PAD on Incredible Hulk

Hulk Visionaries Vol. 1 (#331-339)

Overview:

OK, so this is far less good than the later PAD stuff... but I can see the groundwork. Alot of it is MacFarlane's art (which is OK at best, and bad at times), but there's also a fair amount of time in stories dedicated to in-jokes and puns that de-rail things. Of the 9 issues collected, two were complete filler, and a couple others used an entire issue to make a small point. While I like one-and-done stories, PAD was at the start of a fundamental character change here, and pausing to drag it out with semi-non sensical one shot stories didn't work for me,

The 'every loose end tied' thing can be great at times, but sometimes strains credibility. Overall, the psyche profile of the Hulk/Banner dynamic is interesting enough to keep reading, even when sometimes the rest of the book is not worth it. I'd give it a B- overall for this trade .

Issue by Issue:

#331 Inconstant Moon

In the manner of old school Marvel, no 'jumping on point' here! PAD starts us in the think of things, with gamma base a mess, the Hulk on the loose, and SHIELD and government agents squabbling over what to do. Dr. Banner would like to capture the Hulk (who only he knows is Rick Jones, apparently), while SHIELD wants to kill him. Bruce even goes so far as to suggest he turn himself back into the Hulk, which makes new wife Betty very angry.

SHIELD wins, and the go out in their Desert Speeders to try to get him, and fail. Meanwhile, the undertakers come for General Ross, and it turns out one is the de-gamma powered Leader who is looking to re-gain his giant head. After things go south, Banner turns himself into Grey Hulk, who claims he tricked him, and smashes the gamma equipment. The Leader than tells him he'll still change back. Doh! Meanwhile, a greaser named Ramon shows up looking for Betty, claiming to be her husband... to be continued!

#332 Dance with the Devil

The cover advertises the fight between Rick-Hulk and Grey-Hulk, but sadly, it's Todd MacFaralane on art, so said fight is pretty blah (and actually very short). IN the cave, Grey Hulk has trapped Bruce Banner, and takes over again at night... apparently having mined his brain for the answer to the Leader's (and Rick's) problem. Meanwhile, Ramon tries to get to Bertty, and fails. One of the Hulk busters (LaRoquette) goes after Rick Jones over the protests of the rest of the team. Doc Samson makes the save, compete with a little discourse on how the Hulk brings out the evil in everyone.

The fight is short, and is a ploy by Grey Hulk to lure Rick-Hulk into the cave, where he blasts him with a gun that somehow transfers the gamma energy to the Leader. It appears to overload and go boom... to be continued!

#333 Quality of Life

I bit of a PSA issue, but still some ongoing story in between. Turns out Banner had enough influence on Hulk to have him save Rick from the explosion.. the Leader, of course, is gone... dead or just welching on the deal, Hulk doesn't know. Rick heads back to Gamma Base, where he's quickly arrested, while he pleads that he's cured. Hulk breaks into a liquor store and gets smashed, so Banner can't do anything during the day... it works, and he gets arrested.

The sheriff is a bully, most to his wife. She's really the main character of the story, she thinks about shooting him, but turns out the gun isn't loaded and he just hits her again. We get a flashback to high school, how he was great, then he became the bullies he fought.

In his jail cell, Banner/Hulk dreams of the Leader, who exposits on the current state of Hulk's transformations, I guess the sun keeps the gamma rays in check, so the less sunlight, the stronger and more dominant Hulk's personality is. Banner wakes up about 6 PM, and screams at the sheriff he needs to go to Gamma base. The sheriff smacks him, thus triggering the Hulk.

This is apparently a dumb bully, as he tries to fight the Hulk with the whole town watching.. they cheer the Hulk.. all but the abused wife. She pulls a revolver on Hulk and screams at him to stop. Hulk is amused by this and stops pounding on the guy. He gets mad his wife 'made him look bad' in front of everyone. Just as he's about to give a 'wait until we get home' speech, the wife 'accidently' shoots him in the chest. Hulk opines to Banner that some monsters don't need Gamma rays to come out. Meanwhile, Betty meets Ramon at a bar, and asks him if he's going to turn into a monster.. they go off to have a date. The End!

#334 Grave Consquences

Ugh. It seems the sole purpose of this issue is for PAD to fire off as many bad puns as possible. Plot wise, Hulk leaves Banner on a mesa, but a random helicopter spots him and takes him back to Gamma Base. He lies to Doc Sampson about being the Hulk again. Meanwhile, Rick gets a clean bill of health. He and Bruce go off to find Betty, and they find her with Ramon in a hotel room. A fight ensues, and Betty and Bruce end up checking into the hotel for a few hours of romance.

Rick comes back to take Banner back to Gamma base, but they forget about the clocks turning back (which was mentioned last issue, nice), and so Banner change while snuggling Betty. No idea what happened to her. Hulk fights a gamma created Zombie named Half-Life and finds out someone tested a Gamma Bomb in Colorado last year. Banner is left in on an even more remote peak as he is determined to sort that out... surely Betty's fine?

In a nice bit of wrapping things up.. the undertaker that the Leader killed a couple issues ago (and who was driven back accidently by Rick) is discovered, and his boss laments about telling his wife. No mention of General Ross' body... I suspect that's on purpose.

#335 The Evil That Men Do

Fill in time! Apparently, 4 issues was all Mr ,MacFarlane could muster in a row. This one has art by John Ridgway (who I'm not familiar with)... it's OK.. I little sketchy for my taste, but it fit the story.

Gil Jeffers is a creepy guy, but at night his dark side manifests itself into a Hyde like figure and he terrorizes the town. He runs into Hulk, and senses a kindred spirit. Hulk stops him from killing a girl, but tells him he might help him next time.

The next morning, Dr. Banner talks to the girl, and we get some philosophizing about the evil in men. Banner finds Gil Jeffers house, and stakes it out until the dark side creature comes out.. Hulk does to. He tells Hulk he has to master his weaker half like he has. They go to a bar, and he beats up 4 guys who he claims raped a girl and got away with it by giving each other alibis. Hulk doesn't like him, and stops him before he gets to the 4th one. Jeffers runs, but Hulk catches him and kills his 'dark side' leaving him in a coma. The End!

#336 X-Tremes

It's two weeks later, and the staus quo is still being maintained... apparently the Hulk must be winning, since Bruce still has no idea if Betty is OK. Hulk ends up in the downtown of Sparta, Illinois, and knocks down a building just before changing... a passerby saves Dr. Banner, and calls X-Factor, thinking he's a mutant and he'll get a reward.

Turns out the guy's girlfriend is pregnant, and he needs money. Bruce calls Gamma Base, and Rick Jones clues him in that bad things are happening there. Because when you save a stranger and take him in to recover (while secretly trying to turn him in to the authorities) it's a great idea to leave him alone in your apartment. Bruce wanders off before X-Factor arrives.

Fortunately for the story, Iceman sees him on the street. Banner runs (Mistaking the X-Terminators gear for a SHIELD uniform) and the fight when shortly thereafter he Hulks up. After a fight in a paper mill, Iceman (whose powers at this point were in overdrive) freezes him just before he pulverizes Jean and Scott. Scott calls Gamma base (despite reservations, since Hulk said he was running from there), and Quartermain give a sinster laugh to some shadowy guys on a monitor. To Be Continued!

#337 Crossroads

Betty's back... she was recovering from the Hulk in the hospital... Ramon takes her home, but she tries to leave word for Bruce.

Meanwhile, X-Factor hangs at the paper factory to wait for SHIELD, who has orders to kill. They all go back to Gamma base (but not before a Hostess Twinkies reference!). On the way, Iceman decides SHIELD might be the bad guys, and he 'forgets' to keep the ice up.

Hulk breaks out when they land. Once it's clear SHIELD means to kill, X-Factor, Rick and Doc Sampson change sides... as does Quartermain. Apparently, he was NOT the guy who wanted to kill Hulk. We get a big rumble between the 'bad' Hulkbuster and SHIELD against X-Factor, Hulk, and Doc Sampson. The 'good' guys win just in time for the sun to rise and for Hulk to leave. They manage to escape anyway, and Quartermain blows the crap out of Gamma Base.

Back at the hospital, Betty note goes unread (it was at the bottom of several of the pages)... Bruce thinks of her as they're escaping, and Quartermain starts to explain (off panel).

#338 Mercy Killing

Bruce, Rick and Clay Quartermain go on a cross country road trip in a SHIELD van. Meanwhile, an alien named Mercy(super Image-y, BTW) goes around and kills people who want to die.

SHIELD tracks the van, but luckily Quartermain but the tracker on a big rig when they stopped for breakfast (the driver spilled coffee on him.. that'll teach'em). Mercy catches Hulk, and attacks him physically, and Banner psychically. Bruce realizes (after moping all day) he wants to live, and Hulk manages to revert her to her alien form (a big lump of goo), then, burn her to a crisp. He realizes he needs Rick and Clay to protect Banner, so he (sorta) agrees to help them find out about the Gamma Bombs.

Then, in typical PAD-tying-up-loose-ends fashion, the big rig driver picks up the not dead yet Mercy as a hitchhiker.

Oh, and the Leader did survive, is green again, and is helping some guy run for President. While it isn't actually one, this FELT like a fill-in.. the art gets sketchy at points, like it was a struggle to finish it, and the story seems pretty filler.

#339 Native Son

Carnival Time! Bruce and co. are looking for Betty (and leads on the Gamma Bombs)... without success. They talk about daddy issues, and how Bruce had a tough life. Clay tells them there's a SHIELD safe house nearby, so they go there.

Turns out the safe house has Ash Can (the kid from PADs Spidey run who incinerated his supervillan dad) in it, who SHIELD tried to brain wash and give a 'normal' life. Hulk ended that. After a fight, Hulk feels bad for the kid (Daddy issues in common) and tells the SHIELD agent he better take good care of him or else. No info on the gamma bombs, but they find Betty flew to New Orleans (Because ising a SHIELD system to check on Betty Banner's credit card records is a GREAT idea). To Be Continued!

Meanwhile, the Leader continues in Washington.. he's hunting for the Gamma Bombs, too.

I really dug Star-Lord back when, and despite hearing good things about Marvel's cosmic corner, including Peter Quill, it doesn't seem like the same character.

Am I wrong ? I don't like the current look, just like the current Ghost Rider.

PAD on Incredible Hulk

Visionaries Vol. 2

#340 Vicious Circle

Hey, it's Wolverine! Not much to this issue. Hulk is out for a walk in a bad stormstorm when he almost leaps into the Blackbird (thanks, Longshot)... sadly, the other nearby jet doesn't have a lucky mutant, and he bashes into it. The X-Men save the jet, and accidently drop one of the engines on Hulk.

Wolverine investigates, and Hulk jumps him. After trying to walk away, Wolverine goes into feral mode and it's on, until Clay and Rick find them, and Clay blasts them. He lectures them on mindless brawling and they go their separate ways. Also, TERRIBLE art on this one.. Way to many random lines.

Meanwhile, Betty holds a snowglobe and misses Bruce. Yup. The logo does change (to the one with 'HULK' in brick wall letters).... that's really the best part of the issue.


#341 The Savage Bull Doth Bear the Yolk
Two bad ones in a row.. not a good sign. Chamberlain heads for his brother's house.. he's a farmer/computer hacker apaprently. On the way, Hulk runs into the Man-Bull (an fairly obscure Daredevil bad guy that Mark Waid recently brought back), who's become Savage and is killing cows and eating them.

Hulk tells him to go away, but the next day Chamberlain promises his brother and the town Hulk will take care of 'Savage' (which Man-Bull calls himself.. he's regressing, aparently) if he hacks SHIELD.

That night when Banner is Hulk again they fight, and Hulk feels bad because he can relate to Savage losing his intelligence. He's about to mercy-kill him when the townsfolk show up with pitchforks. Disgusted, Hulk just storms off, leaving the greatly wounded Savage to the village. (Apparently, he gets better, and his regressing is never mentioned again, according to his bio). More crappy over-lined McFarlane art, too. Joy.

#342 'No Human Fears'
The Leader's plan continues (Whatever it is).. he now has a hide out, and is making a tape for Hulk to listen to after he defeats him..that's kinda a new fun take on villain megalomania. He sends Half-Life after Hulk... and Hulk out-smarts him(sort of) into committing suicide. Yeah, it was kinda weird. Meanwhile, Quartermain's brother hacks into the goverment's database and finds out about where the gamma base bombs are... either he's an epic hacker, or super top secrets aren't protected like they used to be. Overall, not bad though. Art is still McFarlane.

#343 Beyond Redempton
The Leader (Who captured Betty and two of the Hulk Busters mostly off panel last issue) sends Betty back to the good guys, with 3 giant robots chasing her. Bruce tries to attack them, because he wants to be the hero, but obviously fails. Hulk, later, shows concern for Betty, which confuse Rick Jones. Jones narrates the whole issue, incidently. Hulk beats the robots, then tries to be gruff, but Rick chews him out, and it works. Hulk slinks off to get Betty and everyone supplies.
This pleases the Leader, who is shown at the end with the transformed Hulkbusters... Rock and the Redeemer. They former Hulkbusters also get a couple pages mid-story on their origins, but they're not very exciting. Once again, passable, but pretty meh. I think it's the art. 90 year old looking Bruce Banner, giant brow hulk and porn star leader just aren't doing it for me.... hopefully Gary Frank takes over soon Look like Felix the Cat cameos are a thing...sticking it in at random's kinda dumb, though.. that's the sort of thing that's cool to fit into the background only if it actuallly fits in the background.

#344 Pyrrhic Victory
Betty chats with Hulk (not Banner) and tells him she's pregnant.... it's a pretty nice character moment, and is definitely leading to the Hulk and Banner being less separate. Meanwhile, Rock and Redeemer steal the gamma bombs, and we find out that while Leader is using them, he is, in turn, being used by some mysterious figure (probably SHIELD). The art was actually better (for Hulk) but the fight scenes with Rock are horrible... he's all over the place, and the panel layout is confusing. But hey, he got a Felix in there.

#345 Closing Curtain
Leader takes his stolen Gamma Bomb (apparently he only took one and left the rest for some reason) and hides it in a small town.. the good guys rush off to find it (instead of destroying the rest of the Gamma Bombs). The issue is actually really funny, with a bunch of small town vigettes of the people in the town mixed in with the Leader executing his plan (which he has a list for, also hilarious). Hulk moves Betty and company out of town, then trashes Rock and Redeemer, forcing the Leader out of
hiding. In very tricky fashion, the Leader says 'you got me' and leaves the bomb (with a 2+ hour timer)... then detonated is remotely. To be continuted! Good PAD humor and writing that he's famous for in this one, and McFarlane's best work to date (so it's passable instead of ugly as heck)... best issue in a while.. and double sized, too!

#346 Whys and Wherefores
An epilogue of sorts.. we get the Senate hearings for 'Gammagate'. No Hulk or Banner to be found. Some fun bits while testimony is going... it shows the 'average joe' watching it on TV, including Peter Parker, Jonah, and Mary Jane, which is fun. Betty thinks about an abortion, but changes her mind. We see a giant outline of the Hulk..Rick presumes him dead. Nick Fure stops by to tell Quartermain he's keeping a close eye on him but he's not a renegade anymore.
Finally, some story.. the Leader is in a truck, and pick up his new race.. the 6 townies we saw last issue, now gamma monsters of some sort. To be continued! Art is Larsen and McFarlane, but still not very good. At least it's not painful to look at anymore.

#347 Crapshoot
I guess be careful what you wish for... new artist Mike Purves (who I'd never heard of before seeing the credits) is far, far worse. Almost unreadable. Apparently, Hulk is not dead, but in Vegas as Mr Fixit once again. There's been a fast forward.. Hulk says he's been in Vegas for 'months'. The guy he works for is been invaded by a Detroit drug dealer. Mr. Fixit takes care of it, but the boss (Mr. Gold) gets away to hire Crusher Creel for some payback. To be continued! Oh, and Rick Jones' future main squeeze Marlo has her 1st appearance..as Mr. Fixit's 'friend'.

#348 Job Security
Mostly just a big fight.. not a bad one. Hulk is not doing well, as Banner tried to re-assert himself. When Creel attacks his casino, he runs away (to keep his Joe Fixit cover), and they fight it out at the Hoover Dam. Creel is winning until he absorbs Hulk's skin, which is weakening in the sun (guess they're still going with that for now)... Hulk ends up with the upper hand and literally pounds him into dust. Nice change of pace after a lot of character issues... Purves art is much better for action sequences, though his Hulk is still pretty terrible.

George Perez on Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman vol. 2 #1-62 plus Annual #1

Perez's run on WW truly reads like a maxi-series. It's fascinating how the premise first outlined in the first issue is so thoroughly concluded by the last -- and on every level, from basic external plot to the more complex internal conflicts of an entire tribal nation. This run was clearly a carefully considered labor of love. Surely enough, every other conflict or theme established throughout the series concluded by the end. The final story arc (War of the Gods) even managed to include every major character ever to appear in the title without dying (except for Ares), while crossing into nearly the entire DCU.

But...was it any good?


As far as I'm concerned, Diana's greatest moment will always be the second to last page of the first issue. Here, Diana is undergoing a sort of trial before becoming Wonder Woman. The trial involves her deflecting a series of bullets fired from a gun. Diana deflects them with an endearing look of absolute terror on her face, only to ultimately ask "By the gods! What is that thing? Where did it come from?" It captures a significant balance in the Perez series - Diana's absolutely lovable naivety versus the greater destiny that awaits her (shrouded in mystery and a plethora of clues). We don't know why there's a gun on Paradise Island, but we know it's a small part of something BIG that lies in store for Diana. It makes us understand that a great legacy awaits her. Meanwhile, we both laugh at and love the adorable face of a completely horrified young woman that has never seen a gun before and now is being made to deflect bullets. Perez's art is amazing in its empathy, and the pacing of the layout is dynamite.

Unfortunately, less than halfway into the series, things begin to change. And, by the end of the series, Diana has lost most of that wonderful naivety (yet replaced it with little else), has achieved her destiny and replaced that only with "how shall I restore my good name" and "should I be a superhero now?", and Perez's first class art and layouts have been replaced with the outright horrific work of (first) Chris Marrinian and (later) Jill Thompson. In both cases, their inability to draw faces is so disruptive that it utterly annihilates any emotional subtext that Perez may have still been working at. By the end of the series, everything that made it great in the begining is now lost. We teeter on, resolving plot points, but plot points were never a strength of this series. The antagonists and premises were always bearable at best. The highlights were always those moments BETWEEN plots where Perez would take a moment to really explore Diana and the people around her.

So the series faded out pretty quickly.


My reading recommendations for this series:

The series is intermittantly dogeared by pivotal moments in Diana's journey. Any of these would serve as excellent stopping points.

-If you're curious (or a completist), there's no harm in reading until the end (issue #62) unless you can't tolerate bad art. It's a nice resolution to the run that comes probably thirty five issues too late. The stories are never terrible. They're just adequate.

-If you'd like to follow until Diana fulfills her mysterious destiny (it's a bit less interesting after this), read until issue #50. It's a bit of disappointment as the climax to a sixty two issue run, but it's still worth reading.

-Reading up to issue #41 will give you the first diplomatic visit to Paradise Island (as well as the chaos that ensues), and a nice "between plots" story that strongly develops Vanessa (an important supporting character in the series).

-Reading up to Wonder Woman Annual #1 (which directly follows #22) will give you all of the best moments in the run while bypassing what I consider to be the biggest wrong turn the series took (relating to Lord Hermes and begining in #23). It culminates with the first time the insular Amazons allow strangers (friends to Wonder Woman) to visit Paradise Island, and the annual depicts the visitation and celebration with great detail (and avoids introducing a conflict alltogether - quite bold and different). This arc also includes the departure of the gods (issue #21) which is, itself, quite a culminating moment for Diana, and the "Who killed Myndi Mayor?" story in issue #20 (quite possibly the most powerful issue of the series).

So I strongly recommend the first 22 issues and the annual. These are essential stories for WW, even when the plots are often sub-par. Plus you get all that great Perez art before Marrinian takes over. Beyond that, it really depends upon how curious you are.

Wildfire you're reviewing my favorite Hulk era. Not so much for David (as I read this pre internet and didn't know who he was from any other writer) but for the best version of the Hulk, Joe Fixit. Who in my opinion was best drawn by Jeff Purves, who didn't do nearly enough of the story to satisfy me.

#340 is only issue I don't own as even by the time I found this story out was ridiculously over priced. Thankfully it seems in your reviews that I haven't missed much over the years. If I've seen Hulk fight Wolverine, I guess I've seen that issue.

The last half of Bill Mantlo's run, with Hulk wandering space would be my second favorite. #295 to #395 is probably the best 100 issues of almost any long running series I have read. Great stuff all together.

I've always wanted to read the run straight through. I've read the first fifteen or so issues and the last ten (for the original team), and I loved them all. By the end, it had a real family feeling about it, and that goes a long way for me when a bunch of fictional characters begin to really matter to me and to each other.

I was planning to pull out my Showcase Presents volumes after reading this. They stop at #36.