From: mickey@pecan.cns.udel.edu (Mickey)
Subject: Why I Stopped Collecting the Hulk
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 22:20:49 GMT



	Way back when I was young(er) and collected only Marvel
titles, one of the ones I purchased regulary was the Incredible Hulk.
It was good at some points and rather mediocre at others, but I nearly
stopped collecting it after Byrne's short run and Milgrom took over.
However, Peter David and Todd McFarlane showed up and made things
interesting for a while, so I ended up staying around.  The Hulk
and Bruce Banner were both going through a lot of changes now, they
began fighting a new and interesting version of the Leader, and at
the end of the storyline (called "Ground Zero" by some), the Hulk
appeared to lose.  This was good stuff.

	Then, he went through a period that wasn't as exciting where
he started to cultivate a new supporting cast for another story arc
in Las Vegas.  The grey Hulk characterization and the introduction of Marlo
sustained me through most of this; otherwise, there's not a lot to say other
than the Leader returned during "Countdown", which wasn't a bad story
either.

	Next, trouble started, IMO.  Doc Samson cured the Hulk's
multiple personality disorder.  This new creature called the Hulk
had more of a penchant for temper than he did science and he
immediately began to lose my interest.  I stayed on the Hulk for a bit
because the supporting cast of Marlo, Rick, and Betty were pretty
interesting.  I was more concerned about their fates than I was the
Hulk's.  The more we learned about this new Hulk, the less I liked 
him.  Sure, he liked to think once in a while, but he seems to be more
interested in the fact that he's stronger than anyone else than in the
fact that he used to be one of the country's brightest scientists.

	However, even this would not have forced me off the book, which
I stopped buying regularly at #385.  What did make me stop more than
anything else was the Pantheon.  This group of super-beings assembled
by a teenage immortal (who seemed to have elements of Tommy Czuchra
about him) calling himself Agamemnon strives to fight injustices in
the world from their secret headquarters in "The Mount".  The members
of the Pantheon (Hector, Achilles, Paris, Atalanta, Ajax) seem
a bit stale and predictable.  None of them are particulary likeable.
They try to recruit the Hulk by beating him up (okay, they didn't
necessarily intend to).  The Hulk, who for his entire life has been
more or less a loner, throws in with them after a weak sales pitch
from Agamemnon.  Of course, this is a new Hulk with a new agenda, but
that's part of the problem I mentioned earlier, isn't it?

	The last storyline "Ghosts of the Past" did its best to destroy
what potential the book might have been carrying.  First, the Hulk
beats the Leader finally, but Agamemnon gives the Hulk this opportunity
by outright deceiving the Leader.  The Hulk invades the Leader's complex
with intent to kill him, and seemingly succeeds.  The Leader was the
far more sympathetic character in the story.  The Hulk was a rampaging
murderer.  Second, Peter David threw a wrench into the supporting cast
by killing Marlo.  This gives Rick a lot of angst and little else.  The
Leader tries to resurrect Marlo due to the fact that he and Rick have
an empathic bond, but the Hulk botches that one when he wipes the Leader
out.   

	The point that I'm trying to make here is that Peter has
managed to throw away most of the interesting elements of the book,
turn the Hulk into a bigger and bigger fool, and in the process lose
my interest in the character completely.  After reading the latest
issue, I'm hoping that the Avengers or the Red Skull somehow knock(s)
some sense into him.  It certainly isn't the Hulk that I would be
cheering for.

	Peter had a good solid run on the Hulk, but seems to be
taking the book more and more in directions I don't care for.  Perhaps
he will surprise me yet again and manage some twist that will draw
my attention back to the book, but for the most part the book has
been giving us a series of uninspired slugfests lately.


Mick

(Now, if Samson, Rick, Betty, and Marlo [currently not quite dead?]
went into their own book and left the Hulk behind, that might be 
worthwhile...)


-- 
Mickey McCarter, amatuer actor & reporter |mickey@chopin.udel.edu     __
"Law?  This is the only law.  The law	  |mickey@pecan.cns.udel.edu / |
 of averages." - Harvey Dent, Batman: TAS |Weep not for Camelot	    /__|_
Existential Disclaimer: Believe what you like, nothing matters	       |