a loner.

I loved Rulk's rogues gallery. I hope that Marvel brings them all back in the future.

[SickAlice]

@McFarlane's Green Hulk: I already explained to you, not that it should be needed. That's what the rest of the text sitting there is.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

A lot of comics seemed to be just endless dialog where nothing happened. I came back to comics when Red Hulk first appeared. I'm re-reading the entire series it's fantastic! I thought that Rulk was Glenn Talbot the entire time; it was a great mystery.

I thought he was Doc Samson.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

@McFarlane's Green Hulk: I already explained to you, not that it should be needed. That's what the rest of the text sitting there is.

Source it. Show me who said this, the interview, etc.
That's what the rest of my text sitting there is.
Otherwise, you're full of ****.

[Mighty Roman]

A lot of comics seemed to be just endless dialog where nothing happened. I came back to comics when Red Hulk first appeared. I'm re-reading the entire series it's fantastic! I thought that Rulk was Glenn Talbot the entire time; it was a great mystery.

I loved Rulk's rogues gallery. I hope that Marvel brings them all back in the future.

I thought that The Red Hulk was Glenn Talbot as well. When Rulk's identity was revealed, it was really clever how spoilers:

Ross faked his own death by making Red Hulk kill an LMD of himself, so people wouldn't suspect him.

end of spoilers It really was a shocking revelation.

As for Red Hulk's early days, yes, the mystery was dragged out for too long, but the payoff was worth it.

[SickAlice]

@@McFarlane's Green Hulk: Your rude, I'm sorry I'm not to engage in you in whatever this is.

And Pak obviously, PAD didn't write write WWHulk. I flubbed that.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

@@McFarlane's Green Hulk: Your rude, I'm sorry I'm not to engage in you in whatever this is.

I'm just calling the b.s. where I see it.
You've avoided the topic in question and you could not source your so-called "information".
In my book, that makes you a liar or ignorant with your statement.
PAD had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Red Hulk.
The man left the Hulk title for a second time due to the want/need to work on more non-Hulk related material in 2005.
Greg Pak took over after that and the original premise of the Red Hulk came from a series pitched to Joe Q. by Loeb & McGuinness wanting to show the Hulk do some unimaginable feats. The EIC of Marvel said no, make this a red Hulk and a mystery as to who it is.
So again, please tell me where this makes Peter David the "mastermind" behind the Red Hulk storyline...

[SickAlice]

@McFarlane's Green Hulk: Typos happen dude. Again your verbally abusive. I'm finished talking to until you learn some etiquette and to control your anger. Good day.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

@McFarlane's Green Hulk: Typos happen dude. Again your verbally abusive. I'm finished talking to until you learn some etiquette and to control your anger. Good day.

"Typos happen"?
Whatever.
That's an explanation we'll never hear about...

You offer nothing to converse about, so this will be my final response to your ever-so-engaging replies and falsehoods.

[Mighty Roman]

avengers12.jpg
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Another one of my favourite Red Hulk moments, this time from the Heroic Age Avengers series (Vol 4). In this scene the Red Hulk is chasing an infinity-gem wielding Hood across different realities. It's a shame that I couldn't find all of this scene, but it's a really epic ending to Red Hulk's first story as a member of The Avengers.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

"Typos happen"?
Whatever.
That's an explanation we'll never hear about...

You offer nothing to converse about, so this will be my final response to your ever-so-engaging replies and falsehoods.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you WERE being rude. In the greater scheme of things, this was nothing to get worked up over.

[yet another]

So, how does things look for Rulk?

Will Doc Green succeed in de-powering him or is he popular enough (like She-Hulk) to "survive"?

[Mighty Roman]

So, how does things look for Rulk?

Will Doc Green succeed in de-powering him or is he popular enough (like She-Hulk) to "survive"?

I think he may just be popular enough. Judging by the next couple of months solicits, it seems that he's going to be a major challenge for Doc Green...not to mention being the last on his hit list. I look forward to seeing this brawl, especially considering how cunning and smart they both are.