I just finished re-reading Hulk: Grey which is pretty good considering the other slop Jeph Loeb has written, and I really wish Marvel would fix the Hulk.
Hulk was created as an homage to Jekyll & Hyde and when written as such works really well. He really is one of Marvel's better thought-out characters, like Daredevil, which has a great amount of contradiction and conflict inherent in the character to make him interesting; the meek and brilliant scientist with a ton and a half of emotional baggage thanks in large part to child abuse and the death of his mother turns into an immensely strong, unintelligent and unthinking brute when he gets mad. That's good stuff.
But Marvel has mucked things up so badly over the years by getting away from this formula, taking away a nice cast of supporting characters, and completely changing the dynamic of the character by having him wander around other dimensions and ruling battle worlds in other universes or whatever crap they've had him doing in Planet Hulk et all. It's not even the same character. The book hasn't been good in years, and the closest it's been to good is the beginning of the Bruce Jones run where he had him as a fugitive on the run.
I would like to see them reboot the character similar to what they had Warren Ellis do with Extremis in Iron Man; modernize the origin, bring everything back to basics, and don't forget the human side of things. Bruce Banner is a brilliant scientist - use that. Do something closer to how the character was used in Ultimates (and, to a lesser extent, Ultimates 2).
Actually, I don't even think the character can be used this way in an ongoing monthly series. That's part of the problem. Use him in a team book with minis sprinkled here and there.
Just wanted to get that off my chest. The character, the supporting cast, and the book as a whole are all travesties and it shouldn't be that way.
Hulk was created as an homage to Jekyll & Hyde and when written as such works really well. He really is one of Marvel's better thought-out characters, like Daredevil, which has a great amount of contradiction and conflict inherent in the character to make him interesting; the meek and brilliant scientist with a ton and a half of emotional baggage thanks in large part to child abuse and the death of his mother turns into an immensely strong, unintelligent and unthinking brute when he gets mad. That's good stuff.
But Marvel has mucked things up so badly over the years by getting away from this formula, taking away a nice cast of supporting characters, and completely changing the dynamic of the character by having him wander around other dimensions and ruling battle worlds in other universes or whatever crap they've had him doing in Planet Hulk et all. It's not even the same character. The book hasn't been good in years, and the closest it's been to good is the beginning of the Bruce Jones run where he had him as a fugitive on the run.
I would like to see them reboot the character similar to what they had Warren Ellis do with Extremis in Iron Man; modernize the origin, bring everything back to basics, and don't forget the human side of things. Bruce Banner is a brilliant scientist - use that. Do something closer to how the character was used in Ultimates (and, to a lesser extent, Ultimates 2).
Actually, I don't even think the character can be used this way in an ongoing monthly series. That's part of the problem. Use him in a team book with minis sprinkled here and there.
Just wanted to get that off my chest. The character, the supporting cast, and the book as a whole are all travesties and it shouldn't be that way.