Some Musings on the Hulk

[Mike Smash!]

Forgive me if this post rambles a bit, but its the result of a number of opinions that have been rattling around my head since the end of WORLD WAR HULK.

In short, I think Marvel's dropped the ball regarding the Hulk and his place in the Marvel Universe.

I'll explain. From the time that Peter David first left the title in the late 90's, the Hulk has always been sort of brushed off to a back corner of the Marvel Universe of titles. He was a character only brought into the spotlight for brief moments in crossovers when the story required a character to perform an impressive feat of strength and afterwards, would go back to his corner.

Marvel really didn't know what to do with him. He didn't have a consistent status quo. He was frequently batted around from writer to writer, and despite the fact that he had some wonderful brief moments in some runs (the beginning of the Jones run and bits and pieces of the Jenkins run), they would always eventually go sour or lose steam.

So when Greg Pak took over the character and gave us the excellent and iconic "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk", I was ecstatic. Finally we were seeing a run on the title that rivaled PAD's and the Hulk was being elevated to the iconic status he deserved at Marvel. After all, along with Spider-Man (and nowadays, Iron Man), he's one of Marvel's most instantly recognizable characters. Why shouldn't he have a top tier title?

Pak picked up the baton from David's run and carried on with the classic "Gravage Hulk" persona and developed it in a way that it hadn't been for years. We saw the Hulk on a world where the very things that made him an outcast on Earth, instead made him a hero and a king.

And after this all climaxed in the destruction of Sakaar and the Hulk's invasion of Manhattan, we saw every character involved have some sort of epilogue. Some sort of closure. The Illuminati. Amadeus Cho and Hercules. Tom Foster. The Warbound. Heroes for Hire. She-Hulk.

Everybody but the two that mattered most: The Hulk and Bruce Banner.

The Hulk was mourning the death of a wife and child that he could no longer blame on his enemies and was devastated by the betrayal of Miek. He saw finally his own destructive potential and allowed himself to be subdued. And now, totally broken and disillusioned would have to face the realization that he'd wrongfully attacked the Marvel heroes.

Banner's rage at Caiera's death was enough that he did something totally unprecedented. He sided with the Hulk against humanity and the other Marvel heroes. He even took a (literal) hand in taking down Dr. Strange for the Hulk.

But neither got the opportunity to show us how they transitioned out of this large scale Marvel event. An event that they headlined.

And after all of that wonderful build up for the character and his elevation to top tier status, I was hoping to see him build even greater momentum post-WWH.

But Banner is now a prisoner of the U.S. government and hasn't given us any sort of epilogue for his character, relating to his participation in WWH.

And the Hulk had a personality adjustment off-panel and is now in his classic "Savage Hulk" mode, and we aren't likely to get any closure from him.

And while I'm loving the INCREDIBLE HERCULES to death and getting a kick out of the new Loeb-penned HULK series, I'm not seeing my favorite character on a monthly basis anymore.

I have little issue with HULK's lateness. I can handle waiting a little extra time for a book I enjoy, but I had hoped that it would be a title in addition to his regular appearances in Pak's THE INCREDIBLE HULK series. One series could afford to be a little late because the other title would be printed monthly.

So my monthly Hulk fix is usually satisfied by the entertaining all-ages MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK series.

So it feels like the character has lost almost all of the momentum that it had gotten coming out of World War Hulk and the status that it had gained from Planet Hulk.

And now that the wonderful new Norton movie is out, I feel that it'll re-spark interest in the character with alot of comic book fans that may have never read him or haven't read him in years and will go to their comic book shop only to not find any new Hulk comics on the racks.

(Note that I don't mean movie fans picking up comics for the first time, but long time comic fans getting back into the Hulk because of the movie)

Iron Man on the other hand, has two monthly titles. Comic fans acquiring a new interest in Tony Stark because of the excellent movie won't have much trouble getting into his comics.

So is anyone else in the same boat that I'm in? Do you feel that the Hulk has lost of lot of momentum that he'd gained from last year?

[Elitehaxxor]

I read Planet and World War Hulk back to back just recently and I must say they were just brilliant. Planet Hulk made me LOVE the hulk, after reading them the movie could do no wrong I thought it was genius as well.

I will say that this new Hulk series does have my attention, but I don't see it being nearly as good as Planet or WW Hulk right now. I think what this series is going off of is the shock factor of the bright red hulk tearing everything up. I really can't get into the story though, because there really isn't one and since I don't have much of a background with the Hulk I can't speculate much on who the Rhulk is. This to me is why this new Hulk is not as good, once you get past the initial awe of a red Hulk, the book doesn't have much going for it other than some neat fight scenes with good art. That said, I will continue to buy it to satisfy my Hulk fixation..

[Ptrvc]

Wasn't Pak going to pick up Hulk again after the whole Red Hulk thing?

[Britannic]

The current team have been rumored to be around for about 20 issues which will take over 2 years at current spped . So even if Pak came back it would be far to late to save anything from the Farce we must endure till then.

[Will.S]

So is anyone else in the same boat that I'm in? Do you feel that the Hulk has lost of lot of momentum that he'd gained from last year?
I actually do feel the same way.

They should have either had him get his revenge on the Illuminati and then blasted him back to Sakaar by the end of the WWH or kept him in Sakaar even after Caiera's death and have him slowly built back up. The Skaar title is pretty much a continuation of Planet Hulk but at the same time it looks like it was specially built for Pak to continue writing A Hulk and not THE Hulk after Loeb was given writing duties on Hulk.

I suppose depending on how long he's planning to keep the red Hulk around Loeb is going to either keep writing the red Hulk version or he'll have the green one stick around until after he's done with red but I'm not a fan of the savage Hulk and I've only liked him really during the Mantlo days. Plus I don't think Loeb is a writer who can get into any sort of depth with the Hulk given his current output.

[Drdmx]

I agree there could be some great things happening with Hulk, and it's a shame that timelines werent suffiecient to be a key player in SI. But I think that SI is giving some other characters a chance to step up and run the show, and I'm fine with that. Red Hulk can keep me entertained until the next facet of the Hulk's personality is put on display.

[agrich]

I feel similarly, except I thought World War Hulk -- written by Pak, of course -- was godawful. I think THAT killed the momentum generated by the brilliant, beautiful, and intelligent Planet Hulk arc. I wish they'd kept him on Planet Hulk for another year or more, and hadn't ever conceived the stupid and lame World War Hulk tie-in.

I agree they've further screwed the character up with the mindless Red Hulk nonsense, but I don't care what they say -- it's temporary and it will be gone soon enough, and so will Loeb and McGuinness.

What they need to do is get a smart writer back on the book and an artist with a less cartoony style. Maybe it will be Pak and some other artist, perhaps the Planet Hulk team again. That would be nice.

[gorthon616]

The current team have been rumored to be around for about 20 issues which will take over 2 years at current spped . So even if Pak came back it would be far to late to save anything from the Farce we must endure till then.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!??! I thought the Loeb run was like.... a mini-series kind of thing. And after the Red Hulk stuff (which I'm willing to endure/enjoy), the title would move past that.... ouch.

[Britannic]

So I have read and heared. I just wonder if they will stick around for long. I would guess once Rulk is revealed as Samson or the real Tony Stark then sales will plummet. Also as stated above Loeb's writing has no depth or to be truthful any real story. Art I could live with but the comic needs to get back to a regular monthly output and soon.

If I turned up to work as late as these guys seem to hand theirs in I would be out the door in no time.

We need the return of a writer with real depth and an understanding of the more mature aspects of the Hulk. We already have Hulk adventures for the Kids. We want a Hulk comic that we can engage in as adults.

[we3ster]

I do have an issue with Hulk coming out every 2 months at the moment. As mentioned in this thread, the Hulk is easily Marvel's second biggest character, even my 63 year old mum knows who the Hulk is (she's never read a comicbook in her life!) and I think its insulting to both the fans and the character himself.

I am enjoying the current run somewhat but was dismayed that the Hulk seems to have gone back to his 'savage' days. The Hulk may have gone back to his savage ways but Banner is still the same, he was just as upset at Caiera's death, so surely he would be looking for closure? Personally, I would like to see the heroes who are currently struggling against the Skrulls come on bended knee asking for his help and then Hulk helping them after sincere apologies. Alas, with 'gladiator Hulk' seemingly gone, this will not happen.

One person mentioned on here just after WWH about the Hulk becoming a sort of intergalactic traveller and I liked that idea, especially if the Warbound were in tow, they all made a fantastic group together!

Anyways, the Hulk certainly deserves better than what is coming his way at the moment!

[Ptrvc]

One person mentioned on here just after WWH about the Hulk becoming a sort of intergalactic traveller and I liked that idea, especially if the Warbound were in tow, they all made a fantastic group together!

See now that's a storyline, but they aren't going to write that.

[Kage Kisaragi]

What ever did happen to the Stone ship? I would also love to a HULK: King of the Space Pirates! or Hulk: Gamma Pirates of the Intergalactic Sea!