Hulk: Season One - The Day the Hulk Turned Green?

If my fellow Hulk fans have been looking at recent comics news this weekend, you might've seen a reason to be extra giddy for next year to arrive. Marvel Comics is releasing a series of original hardcover graphic novels under the imprint of "Season One," featuring origin stories for its many iconic heroes. Several months ago, the company announced the first four titles, including tales of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Daredevil and the X-Men. This time around, they've got three more origin stories, including Ant-Man, Doctor Strange (by Greg Pak), and...wait for it...

Hulk: Season One, by writer Fred Van Lente, artist Tom Fowler, and color artist Jordie Bellaire.

Of course, ol' Fred's no stranger to this blog or to the Hulk, having written some gamma-rific tales in books like Hulk Family: Gamma Genes, Hulk: Broken Worlds, All-New Savage She-Hulk (and accompanying backup tales in Incredible Hulk), and the upcoming Hulk Smash Avengers limited series, among others. He also co-wrote Incredible Hercules with Greg Pak when the Lion of Olympus took over Greenskin's book after World War Hulk. All that hanging around the Gregarious One must've left him with a bad case of the gamma flu, because he's about to unleash over 100 pages of purple-pantsed action in the mighty Marvel manner!

And even though their own exposure to Hulkish things hasn't been quite on-par with Mr. Van Lente, let that not diminish the heroic efforts of Tom Fowler, who's been making Spidey spinoff Venom his home these last few months, nor Jordie Bellaire, who's working right now with Hulk alum Gabriel Hardman on Boom! Studios' Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes miniseries! And yes, friends, the two of them have already made beautiful Hulksome goodness together in this sketch of the sensational She-Hulk! (Click below to check out the post on Jordie's site!)

You can bet as the release date approaches (it's currently scheduled for August '12) I'll be rounding up more details and maybe even getting the creators to say a few words about this titanic tome! In the meantime, I did want to add some early observations based on everything that's out there so far (mostly a CBR exclusive interview with Van Lente & Fowler).

In the interview, Fowler specifically notes that he and Van Lente are working with a different incarnation of the Hulk than in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's previous high-profile origin rework, Hulk: Gray: "[W]e're dealing with the gray Hulk who wasn't just talking in three word sentences and saying, 'Smash' and 'Puny' a lot. This was kind of that a-hole Hulk that would often tell people to go to hell." Sounds a lot like the Hulk of Incredible Hulk #1 by Stan and Jack, doesn't it? Point!

Van Lente also notes that he's reshuffling a bit of the supporting cast to bring the series more up to date with the times. Particularly, Betty is now "an active member of the military, which sort of reflects how now the U.S. Military more actively recruits women and how they have a more active role in the military now than they did in the '60s." Additionally, Betty won't be the only woman in Bruce Banner's life, as the story "reintroduces a character that I created who has been directly associated with Bruce Banner in a romantic way by other writers. I'm now officially retconning her into Hulk continuity, and she plays a major role in the story. Basically, I thought Betty needed a romantic rival for Bruce's affections and that's this character." Sounds like Monica Rappaccini, AIM Scientist Supreme and mother to the new Scorpion, will be front and center.

But what about the bad guys? There's no word yet on whether the Gargoyle will play a role in this revised origin tale, but I'd be surprised if he weren't there in some fashion, Cold War or no. However, Van Lente's assertion we'll see "a very well known evil Marvel organization" speaks well to AIM's involvement since Monica will be around. The writer's also promised "a brand new Hulk villain called Biocide, who's pretty awful and horrible, and therefore awesome."

My last tease? Well, you've seen the cover to the book, and Julian Totino Tedesco's illustration clearly shows a green-skinned monster. On the other hand, Tom Fowler's mentioned that he's drawing a gray-skinned behemoth. Might we finally see the moment Hulk fans have waited five decades for? We know that sometime between Incredible Hulk #1 and 2, the Hulk turned from gray to green. Aside from a way-too-brief scene in Uncanny Origins #5, we've never seen how that color change occurred. Something tells me that if Fred Van Lente's involved, he won't give us a mere throwaway scene and that the shift from gray to green will be a pivotal moment in the narrative.

Alas, the answers are many months away. I'll follow up at some point next year, but for now, feel free to visit the above links, as well as those to Tom Fowler's blog, where he's sculpted some Hulk and General Ross heads for reference for this original graphic novel!

~G.

Eve Of Destruction

Marvel Comics is now hyping an event set for 2012 with the tagline, "Destroy!" featuring a number of their more monstrous characters. I have a preview image, but due to SPOILERS mainly for Incredible Hulks #635, you'll have to click to see it after the jump!

The Ever-Changing Lyra, Daughter of Hulk! (Among Other Things, a SHE-HULKS Review)

Hulk & Thundra in the shadow of their daughter, from All-New Savage She-Hulk. Art by Alex Garner.

I daresay the Hulk-related portion of the Marvel Universe has exploded over the last few years. We've had She-Hulk get her own book again, then it got canceled. Then in the wake of World War Hulk came an arguable spinoff, Incredible Hercules, followed quickly by the introduction of Red Hulk, then the return of the Incredible Hulk, and some other series here and there centered around events like "Fall of the Hulks" and "World War Hulks."

Unfortunately, with the market being what it is ("unhealthy" is a bit of an understatement--sort of like all of print media) the line is due for contraction. The first casualty in these matters appears to be Lyra, the Hulk's daughter from a future timeline. Since her introduction in Hulk: Raging Thunder, where the Hulk first met Thundra and she scraped his cheek for DNA, she's been featured prominently in no less than three limited series of no more than four issues apiece. She's had some jarring status quo changes, and now it appears, barring a real outpouring of fan support, she'll be relegated to Greg Pak's Incredible Hulks series (not that it's a bad place, necessarily), if not altogether forgotten. But is it a real shame to see Lyra's star falling, or is it more a mercy killing? Before fandom en masse attacks me for that last comment, let's examine her brief history:

Hulk: Raging Thunder - Hulk, as we know, is Marvel's original man-monster, "the strongest one there is." This fact attracts Thundra, a warrior-woman from a future matriarchal society. In her era, men and women live separately and war with each other. The men are sterile from radiation exposure, and both sexes only survive through human parthenogenesis. Thundra travels to our present with the intent of conceiving an heir. Only one born of superior stock, she rationalizes, can have a hope of succeeding her when she grows too old to ably serve the United Sisterhood Republic. This means a fundamental change from the last several generations, in that her daughter will have both a mother and a father.

In the back of the All-New Savage She-Hulk #1, writer Jeff Parker mentions that it was his original intention to have the Hulk and Thundra actually sleep together to create Lyra, but that this idea got "downgraded to scraping cells from [the Hulk's] cheek." Page twenty, without the dialogue in later panels, can even be interpreted with the former explanation. True, the change could have come because editors thought Thundra wouldn't "sully herself" by direct contact (even though, in main continuity, Thundra had been involved with Arkon, if indeed this was not a divergent Thundra). It's more likely the decision had something to do with Jeph Loeb's Ultimate Hulk Annual, in which the Ultimate universe's Hulk slept with the Squadron Supreme's Zarda.

The first appearance of the then-unnamed Lyra, from Hulk: Raging Thunder #1.

Regardless of the decisions behind the as-yet unnamed daughter of Hulk's creation, it's revealed at the end of the story that she was the narrator of the entire story, with her "present" being established as twenty years after Thundra's return from meeting the Hulk. She is a conqueror, taking back the male-inhabited lands of this divergent future while her mother serves elsewhere. In her mind, males won't stop fighting until they all die off, a fact she doesn't fret over. She thinks once all men are gone and their atrocities forgotten by generations of women, that "maybe those women will decide that the Y chromosome can return to the world." She seems dignified and mature as well as battle-hardened.

"Daughter of Hulk" (from Hulk Family) - This brief vignette by Paul Tobin and Benton Jew showcases the again-unnamed Lyra in battle alongside her friend Nella, and explores the world of the men of the 23rd Century via Lyra's infiltration of one of their parthenogenesis facilities. The story also reinforces the dynamic that Lyra is different from her sisters in that she is the only one with a father. Just as she can be seen then as the inverse of a messianic figure, she can also then be seen as a devil of sorts, corrupted by the male species by virtue of her lineage. This story paves the way for what follows...

All-New Savage She-Hulk - After two stories, it's finally in the third story that writer Fred Van Lente gives our heroine a name. In the back pages of the first issue, Van Lente attributes the name to the protagonist in the 1971 story "The Femizons" from Savage Tales #1 by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. He dramatically shifts the narrative of the Daughter of Hulk for the first time (but not the last) by having her follow her mother's path, time-traveling to "our" present during Marvel's "Dark Reign" umbrella event, wherein Norman Osborn rose to power and oversaw many security initatives like H.A.M.M.E.R. and A.R.M.O.R. The latter agency, the Alternate Reality Monitoring and Operational Response Agency, tracks Lyra's arrival on Earth-616 from Earth-9008. She abducts A.R.M.O.R. agent Alex Erde to use as a field guide on her mission to look for the time period's greatest hero, but soon encounters resistance in Jennifer Walters, the first She-Hulk, as well as Norman Osborn's officially sanctioned team, the Dark Avengers.

Van Lente makes some interesting alterations to Lyra beyond giving her a name, and the art, primarily by Peter Vale and Robert Atkins, provides the best vision of Lyra to date. She is charged with a mission by the Gynosure, ruler of Milago, to bring back technology that will allow them to again use the Cradle, the device that enables the parthenogenic processes that enable them to birth more women. To this end she is armed with Boudicca, an artificial intelligence she wears on her wrist like a watch. (Boudicca's commentary very often steals the show. It's a shame she's not still around...but I'm getting ahead of myself.) He also gives Lyra a weakness in, ironically enough, her anger, as the angrier Lyra becomes, the weaker she gets. Conversely, he also gives her "gamma vision," where she goes into a Zen-like trance and harnesses the gamma energy around her to perform superhuman feats.

Too much tongue? Lyra kisses Osborn, from All-New Savage She-Hulk #3.

In the final issue of the series, we finally discover the reason Lyra is tasked with meeting the era's greatest hero, who's stated to be Osborn himself: she is to collect his seed for the Gynosure, presumably to father another generation of women in the future. Interestingly, Lyra seems ready to collect the old-fashioned way, as A.R.M.O.R. notes that she's ovulating! Of course, she rejects those impulses, and rightly so, in the end teaming with Jennifer Walters to battle the Dark Avengers before teleporting away to A.R.M.O.R., where she becomes one of their field agents. Along the way, she discovers Boudicca has fulfilled their mission and left the processor the Gynosure needed in a location where it could be reached in the future. Hence, she is free to remain in the present. (Marvel now no longer seems to adhere to the principles of time travel set by Mark Gruenwald in the 1970s, else everything Lyra did since arriving would merely cause another divergence.)

A few more Van Lente-penned adventures of Lyra appear in back-up stories in Greg Pak's Incredible Hulk series from #600 through 605. In them, Lyra encounters the fruits of her meeting with Osborn, as he used her information about the future to set up the Origins Corporation, chaired by the Hulk's foe General Ryker and specializing in commoditizing superhuman powers. While trying to find the missing Jennifer Walters, she and Alex Erde are attacked by women with the powers of Zzzax, the Abomination, and the Glob. (This marks the fourth such woman imbued with the Abomination's powers--but that's a tale for another article!) Erde's unrequited love is cut short as Axon (the Zzzax analogue) causes the crash that leads to his death. Lyra swears revenge and kills two of the three women, while after her failure, Ryker gives the kill order for the third. She appears to be coming into her own as a She-Hulk, but that's before she's brought into the...

Lyra, from Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks #1 by Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic.

Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks - The next writer to handle Lyra is Jeph Loeb, in both Fall of the Hulks: Gamma (with artist John Romita Jr.) and Hulk #19 (with Ed McGuinness). As framed later in the three-issue tie-in to the main event by Lyra's co-creator Jeff Parker and Salva Espin, Lyra allies herself with the Intelligencia in order to attempt a rescue of Jennifer Walters, who has been their captive for several weeks. She mixes it up a few times with the Red She-Hulk, and even meets her mother, Thundra, who still hasn't returned to the future to allow the scientists to artificially inseminate her (or however their process worked). She becomes the fourth member of the Frightful Four, and while naked (!) defeats the Human Torch in battle, taking one of his 1970s-era red outfits to wear.

The Human Torch gets a fiery green eyeful. From Hulk #19, art by Ed McGuinness & Mark Farmer.

Lyra loses her companion Boudicca, destroying it (her?) to prove her loyalty to the Intelligencia, but its central processing unit is restarted remotely by Bruce Banner, who for the first time makes contact with his daughter (after learning about her in Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk #1-2, also by Parker). During the siege of the Intelligencia's Hellcarrier, she makes a three-panel cameo in Incredible Hulk #608, meeting her half-brother Skaar (to whom she refers as "little brother") before Banner blasts her up "at least four levels" to rescue Jennifer. Jen accosts her over her opinion that Thundra "ran away" from her and hid in the 21st Century, confronting her with the truth that she nearly jeopardized her chances of being born. She also tells Lyra that, once the battles are finished, she will show her "what a normal life is supposed to be...and how wonderful it is," the earliest allusion to the upcoming She-Hulks series. After uniting with the Red She-Hulk, the three of them fight the legions of AIMarines-turned-Hulks as well as the Hulked-out heroes. Lyra records a message on the barely-functioning Boudicca and leaves it for Thundra to find in the future, telling her mother she is the greatest woman she has known.

The four-issue She-Hulks limited series, with covers by Ed McGuinness.

 She-Hulks - And that brings us to the post-"World War Hulks" portion of this entry, where writer Harrison Wilcox and artist Ryan Stegman (late of the ill-received Red She-Hulk back-ups from Incredible Hulk) contribute the most jarring changes to the young Lyra. That's the right describer, too: "young," as under Wilcox's pen, she becomes a teenager, molded to the role of a companion and "little sister" to Jennifer Walters, the original She-Hulk. Perhaps the shift is due to a stigma that's existed since Lyra's introduction; namely, the idea that she was introduced to eventually replace the original She-Hulk. It's a preposterous idea, certainly, as Jennifer has such deep roots in the Marvel Universe, as a solo hero as well as member of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, as well as being a peripheral Hulk cast member. Perhaps Marvel believed the safe middleground was to team the two titanesses together and establish them as a generation apart.

I'm going to loosely state, although I have no independent confirmation, that Lyra's supposed to be roughly sixteen years old during this series. The de-aging of Lyra to high school age creates some interesting problems in her treatment under previous writers, certainly--chief among them that whole "search for the greatest hero of the 21st Century so we can procure his seed, and oh, wait, I'm totally ovulating" storyline, which in revision nearly reaches a "Gwen Stacy in 'Sins Past'" level of yuck. That goes double for Johnny Storm, who burned Lyra's clothes off and then made juvenile comments while she was in the buff. These are the two most irritating examples, although there's certainly also the Stockholm Syndrome-esque developments between Alex Erde and Lyra in Incredible Hulk #601, all of which add up to the conclusion that Lyra wasn't originally intended to be, for want of a better term, Teen She-Hulk.

Mourning that perfect prom dress? Art by Ryan Stegman & Michael Babinski.

Lyra has been stripped of much of the accoutrement she had since her first appearance, as well as much of the rest of what defined her in those earlier stories, right up to Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks. Her military bearing, which should be obvious as having grown up around Thundra and her soldiers, is almost wholly absent, as is her complex attitude toward the opposite sex from being raised in a society where men and women are literally at war. Furthermore, thanks to S.P.I.N. Tech (Super-Power Inhibiting Nanobots), Lyra no longer grows weaker when she gets angry, and she now has a smaller, pink-skinned form invented just for this narrative. The onslaught of changes made to Lyra in such a short time really makes it apparent that the powers-that-be don't really know what to do with her character. Here, it's like Wilcox took that aforementioned idea of "Teen She-Hulk," partnered her up with Jen Walters, and then sparsely fit bits of Lyra's prior history in the narrative where they could fit. The Lyra of She-Hulks bears little, if any, resemblance to all of her earlier appearances.

The dynamic of She-Hulks again really reads like, well, exactly what you'd think a series about a Teen She-Hulk would. Lyra is largely the center of the narrative, as we follow her time in school, her being coached by Jen, and the talks between Bruce Banner and Jen about her. Jen acts as an aunt of sorts to young Lyra, having her attend high school at Bruce Banner's urgings. (See? That pink-skinned form comes in handy!) The two of them live in a sweet Manhattan apartment, and Bruce has charged them with capturing the remaining free members of the Intelligencia, solving some very important loose ends from the "World War Hulks" story. In fact, Bruce Banner and the Hulk have a substantial supporting role in the series, headquartered at Gamma Base and using funds from the Olympus Group to finance the women's missions. The base also houses a detention facility where the villains are held once the She-Hulks capture them.

The book's lighter tone aids in Lyra's likability, and she certainly needed some lightening up in the wake of, let's face it, some rather dark showings in her first dozen appearances. (Often the Boudicca unit served as comic relief in the earlier series, as counterpoint to Lyra's "straight woman.") You might be thinking, "Having been transported to this new time period where she isn't surrounded by all the war and gender politics, why wouldn't Lyra lighten up?" It's a fair point, and one I'm sure the creators had in mind when developing this series. The original point of creating a second She-Hulk seemed to be making her different from the original, who had become something of a punchline in the Marvel Universe, with no one able to remove her from John Byrne's intimidating shadow. It becomes obvious why Lyra began as a warrior-woman. Apparently that paradigm didn't quite mesh, because now Lyra has lightened up and become absorbed into the first She-Hulk's world--humor, girl talk, boys and all. Again, quite literally, she's Teen She-Hulk, "Jen's li'l sis."

You're not the only one, Lyra. Art by Stegman & Babinski.

And I hate it. And I love it.

I didn't mean to suggest that the Wilcox/Stegman series isn't any good. It's actually an intensely pleasurable read if taken out of context of Lyra's earlier appearances. Yes, I know I spent six paragraphs disparaging the changes made to Lyra in this four-issue limited series, but it works and I can't explain why. She-Hulks is just a fun ride. Harrison Wilcox writes a fun interplay between Jennifer and Lyra, and his Bruce Banner and Hulk are on point. In addition, he's nailed the voices for all the villains. True, the final issue features an abrupt, forced message about tolerance and fearing that which people don't understand that seems more at home in an X-Men book than a Hulk one. Overall, Wilcox hits more than he misses.

Furthermore, if one creator had a real "breakout moment" in this series, it must be Ryan Stegman. The man needs a high-profile gig, as his work here with inker Michael Babinski is just tremendous. He's grown by Hulk-sized leaps and bounds since working on the aforementioned Red She-Hulk backup stories. I mean, take a look at this:

Yes, I want to buy this page and frame it. Alas, a blogger's salary...! Stegman & Babinski FTW!

This was only page two of the first issue, and the piece shows that Stegman just gets it. His pages are clear and action-packed. If he wasn't having fun drawing all four issues, he certainly fooled me. The fun factor comes through on nearly every page. Wilcox's script is filled with "big" moments and every time he's asked, Stegman delivers, whether it's the Hulk catching the She-Hulks' Gamma Jet, or the She-Hulks fleeing an avalanche, or fighting the Wizard in an awesome double-page spread filled with bikini-clad women. His facial expressions are a delight, as well. In short, Stegman's fun, energetic, and expressive style fits the She-Hulks to a T, and I'd really love to see him on another project--whether it be more She-Hulks or something else--in the not-too-distant future.

What are the chances of seeing a second volume of She-Hulks? I can see Marvel's cautiousness in this volatile market, in wondering if this series would truly find an audience. Initially solicited as an ongoing series, evidently orders weren't as high as Marvel had hoped, and news broke on Diamond's weekly shipping list that the book had been changed to four issues. (It wasn't until the last issue was solicited in Marvel Previews that the company publicly acknowledged the series was scaled back.) It didn't help that the first issue was priced at $3.99 (although subsequent issues were all $2.99). The backdoor cancellation announcement probably doomed the series in retailers' eyes, although luckily for fans, only the last issue showed any hint that the book was in fact a limited series. (Why luckily? Fans who don't read solicitations likely thought the series was ongoing, and somewhere in my messed-up mind, I like to think fans wanted to settle in for a long haul.) Sadly, the book received anemic pre-orders, with only 18,616 copies of the first issue distributed according to Diamond. Subsequent sales figures confirm that the series only fell from there, with a 21% drop in December, and another 12% in January, where orders were at an abysmal 12,926 copies. We can only hope that the book sells out at the retailer level, and the inevitable trade paperback collection is heavily ordered, otherwise we may never see another Hulk-based series that's this fun. Or, more likely, we'll see yet another revision of Lyra, and probably Jen Walters as well...again, not as fun.

After my initial resistance to the core concept of She-Hulks, I have to say I greatly enjoyed the finished product and hope more adventures of Lyra and Jen are on the horizon. It's a case of so-so ideas with incredible execution. However, it's going to take more than Jen's magic cure-all, a cup of hot cocoa, to get this duo to see another day...

Hot cocoa can cure a lot, but can it get us She-Hulks volume 2? More Stegman & Babinski.

'Nuff said,

~G.

Chaos War: The Incredible Hulks #618-620 Review-o-Rama!

Since I haven't reviewed the first two parts of the Chaos War crossover, I figured I'd write an all-in-one review of the Hulks' part in the storyline, #618 through 620, featuring the returns of the Abomination and--oh, but that would be telling! This won't be just a review--it's also in-depth criticism and filled with annotations from older issues--writer Greg Pak's inspiration for this tale. Although I wanted to avoid them, it seems a discussion of this triad of issues would be incomplete without heavy discussion of SPOILERS. So, without further ado--tally ho!


The Incredible Hulks #618-620
"Inferno," "Hell Break" & "Harrowed"

Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Paul Pelletier & Danny Miki
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterers: Simon Bowland
Production: Irene Lee
Assistant Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel Comics

After the sprawling epic "Dark Son," wherein the Hulks family faced their first challenge in Skaar's brother, Hiro-Kala, the team wanted nothing more than to come back to Earth for some much-needed reflection and relaxation. Unfortunately, the Chaos King (from the pages of The Incredible Hercules) has risen, killing the lord of the dream realms, Nightmare, and catapulting Earth's denizens into eternal slumber. He has destroyed the underworld, freeing the dead to haunt the world anew. And so, Dr. Strange warns the Hulks of the dangers by bringing his astral self to their great stone ship. The Hulks then proceed to Earth, checking to be sure the Hulk's daughter Lyra is okay, and then...the real terror begins!

"Dark Son" was an important and necessary storyline in Hulk history, showing a son who had become a deadlier version of what Brian Banner believed Bruce would become (although, granted, not using his intellect to do so), it suitably took up six issues of The Incredible Hulks. By contrast, we have an innocuous-looking crossover to a "major Marvel event," that by rights really shouldn't count for much, but it ends up being anything but. These three issues may be overly full of important, emotionally resonant events, each of which could certainly fill an entire storyline all their own.

Fans and reviewers alike have spoken out on Chaos War, and some have likened facets like resurrecting the dead (who are running rampant without any help in books like Chaos War: Dead Avengers and Chaos War: X-Men) to the DC Comics crossover sensation of 2010, Blackest Night. While it's true both sagas share a theme of bringing back dead heroes and villains, the key distinction lies in Marvel's free from external influence and only allying themselves with the Chaos King if they so desire. Hence, that freedom to choose makes Chaos War a richer experience, and it allows so much dramatic potential to be infused. Nowhere is that potential more well-utilized than in Incredible Hulks.

Over the Hulk's storied history, a number of important characters have been lost to tragedy. Even beloved villains have passed beyond the veil, and though we know those villains won't be gone forever, it's fitting that the first resurrection here is Emil Blonsky, the Abomination. Eagle-eyed readers may have seen him in the bowels of Hades during the "Dark Reign" stories in Incredible Hercules #129-131, but here he returns from his ignominious defeat in Jeph Loeb's Hulk #1. As has happened so many times throughout the character's history (Thanks Mick!), Blonsky has again been reinvented, this time as the Chaos King's lackey, sent to locate Rick Jones' estranged (?) wife, Marlo Chandler-Jones, whose presence and predicament lead to the storyline's other, more notable returns of the heroic sort.

A substantial bit of character drama leads off the book, as the Hulk and Stephen Strange have had a strained relationship of late. Readers of World War Hulk recognize that for the second time, Strange played a part in exiling the Hulk from his homeworld. To combat his old friend turned enemy upon his return to Earth, Strange drank the contents of the magical amphora that contained the essence of the demon Zom, imbuing himself with his essence, however diluted. Strange fought back the possession and the majority of Zom's self was returned to the amphora, but the damage was done: Strange soon lost his title of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. Here, disgraced, he appears to ask for the Hulk's help, but we discover at #618's conclusion that he has again been usurped by Zom, who has been set free anew by the Chaos King so that he and the Abomination may locate Marlo.

Why does everyone want Marlo? Once upon a time (in 2001's Captain Marvel #17-18), Thanos hid Death's spirit away from a cosmic villain called Walker. Where did he hide her? None other than inside Marlo, who had once died and returned to life. Thanks to this brush with Death, Marlo now harbors a piece of her power inside her--a piece that, if extinguished by the Chaos King's servants, would allow those merely sleeping, immune from death's embrace, to die anew. No sooner does Rick reveal Marlo's whereabouts--in Phoenix, Arizona--Zom reveals himself and the battle is joined anew.


Where the story starts to distinguish itself is in its second chapter, where we begin with the fight between Hulk and Zom, where Zom's mystical aptitudes (shown way back in Strange Tales #156-157) are virtually forgotten to make him more a match for the entirely physical Hulk. Soon, focus shifts from Zom and Abomination almost entirely and goes squarely to the Hulks' protection of Marlo, as well as the exploration of Marlo's "gifts." Given that when we see her, cowboys and other dead people she doesn't even know are protecting her from demons, it's not so much a stretch seeing her bring back someone she knows is dead--Doc Samson. (I'm going to have to guess that Rick or someone else tipped her off to Doc's death in Incredible Hulk #610...much like Abomination just magically knows Rick is now A-Bomb, and Betty is now Red She-Hulk, and he knows all about the Banner family! D'oh!) Doc then proceeds to summon three souls especially important to Hulk lore.

In increasing order of importance: first among the resurrected is Hiroim the Oldstrong, the disgraced Shadow priest who was a part of the Hulk's Warbound and who passed on fighting the Leader in Warbound #5. This return marks the first time an issue has been made in the main Hulk book about Hiroim's sexuality, but fans of the earlier miniseries may remember he and Korg talked about one day participating in the ceremony whereby Kronans produce little rocklings. It's not dwelled on, is done tastefully, and does enhance the relationship between these characters. (It's interesting that Samson chooses Hiroim to be resurrected, since he was relatively unfamiliar with him in comparison to the others below.)

The second of the resurrected is Colonel Glenn Talbot, former mortal enemy to the Hulk, who also happens to be Betty Ross' first husband. (They married in Incredible Hulk #158, and divorced in #238 after years of trouble; he died in #260.) Of course, Glenn was just seen in the major Hulk crossovers "Fall of the Hulks" & "World War Hulks," but contrary to the reading Bannertech gave, he was ultimately revealed as just another Life Model Decoy, created in the image of the real Talbot. The Leader and M.O.D.O.K. created the Talbot decoy to be their deep government mole in the event Ross abdicated his responsibilities, and also to be an influence on Betty, who'd recently been resurrected and turned into the Red She-Hulk. His military record was doctored to satisfy deep digging (such as Cho struck in #608). That LMD was "killed" by Ross as the Red Hulk in Hulk #23. As is obvious from the first moment they see each other in #619, Betty and Glenn still have feelings for each other, although in Betty's case, hers could be colored by hindsight and how crazy her life has become since having married Bruce.

The last to be brought back is Jarella, princess of the sub-atomic world of K'ai. It's noteworthy she appears here, as she's been referenced as recently as "Dark Son," since it was K'ai that Hiro-Kala brought through The Fault and on a collision course with Earth. She was first seen in Incredible Hulk #140, created by Harlan Ellison, Roy Thomas & Herb Trimpe for the second in a two-part crossover with Avengers #88. She fell in love with Bruce Banner and the Hulk, who returned to her world a few times in subsequent years before she was stranded on Earth. She eventually died there, saving a young boy from falling debris (Incredible Hulk #205). The Hulk eventually recaptured her body from Gamma Base and buried her on K'ai. Evidently her soul remained on Earth, so here she was resurrected.

Since the Hulks had their own army made from the dead, it only made sense for the Abomination to bring others to his cause. After emotionally satisfying scenes that showed Betty beating on Blonsky for having killed her, the Abomination decides to resurrect the two most important figures to Bruce Banner's early years: his mother, Rebecca Banner, and his abusive father, Brian. This storyline marks the first "present-day" appearance of both characters, as they have previously only been shown in flashback to Bruce's childhood. Brian's three previous appearances--Incredible Hulk #312, 377 and -1--are the stuff of Hulk legend and are terrifically important in understanding the modern iteration. Brian Banner always saw his son as a monster due to his abnormal intelligence displayed from an early age. He blamed his own work as an atomic scientist for some manner of mutation, and his abuse of alcohol fueled his rage, directed physically at his wife for bearing Bruce, and Bruce himself. The physical and emotional abuse both mother and child suffered at Brian's hands not only led to Rebecca's death, but also Bruce's emotional repression that led to the development of the personalities that would become the Hulks. Conversely, to Bruce, his father Brian is the real monster, and he's been shown in mental images to be two kinds of beasts. (One was the form of Bruce's monstrous id, "Goblin," circa #312; the other was a more literal, green-skinned, reptilian monster that was later hinted to be a giant manifestation of Bruce's guilt--most recently seen in Incredible Hulk #12-13 in 2000.)


Pak's script in #620 offers the idea that the dead are granted their power by the emotions of the living, which means that Brian Banner feeds on his son's fears. Although it seemed that Bruce and the Hulks defeated their mental image of Brian in #377, the emotional scars obviously linger. After all, on top of the abuse Bruce suffered, he did let his emotions boil over and killed Brian in the cemetery where his mother was buried (#-1). The Hulk's ability to see ghosts like Strange's astral form appears to spring from the idea that Brian would come for him one day. In fact, some manifestation of Brian Banner was shown taunting the Banner-less Hulk in the wake of "Onslaught." The Hulk didn't have to have that power to see Brian coming this time, as in #620 he reappears in the same guise as #377--a giant, reptilian creature, his size, form and strength all given because Bruce and the Hulk fuel him with their fear.

While Bruce's father is poised at the start of #620 to play a major role in the conclusion of the crossover, he isn't intended to be the primary focus, and we shouldn't forget that. It's likely the reason why a wealth of rich emotional material remains unresolved beyond a one-dimensional conflict that remains unchanged since its introduction in Incredible Hulk#312. We don't have Brian and Bruce talking things out. We don't have an honest conversation about Bruce being the one who killed Brian and committed him to Hell in the first place. We don't have Brian taking on the fact that his son has given him this power beyond death and that he is now a literal monster. These ideas are out there, but never expressed on a big enough stage, but that's because the story isn't all about the Bruce/Brian feud. It's about protecting Marlo, and anything else along the way is incidental at worst and future story fodder at best. hence, Brian Banner here is little more than a caricature.

I have to say I was also looking forward to a broader use of Rebecca Banner here, but what we see works well, in any event. I love her dialogue with the Hulk about Betty. ("Who's that?" "My wife." "I don't like her." "Join the club." Interesting since in #377, writer Peter David went out of his way to establish the Hulks as likening Rebecca to Betty.) But the real tell here is in Rebecca's opinion of the other great love of the Hulk's life, Princess Jarella of K'ai. Although dead for many years, her presence has been felt more strongly in recent years--from the obvious allusions between her and the alien Caiera from "Planet Hulk," to her actual appearance in the "Banner War" chapter of that storyline (Giant-Size Hulk #1), to her being brought up more strongly via Hiro-Kala's arrival on K'ai in Scott Reed & Miguel Munera's Realm of Kings: Son of Hulk - Conquest of Jarella's World limited series, and finally the "Dark Son" storyline referenced earlier. Greg Pak's affection for her is obvious, and after the key moment in this issue, so is the Hulk's. Rebecca Banner even voices her approval: "Okay. This one I like."

Although Greg Pak makes a sizable error in informing readers that Jarella was the Hulk's first wife--they were betrothed but never actually married, and you can check the hardcover Hulk: Heart of the Atom which'll back me up--he nonetheless establishes what Hulk fans of the 1970s remember well. Jarella is one of the Hulk's greatest loves, and perhaps she was his single greatest. Just as Brian Banner has been imbued with all of Bruce and the Hulk's strongest fears, Jarella has, in death, been the recipient of their pure love, and at the risk of being sappy, the overarching message of Jarella impaling the Brian-monster through the head with her sword is "love conquers all." That is, the power of the Hulk's love for Jarella--shown in his unbelievable rampage in the wake of her death as well as his determination in returning her to K'ai for burial (and keeping in mind, it was the savage Hulk doing so!)--is more potent than the fear that empowers his father!

It becomes not only interesting but vital that Glenn Talbot appears in this arc, and the foursome of Hulk/Banner, Jarella, Betty/Red She-Hulk and Talbot all but pushes aside the resurrected Hiroim as an afterthought. Again, back in the swingin' '70s, remember that Jarella and Betty never met, so their encounter here is pretty accurate in that regard. But Betty did know about her, as hers was the name on Bruce's lips when they briefly reunited in Incredible Hulk #150 ("Jarella...my love...!"). Bruce tried to explain, but it was this event that acted as a catalyst for their own break-up, and drove Betty, very quickly, into the arms of Talbot, whom she married a scant eight issues later. That the foursome is fully included here spells potentially big changes in the air in the relationship between the two live individuals, as shown by Hercules' wholly appropriate monologue at issue's end. ("...[Y]our hearts are breaking...for the ties that bind you have shattered," he says as we see him standing with Red She-Hulk to his left and the Hulk to his right.) The memories drudged up by actual contact with the deceased, and the emotions they bring, may yet drive a wedge between members of the Hulk family.

In the end, Zom and Blonsky get to Marlo, who then uses her "death whammy" on them causing them to disperse and Strange to return. Then, the Hulks are pulled away from their loved ones, once more into battle alongside Hercules--into the January 26-shipping Chaos War #5, the fallout of which will be presented on the same day in Incredible Hulks #621. I can certainly hope that those recently resurrected for this three-parter won't be altogether gone for that issue and the one following, the aftermath to the event. I'm also thinking more about just who that mysterious, blacked-out figure is on the cover to #622.


What other final thoughts do I have on this storyline? Well, I really liked that Paul Pelletier came back along with Danny Miki on inks, because this storyline needed a solid artistic team on board, and boy, did they ever deliver. I'm glad they'll be here for another two issues. Aside from that, I think it's worth reiterating what I did at the beginning: the Chaos War crossover was a storyline so densely packed that virtually every major development inside it could have used its own storyline all to itself. Maybe the two-issue epilogue will heighten the stakes even further. Still, in spite of the frustration of a densely-packed three issues as these, for old time Hulk fans, there's a lot to like here, between the Abomination's (increasingly irrelevant) presence, the fact Betty gets some licks in on her killer, the shout-outs to older Hulk continuity like Brian and Rebecca Banner and particularly Jarella and Talbot, and the pervasive emotional resonance putting all these characters together gives the narrative.

Can't wait for next issue!

~G.

"Dark Son" Finale: Incredible Hulks #617 Review

While everyone else is taking their little breaks, here I sit, compiling the review you've been waiting for (and how could I deny all of you?). It's true that I haven't been able to put up regular reviews of Incredible Hulks #615-616, but I'll let you know my feelings about those stories throughout this review. I can tell you one thing I'm thankful for--Greg Pak on Hulk! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!


The Incredible Hulks #617
"Dark Son, Conclusion: Fratricide"

Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Barry Kitson, Scott Hanna, Jay Leisten, Victor Drujiniu & Sandu Florea
Colorists: Matt Milla & Aron Lusen
Letterers: Simon Bowland
Production: Irene Lee
Assistant Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel Comics

With the final part of the "Dark Son" storyline having been titled "Fratricide," referring to the act of killing one's brother--coincidentally, the first type of murder committed in human history according to the Bible and Qur'an--you might think you know exactly what to expect from this story. You might be right to an extent, although Greg Pak smartly throws in a host of surprises along the way. One thing's sure, my doubts about the first half of this saga have largely disappeared, giving way to even more enthusiasm for the future.

Over the last few issues, the book now named for a team of Hulk has gained a modest degree of balance, involving She-Hulk, Korg, and A-Bomb in the action more than in the storyline's first half. However, make no mistake, the "power triad" of Hulk, his ex-wife Red She-Hulk, and his son Skaar dominate this issue, and that's just the way it should be for the finale of a storyline that chiefly concerns the Hulk's other son, Hiro-Kala.

So, where have we been? Banner and Hulk have forged an uneasy alliance over their sons, and they're counting on the group's unique perspective as Hulks to allow them to accomplish what they feel the heroes of Earth can't. Their antagonism is barely contained, as shown in a terrific scene in #615 wherein a holo-image of Banner demands the Hulk let him out. (One wonders just what Banner has planned if, just once, the Hulk refuses Banner's request.) After the Hulk's meeting with Skaar in #611, finding him to be a decent sort, he meets Hiro-Kala in #616 and finds him to be the opposite of his brother. Hiro is, simply put, the monster Brian Banner always thought his son Bruce was, and that's the thrust of the story. However, Hiro has committed deeds far beyond Brian's imaginings, I'm sure, a fact which raises the stakes all the higher.

The psychology of Hiro-Kala is fitting, as Pak reaches back into Paul Jenkins' original Son of Hulk storyline (now available in the Son of Hulk: Dark Son Rising trade paperback) for a moment of continuity that makes sense, and connects with some comments made by the K'ai Worldmind a few issues earlier. I've always doubted the moment from Jenkins' script, and it's nice to see it exploited here.

Greg Pak's smart script offers a thrilling conclusion that relies increasingly less on fisticuffs and more on the psychologies of all the players. His Banner is complex as he solves the narrative, and you can see he does what needs to be done while his Hulk suffers. The character with arguably the most pivotal role here is Betty/Red She-Hulk, with a strong moment in the middle of the story with Banner, and another, equally strong moment with the Hulk at the finale. Betty's presence throughout ably fulfills Pak's teases that "nobody can save you from your anger like members of your family, but also nobody can drive you crazier." Truly this tale marks her as this team's wild card.

The weakest element of this issue, sadly, is on the art. As is often the case, with an accelerated schedule, cracks appear. Barry Kitson's layouts have been strong throughout, and the strongest art has come when he's been able to give his all, but it's in the finished art by Jay Leisten and Scott Hanna that the book suffers. Hanna just isn't more than a competent artist, and nothing exposes his flaws like having to carry the load on the last few issues.

The issue is rounded out by an incidental story involving the Hulk, Amadeus Cho, and some giant centaurs. New comer Victor Drujiniu provides the artwork, which isn't bad, and Pak's smart script (there's that word again!) illuminates some more of the Hulk's complex psychology when the green goliath talks about his "family" with Cho.

So, one arc into the new status quo of The Incredible Hulks, and where are we? Definitely somewhere I never thought we'd be. It's been a wild ride so far, filled with compelling characters and thrilling situations. While I didn't think Hiro-Kala & the K'ai story was the best place to start, I can't argue the results and the position Banner and the Hulk are in at the end of this arc. The Hulk and Banner always work best when they're emotionally tortured, and there's enough pathos to go around in "Dark Son." The upcoming "Chaos War" crossover only threatens to provide even more heightened emotions (along with the return of fan-favorite Paul Pelletier on art duties). If you're not reading The Incredible Hulks, you're missing one of Marvel's smartest efforts.

~G.