Hulk Visionaries: Peter David Vol. 1

Collecting  Incredible Hulk #331-339, written by Peter David and illustrated by Todd McFarlane.

In Incredible Hulk #331, Rick Jones is the Hulk and the Hulkbusters are out to get him. Bruce Banner's only option to save his friend is to become the Hulk once more.

The last Incredible story arc that I read for these reviews was by Bill Mantlo, where the Hulk had Bruce Banner's mind. I believe the Hulk regressed back to being dumb soon after that. Then John Byrne began his short run and Banner had been split from the Hulk by a nutrient bath, but the separation wouldn't take and both the Hulk and Banner were dying without each other. The solution was another dip in the nutrient bath, but things went wrong and Rick Jones ended up becoming the dumb green Hulk while Banner changed into an intelligent grey Hulk at sunset like he did back in the very first issue. I think that's all the important information I need to get caught up with everything. I should be carrying on with Roger Stern's Avengers run, but I wanted to check out Peter David's Incredible Hulk run and see what all the fuss is about.

In Incredible Hulk #332, the Hulk wants to use Banner's gamma ray machine on himself to make sure that he stays the Hulk forever, while Sam Sterns wants the machine so he can become the Leader again and regain his intelligence. Meanwhile, the Hulkbusters plan to kill the Rick Jones Hulk while he is in human form.

Todd McFarlane's artwork is a bit of an acquired taste for me. His habit of using massive splash panels left the issues he worked on feel rather slight and free of substance. It often felt like the writers had to do all the hard work and over explain everything just to make sense of the artwork. That's certainly what it felt like when McFarlane was the artist on Amazing Spider-Man. I have to say I liked his artwork here. It doesn't look anything like the style of art that McFarlane would come to be known for in the 90's.

In Incredible Hulk #333, the Leader has tried to drain the gamma radiation from Rick Jones, but something goes wrong and there is an explosion. As a result, Rick Jones has lost his gamma powers. With Banner's lab destroyed, the Hulk has to find another way to keep Banner incapacitated during the day and decides on alcohol.

You often find that when a new writer starts on a book they will often change things straight away. It's no different here, this first arc does away with the idea of Rick Jones as the Hulk. Now it's only Bruce Banner, although he is still grey. The green Hulk won't return for a while and even when the green Hulk does return, he still won't be dumb. I'm getting ahead of myself though. We still have the Joe Fixit era to come and that's something I'm particularly interested in seeing. The Leader is back as well. His gamma-powered intelligence faded away leaving him as plain old Sam Sterns. That's why he is so desperate to get Banner's gamma ray machine up and working again. The grey Hulk smashes the machine thinking that we won't turn back into Banner without it, not realising that he will turn back into Banner any way when the sun rises.

In Incredible Hulk #334, Bruce tries to patch up his relationship with Betty, but soon finds himself turning back into the Hulk come nightfall. The Hulk makes his escape, but finds himself getting weaker. He find sout that it is the result of another gamma-spawned creature called Half-Life.

These Hulkbuster people seem like a laughable lot to me. They were formed to stop the Hulk, but they haven't won a fight yet. They seem to cause just as much damage as the Hulk. I don’t suppose we can have people who are actually competent hunting the Hulk. It would have been a very short series if the Hulkbusters ever did manage to stop the Hulk. Half-Life seems like a pretty rad character. He's like a gamma-powered zombie that can absorb strength from the Hulk. of course, that doesn't help when the Hulk rips his limbs off. Half-Life be back though.

John Ridgway is on art for Incredible Hulk #335. The Hulk saves a girl from a strange killer one night. The next day, Bruce Banner goes to check up on the girl and discovers that the killer is a psychic projection of a local weirdo and horror movie fan. The killer manifests whenever the boy is asleep. The killer manifests again and tries to join forces with the Hulk, but the Hulk isn't interested and starts stalking the killer instead.

Five issues in and we already have a fill-in artist. I guess it's a sign of things to come with these hotshot artists. They're given the power to do what they want regardless of the fact they can't seem to keep to a deadline. I'm getting ahead of myself though, things haven't gotten that bad just yet. This was an interesting story. I liked how the Hulk turned the table on the mysterious killer and starts stalking him, becoming the horror movie monster instead.

Todd McFarlane is back on art from Incredible Hulk #336. X-Factor is called in after the Hulk's latest rampage. X-Factor eventually manage to defeat the Hulk and call in SHIELD.

X-Factor is called in because the Hulk throws a hissy-fit as he is about to turn back into Bruce Banner and causes a nearby building to collapse. Banner is knocked unconscious by falling masonry, but is saved by a neighbour who sees the opportunity to make some money. He mistakenly thinks Banner is a mutant and wants to hand him over to X-Factor for a reward. During this time the original X-Men were calling themselves X-Factor and were masquerading as mutant hunters for reasons that never entirely made sense to me.

In Incredible Hulk #337, the Hulkbusters arrive to take the Hulk back to Gamma Base. The Hulk tells X-Factor that SHIELD is planning to kill him instead of saving him, so they end up teaming-up to escape.

I believe the original X-Men met the Hulk before, the the last issue of X-Men before it got cancelled. They may have met again in the Hulk's own book, but I'm not sure. Iceman recognises Bruce Banner as soon as X-Factor arrives in town, but Bruce mistakes them for SHIELD and goes on the run. Then, it's only a short time until night falls and then the Hulk comes out to play and he doesn't want to come along quietly.

In Incredible Hulk #338, SHIELD agent Clay Quartermain helps the Hulk and Rick Jones escape from SHIELD and as a result they are all now fugitives. Betty Banner was seriously injured when Bruce Banner changed into the Hulk several issues ago and Bruce is grief-stricken. Bruce's grief attracts the attention of an alien being named Mercy who has taken it upon herself to kill those who lack the strength to commit suicide themselves.

Mercy is another villain that will go on to appear several more times, mostly during Peter David's run. I believe the last time she was seen was when the Red Hulk had his own Thunderbolts team. I might check that out some time because Deadpool was part of the team too and I will read pretty much anything Deadpool is in.

In Incredible Hulk #339, Clay Quatermain confronts Bruce with the fact that his father abused him and the theory that the Hulk is a result of that abuse. They are on the trail of the gamma bombs that SHIELD has been making. They find a father and son living in a SHIELD safe house. The boy's real father was an abusive scientist whose experiments accidentally gave his sons powers. The boy killed his father and has been in SHIELD custody ever since. They boy has been rendered amnesiac, but soon regains his memories when he is confronted by the Hulk and goes on a rampage.

This is a Very Special Issue about child abuse. I think Peter David first used him during his run on Spectacular Spider-Man. The kid was seemingly shot dead by SHIELD agents, but he obviously survived. Any way, much comparison is made between the kid's past and Bruce's abusive father. This issue won't be the only time that the old history of abuse idea will be brought up. I believe Peter David gets  alot of mileage out of the idea that the Hulk is a manifestation of Bruce's repressed rage over his abusive father.

This collection was pretty okay. I don't think it was worth quite as much hype as I had been led to believe. Maybe all the hype is about later issues as it seems like Peter David hasn't quite hit his stride yet. There is plenty to enjoy in this collection though. You have a classic Hulk villain with the return of the Leader. You have an interesting new villain in Half-Life. Then there is all the psychological business with Bruce's history of abuse. The psychological business isn't really for me, but I understand it will become an important part of the Hulk's story. The guest appearance from X-Factor was fun as well. It looks like I will have to keep on reading Peter David's run on the Incredible Hulk as I have all the other volumes of Hulk Visionaries as well as several Epic Collections to make my way through.

My rating: 3 stars.

Next time: Young Justice- Book 1