Hulk’s day out.
The Incredible Hulk #7.1, Jason Aaron/Jefte Palo
If you aren’t reading Jeff Parker’s run on Hulk (starring Red Hulk) then you’re totally missing out. He took what was created as a rather one-note character during Jeph Loeb’s run on the series and turned him into an incredibly deep, interesting and tragic character with an amazing rogues gallery. It’s one of Marvel’s best titles right now and really shouldn’t be missed.
Though it is filled with all the smashing and action-packed gamma madness you’d expect from a Hulk comic, I think that Jason Aaron’s (still young) run on The Incredible Hulk excellently portrays a lot of why the character is so tragic. He separates Banner from Hulk, and we get to see Banner as a failure, as a monster, because the one thing he ever succeeded in doing has been stripped away from him. Meanwhile Hulk can finally live how he’s always wanted to be (see; “Hulk just wants to be left alone”) but Banner’s instability pulls him right back into the craziness. I don’t want to say more because it’ll really spoil the read, but this story is a great introduction to the characters of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Grab the issues or check out the Hardcover when it goes on sale in mid-June.
Currently Reading: Incredible Hulks - Dark Son
Almost forgot to post this, as I’m two issues from finishing this collection. After reading the World War Hulks hardcover last week I decided to go ahead and order the first of Pak’s four volumes of “Incredible Hulks”, which was the title of the series during his run post-World War Hulks because the cast expanded to include (as well as Bruce/Hulk) Skaar, She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk, A-Bomb, and Lyra. In this volume Hulk and the crew become aware of the existence of Hulks other son, Skaar’s twin brother Hiro Kala. Readers have known about him for a while, but now he’s in Earth’s solar system and Hulk must bring his crew forth to stop him and his alien army from invading.
Now, I totally feel like I missed out on some plot because of the fact that I’ve never read the Son of Hulk series that Pak did which was where Hiro Kala was originally introduced, so I may or may not have to go back and grab that series… Regardless of my lack of knowledge as to what happened over there, this volume’s pretty fun as it’s full of the action you’d expect from a gamma charged ensemble comic.
Currently Reading: Incredible Hulks - World War Hulks HC
Taking a break from the massive John Byrne Fantastic Four Omnibus, I’m currently continuing reading Greg Pak’s run on the Hulk with this recently released oversized hardcover. This edition collects all of the tie-in material to the World War Hulks storyline, so while I did introduce it as me continuing Pak’s run, his stuff only makes up about one fifth of the volume. The majority of it is actually written by current Hulk writer Jeff Parker, so that’s neat.
Sadly, though, it seems that after this Marvel doesn’t have plans to put the rest of Pak’s Hulk material into oversized hardcovers, so I’ll have to continue my readings in paperback.
In Defense of the Red Hulk
Everyone has that one character that they really love, but other people either think they’re not great at all, or they just don’t really care about them. For me this used to be Animal Man. Ever since I’d read Morrison’s run on the character I’d fallen in love with Buddy Baker, and when I’d tell people to read the series they’d laugh at me. Of course now that Animal Man is a hit in the New 52 people aren’t exactly laughing at my love for the character anymore.
Now, though, I feel like that character for me has become the Red Hulk. Even though he’s got a critically acclaimed series under the pen of Jeff Parker people still aren’t giving the character the attention he deserves.
