Hello everyone! As some of you may know, I am writing for the website COMICONVERSE. I have been covering the current comic books from Marvel Comics and BOOM! Studios such as Doctor Strange and Kong of Skull Island.
For myself and anyone else interested I am documenting each of my articles here at Blood Work.
For myself and anyone else interested I am documenting each of my articles here at Blood Work.
If you haven't checked out this latest article here you go!
Hey, kids! It's time for one of grandpa's rants! Ready?!
The last twenty years of Hulk comic books have been "interesting" to say the least. 1998 saw the end of Hulk's longest running comic book series as well as the departure of perhaps the greatest Hulk scribe ever: Peter David. His run on Hulk is my absolute favorite era for the character and he is without a doubt my favorite Hulk writer. The end of that book left Bruce Banner and the Hulk in a very strange place. Years of character development were undone and the character who always kept Bruce and Hulk on the right side of good, Betty Ross, had been killed off.
The Hulk book was relaunched not long after. A number of creative teams moved through the title like a revolving door. Everyone from industry legend John Byrne, to Ron Garney, Paul Jenkins, John Romita Jr., and many more. Then there's the Bruce Jones run which disregards continuity almost completely despite featuring exciting stories and beautiful art, especially from Mike Deodato Jr. After that Peter David was called in again to make sense of the mess left by Jones. Next began one of the most popular sagas of recent years, PLANET HULK and WORLD WAR HULK, both written by Greg Pak.
Then came another great decline (by my opinion. There are many who love this next era dearly), the advent of RULK ~ the Red Hulk. For my Red Hulk rant CLICK HERE!
After that Greg Pak returns to save the Hulk book with another great run, albeit never quite reaching the lofty heights of Planet Hulk praise. Still, his final story titled, HEART OF THE MONSTER, was amazing. Then the title was relaunched (the beginning of a relaunching trend that would become even more pervasive at Marvel through the following years) with writer Jason Aaron for what I personally feel is the worst Hulk run ever written. Mark Waid took over after for a run that wasn't bad but wasn't great either. The reins were then handed to Gerry Duggan who, with artist Mark Bagley, delivered a very good section which finally got rid of Red Hulk for good!
Then Jonathan Hickman's SECRET WARS happened and a new Hulk appeared in its wake: THE TOTALLY AWESOME HULK ~ Amadeus Cho. I read one issue of this and quit buying Hulk comics for the first time in my life. It wasn't because it was bad necessarily, but rather it was Red Hulk all over again (someone other than Bruce Banner starring as Hulk). I'd done it once and wasn't about to do that crap again.
There, twenty years of Hulk in a nutshell, folks.
THE PRESENT
Amadeus Cho is no longer Hulk! AND BRUCE BANNER IS BACK!
Writer Al Ewing and artist Joe Bennett have resurrected my beloved Hulk, my all-time favorite literary character. And they've turned it into a genuine horror story. For those of you who know me, I love the horror genre. My favorite character in my favorite genre? Um, more please! I'm not in love with it yet but each issue is getting better and better and I am looking forward to it more and more. I have a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, we might be headed towards the next great era of Hulk comics.
Check out my full review by clicking on the link above
Check out my other articles for ComiConverse linked below!
THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN MARVEL #2
DECODING THE DnA OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (PART 2)
DECODING THE DnA OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (PART 1)
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