Hulk: Gray

Hulk: Grey:

Part three of the color series

The Hulk is an iconic character that has stayed the test of time, especially in his prime embodying the counter-culture movement.  Honestly The Hulk hasn’t gone anywhere lately, and the stories have been a bit boring for my taste.  After Peter David’s take the character in a beloved run during the eighties, it sadly isn’t one that has been allowed to reach the popular imagination (Marvel have yet to do it any justice in reprinting it or elevating it in the same way they have other important runs).  Anyways while the comics haven’t been the greatest lately it has been in other mediums as well.  The television show, of The Hulk as we all so fondly recall isn’t half-as-good as re remember it.  Though it had its flaws, most of us smile when we think of it, and I don’t know about you but I start whistling “that really sad walking away music.” Jump up to recently we had two, not so good takes on the Hulk (I admire the second movies effort), and a showstealing performance in The Avengers movie.

Came out- 2004

Created by: Jeph Loeb

Penciled by: Tim Sale

Spoilers below- Don’t want spoilers? Scroll to ‘The Good, The Bad’:

Brief Review:

            The narration isn’t provided in monologue here, as it was in the other two color titles, instead offering a dialogue between Bruce Banner and Doctor Leonard Sampson, his psycho-therapist.  Bruce comes in a surprise visit with the Doctor, and begins to tell (and vent) the story of the first days as The Hulk.  It of course starts with the Gamma Bomb, and the book wastes no time getting him angry.  He goes on a small smashing against the military, and runs away saying that he wants to be left alone.  

            Soon The Hulk, for some odd reason to Bruce Banner (The power of love baby), ends up on Betty Ross’s front porch.  Not recognizing The Hulk as Bruce, she passes out.  When The Hulk turns with Betty in his arms, the military is there to greet him.  On General Ross’s orders they fire on The Hulk (and her daughter) to take him down.  The Hulk just decides to super-double jump away.  Rick, Bruce’s friend who he saved from the Gamma Bomb, finds Bruce and a long trail of destruction behind him.  Soon he asks Rick to lock him away in a nuclear waste cite far underground, and to not open it up.

The story then cuts to a later time, in my favorite scene in the book.  It shows The Hulk and a bunny, his friend, and he tries to pet his friend… That doesn’t end well on a little bunny.  This wonderfully emotional and is a great throwback to Of Mice and Men.  Soon The Hulk finds out that Rick was taken by the military and goes to save him.  The story cuts away to General Ross harshly interrogating Rick, a minor.  Well Hulk makes his entrance, saves Rick in a cliché fashion, then cuts and runs.  While running he fights an old Iron Man…  If you haven’t seen the old Iron Man it is awesomely hilarious!  Anyways they drag this fight an entire issue, (appealing to the “Hulk Smash” audience) and ends with a beat up Iron Man, and accidently hurting Betty in the process.

            The Hulk runs away with the hurt Betty to a cave, and attempts to nurse Betty back to health.  The Hulk doesn’t let Betty go, and doesn’t understand that he was hurting her by keeping her.  I enjoyed that scene it is the only good conversational dialogue throughout the whole book.  Soon General Ross comes around and fights The Hulk, and instead of killing General Ross, The Hulk runs away screaming “I’m not a monster”!  Finally it cuts away to the psychotherapy session, and the authorities are closing in. He leaves saying that he has become green because Betty loved him for all the wrong reasons; because he was a monster like his father.  Explained better in the book, but still kind of a cop out in my opinion.

The Good:

I loved the Of Mice and Men refrence made throughout the book; I gave that a slow clap.  Seeing the ghetto Iron Man costume and fight was extremely enjoyable… I mean come-on look at that getup!  Most of the artwork is good, mostly the splash pages are the only ones that make you look twice.

The Bad:

While all of the color books are retelling old stories, this one brings absolutely nothing to the table… The emotions brought forth in the other books just isn’t there, it tries to be overly mopey and it doesn’t work.  It seems like the story drags, and could be a lot shorter.  Just not in the same league as the other two color books.

RATING:

ART:  Sale’s artwork here is, as ever, great. For some reason, however, his work here is penciled, rather than watercolored.  While this makes it look more nostalgic it isn’t as good as his other work in the color series.  A lot of it looks good, but you see at many points where the characters look really awkward.  So penciling was a bad call that made it worse (in my opinion)- 8

STORY:  Plot-wise, there's not much to this tale. General Thunderbolt Ross tries to capture or kill The Hulk, Rick Jones helps The Hulk, and The Hulk tries to get to Betty Ross.  I’ve seen this story so many times… SO MANY TIMES.  But I understand that this is a type of story that looks back at his origin that contains all three.  Anyways there are continuity differences in this tale; it didn’t evoke the same nostalgia, and emotion as the other stories. -7

DIALOGUE:  There are some rough dialogue choices in the story, most of them seem pointless and meh.  The only thing that proves noteworthy is the psychobabble in the monologue brings a little more depth. - 8

Entertaining:  Not as entertaining as the other color books,  the plot is predictable and feels pretty boring - 7

PICK UP AGAIN WORTHY:  This is the first Loeb/Sale collaboration I've read that I found to be something of a disappointment. There's nothing really wrong with it, but it just didn't evoke the same sense of nostalgia in me that their other stories revisiting the early days of some iconic characters.- 6

OVERALL RATING:

7.2

The big letdown of the color series, I know others like it but it wasn’t for me.  I’m also a little biased since I didn’t like The Hulk.  Also there is a lot of parallels to the second movie, so if you wonder where they got it… There ya go

By: Scott