(I originally read these comics in early/mid July 2015)
Finally finished reading Peter David's run on 'The Incredible Hulk,' a run which lasted eleven years. It's often held up as being the best Hulk run ever but I can't help thinking he stayed on it at least 30-35 issues too long, as his final few years are mediocre and meandering. To be fair, some of this coincides with the editorially-mandated 'Onslaught' crossover, where Marvel's non-mutant heroes were whisked away to a "pocket universe" for a year in a bid to revitalise their flagging sales. Banner is separated from the Hulk in the process and there's a feeling of the comic just biding time till he comes back.
Notable events during the run include Nick Fury being killed by the Punisher (which actually takes place outside of the Hulk title, in the 'Double Edge: Omega' book, though his funeral is in Hulk # 434), the return from death of General 'Thunderbolt' Ross after having been killed off over a hundred issues previously (# 330) and the death of Betty Banner via radiation poisoning in David's penultimate issue, # 466. She wouldn't stay dead either... *Sigh*
'What Savage Beast' is a novel which utilises plotlines David was forbidden from using in the comic. It was probably a mistake for me to read this now as although it picks up from the comic storyline, it subsequently spins off into its own continuity that can't possibly be reconciled with the comic. However, some minor aspects of the novel are later recycled in the monthly. I'd actually read the novel before, years ago, with little prior knowledge of the comic at the time, and had enjoyed it thoroughly, though slightly less so this time. The cover of the paperback edition makes the bold claim that "the characters have never been written better," and it's probably right. It's almost four hundred pages long, but I read it in five days.
The Doc Samson limited series (the first; a second followed in 2006) is an early work by Dan Slott and is utter crap. The 'Abominations' one, a sequel to 1992's dystopian 'Future Imperfect' series, isn't any better.
'The End,' published four years after Peter David's ousting from the main title, presents a 'Last Man on Earth' scenario with an aged Bruce Banner the sole survivor of a nuclear conflagration only because the Hulk inside refuses to let him die. Dale Keown provides lush pencils but the caption-heavy script betrays its origins as a prose vignette in which not much actually happens.
Incredible Hulk (1968) # 426 is collected in:
Softcover:
Incredible Hulk (1968) # 444/445, Cable (1993) # 34 and Onslaught: Marvel Universe # 1 are collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
Incredible Hulk (1968) # 444 and Cable (1993) # 34 are collected in:
Softcover:
Incredible Hulk (1968) # 445 is collected in:
Softcover:
Onslaught: Marvel Universe (1996) # 1 is collected in:
Softcover:
Incredible Hulk (1968) # 449 is collected in:
Softcover:
Hulk: The End (2002) is collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
