Recently in Hulk Category

Dale Keown, the artist who did a fantastic Hulk run with Peter David, has drawn 2 Hulk variant covers recently, featuring both the classic Hulk and Red Hulk!

Hulk #24 is the last issue of the Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness run.  Keown's cover has the Red Hulk standing victoriously over the rubble of his last fight with Bruce Banner.

Who knew when this Hulk title launched in 2008 that the star of the book wasn't going to be Bruce Banner?  I assumed when the story wrapped up in #24 that Banner would return as the title star.  Nope, it's the Red Hulk from here on out.

It is good to see Keown cover old greenskin on Incredible Hulk #611, which be the new home for Bruce Banner and family.  This is the stronger cover of the two--and much more frightening.  Nuff Said!

Link: Incredible Hulk Visionaries - Peter David & Dale Keown, Vol. 5

Link: Incredible Hulk Visionaries - Peter David & Dale Keown, Vol. 6

Last year, I made my case for Clay Quartermain as the Red Hulk.  What a waste of time that article was!  The answer was just too obvious, and if you've read the latest issues, then you either feel the same way or figured it out months ago.

Marvel announced that the Red Hulk would be joining the Avengers, starting in issue #7, available this November.  Here is the variant cover to Avengers #7, by Ed McGuinness.  Let's hope he lasts longer than the green Hulk did.  Nuff Said!

I was thinking the other day about various posters that Marvelmania produced.  There was a Hulk poster, I remember that.  Did Jack Kirby or Herb Trimpe draw this poster?  The answer is...both of them did one!

Jack Kirby's version is unmistakably dynamic and powerful.  The Leader's sitting inside that Kirby cosmic contraption ready to blow Greenskin to smithereens.

Herb Trimpe's version (sorry this is best image I could get) has the same pose as Kirby's poster, the same angles and design.  Trimpe's touch is seen on the Hulk's face and the inking on the body is more rounded and less square.

Did Herb Trimpe ink over the pencils provided by Kirby for the original?  Why were there two posters?  Let me in on the secret if you know.  Nuff Said!

I am burnt out on all this social networking—didn’t Prince just say that it’s all passé now?.  Facebook and Twitter seem to have one purpose, which is to sell you products via direct targeted marketing.  I’ve deactivated my Facebook, but keep my Twitter account going, because of one man: DRUNK HULK!  I always get a chuckle when I see one of his tweets.  Drunk Hulk slings off one liners as easily as Steven Wright.

Here are a few choice examples.  For instance, the ongoing saga of Bristol Palin:

BRISTOL AND LEVI BACK TOGETHER! DRUNK HULK NO BE THIS UPSET ABOUT REUNION SINCE STEPHENIE MEYER REUNITE WITH TYPEWRITER!

ARGENTINA MAKE GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL! LEVI AND BRISTOL MAKE JOKE OF MARRIAGE IN AMERICA! ONE STEP FORWARD! TWO STEP BACK!

Oh yes, Drunk Hulk always types with CAPS ON!  On Mel Gibson:

DRUNK HULK BET MEL GIBSON WISH HE MAKE SEX TAPE LIKE OTHER CELEBRITY DO INSTEAD!

On the Sixth Sense / Last Airbender Director’s career:

DRUNK HULK JUST FIGURE OUT TWIST! M NIGHT SHYMALAN CAREER WAS DEAD WHOLE TIME!

On Kristen Stewart’s acting—appropriately, I read this after watching Adventureland:

DRUNK HULK LIKE KRISTEN STEWART! SHE METHOD ACTOR! SHE NO EVER BREAK CHARACTER! SHE ACT MISERABLE ALL TIME! THAT COMMITMENT!

On the economy:

TEEN EXPERIENCE WORST SUMMER JOB MARKET IN 41 YEAR! OH NO! NOW WHO WILL TREAT DRUNK HULK CONDESCENDING AT THE STARBUCK

On this year’s summer movies:

SUMMER MOVIE SEASON AWFUL! DRUNK HULK MOVIE SUMMER USUAL FEEL LIKE VAN HALEN! AND THIS YEAR SAMMY HAGAR TOOK OVER!

A cool idea for an amusement part for adults—which also reveals the fact that Drunk Hulk is literate:

HARRY POTTER PARK AT UNIVERSAL SUCCESS! DRUNK HULK HOPE THEY DO HENRY MILLER TROPIC OF CANCER PARK NEXT!

Looking back at Drunk Hulk’s younger days:

DRUNK HULK PRETEND BE BACK IN COLLEGE! FIRST LISTEN TO BEST OF BOB MARLEY! DRINK LOT! AND THEN BE LESBIAN FOR SIX MONTH!

NEW APPLE PRODUCT! A-TEAM! KARATE KID IN CINEMA! ALL DRUNK HULK NEED IS WHAM AND WHERE BEEF! AND IT 1984 ALL OVER AGAIN!

If I were Marvel, I’d hire this guy to write a Drunk Hulk TV show.  Hey, it worked for Shit My Dad Says.  Nuff Said!

Link:  Drunk Hulk Interview on Cover Stories.

In the back of the newly re-launched Avengers titles, Brian Bendis is writing an Oral History of the Avengers.  Sort of a documentary approach to the Avengers history--what if every person connected with the team was interviewed?  It's very interesting, and somewhat controversial.  Best of all, this backup allows Marvel to showcase some great covers and illustrations from the past, including Art Adams covers to the Avengers Classics reprint series.

These illustrations are from Avengers Classics #1-3, showcasing the Hulk on cover, when he was briefly part of the team.  Here the Space Phantom impersonates the Hulk and attacks Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp.  Which ticked off everyone to no end and made for the Hulk's early exit.  Iron Man is still in his "bucket-head" early armor, while Hank Pym upgraded himself from Ant-Man to Giant-Man.

The Hulk didn't go quietly--in the third issue he teamed up with Namor the Sub-Mariner to fight the Avengers.  Iron Man gets a new suit of armor--my favorite--with the pointed tips of the mask rising above his head.  I bought Randy Bowen's statue of this armor and I love it.

I really thought the Hulk was a lot fun in the Avengers.  He's a walking gamma bomb of chaos and unpredictability.  As Tony Stark says in the Oral History, "He was like a big, big, big dog on a leash.  Just take the muzzle off and let him loose."  It wasn't until The Defenders that we got the thrill of seeing the Hulk in a regular team book.

With all these new Avengers teams, Marvel tries to think out of the box and put in characters like Spider-Man and Wolverine that were previously off limits.  It looks like Wolverine and Hawkeye are pulling double duty on two teams.  Why not recruit the Hulk?  Nuff Said.

Some of Michael Golden's best work appeared in Marvel Fanfare, such as this gem from 1989.

Issue #47 contained a unbelievable Marvel Team-Up (and perhaps this story was originally meant for that title) between Spider-Man and the Hulk with a guest appearance by Nick Fury. 

Written by Golden's Micronauts partner, Bill Mantlo, the Hulk went berserk in a mind-controlled frenzy.  Golden's artwork in this story is top-notch as usual, the above two panels being a great example.  You can probably get this issue very cheap at a convention!  Nuff Said!

Every comics company loves to give their heroes a new look from time to time.  During the Shooter-era of the 1980s, the Marvel heroes were re-designed with new looks and costumes.

Spider-Man: Black costume from Secret Wars, sans the symbiote.

Iron Man: Tony Stark designed this red and silver armor in Iron Man #200.

Hulk: Grey Hulk from Peter David’s tenure on the series.

Thor: Walt Simonson designed this new battle armor and let the Thunder God grow a beard.

Captain America: Steve Rogers put on this costume and became a free agent for a while.  Later on, US Agent wore this costume whenever a team needed a third-rate Captain America—like the current Mighty Avengers series.

Were these Marvel makeovers as bad as shoulder pads and mullets?  I liked the Grey Hulk the best out of this lineup.  Nuff Said!

What is Alan Davis' relationship to the upcoming Fall of the Hulks mini-event from Marvel?  Nothing direct, unless you count this item.

By now you've probably seen this promotional image by Ed McGuinness, showing all the various Hulks (I like to think of them as The Hulk Family) scattered about a barren landscape, utterly devastated by some unknown conflict.

McGuinness was paying a tribute 1988 poster by Alan Davis, which advertised "The Fall of the Mutants",  This event ran during the summer through X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants.  If you compare the two, you'll see a lot of similarities between the positioning of the foreground characters. 

Update:  I just found original black and white version of this drawing...

Nuff said!