For The Love of Comics

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My ongoing theory has been that the Red Hulk is really General Thunderbolt Ross, mainly supported by the “military” vibe I get from Red Hulk and the idea that it would be terribly ironic if Ross became a reflection of what he hates most.

It was a pretty good theory, I thought, but then Brian Hughes of Again With The Comics came up with an even better theory that even satisfies that military vibe I had been getting:

Major Glenn Talbot was a longtime thorn in the Hulk’s side, while serving as Bruce’s romantic rival for Betty. Talbot even married Betty for a time, but that ended fairly quickly in divorce. He met his alleged death in Incredible Hulk #260, having stolen the experimental War Wagon to wage a desperate last-bid attack on the Hulk.

[...]

So Talbot “died” under a deluge of molten lava while mentally bonded with a fantastical computerized battle wagon/artificial intelligence and was declared dead with no body found. Yeah, that’ll stick in a universe where even Uncle freakin’ Ben eventually came back. We’ve already seen that Red Hulk emits incredible, volcanic heat, recognizes most of the Hulk cast, and there are certainly enough back doors in that “death” to exploit, so I guess we’ll see. Whadda you think?

I think that’s a damn good theory. The only fault I can really see is that it may be too good of an idea for Jeph Loeb to have come up with.

Check out Brian’s post to read more of Talbot’s backstory and Brian’s theory.

Technorati Tags: Hulk, Incredible Hulk, Red Hulk, Glenn Talbot, Thunderbolt Ross, Secret Identity, Theory

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I’ve warned you all that a day would come wherein I would review some issues that I disliked. It would appear that day has come.

In the interest of full disclosure, I had a low opinion of all of these books before I even saw these issues, so they may have all come into this at a disadvantage. That said, even with my already low opinions and expectations, all three of these books disappointed me. Two of them disappointed me right away; one almost surprised me until the end.

I belong to the - apparently small - group of comic fans who actually enjoy most of Mark Millar’s work, but Fantastic Four 554 annoyed me as soon as I saw the cover. What is up with those fingerless gloves? Are they supposed to make Reed look more “extreme” and “hardcore”? Because they look more “ridiculous” and “trying too hard”. And why does Sue have fingers on her gloves on the cover but not in the actual inside panels? Seriously, she’s partially transparent on the cover, but you can still see the folds in her gloves, where the gloves and and her costume begins, and the fact that her gloves have fingers.

But that’s enough about that, because it also seems that Ben and Johnny have regressed back to the first year of Fantastic Four as far as character development. Johnny’s back to being a totally brainless kid (In Sue’s words, he’s Paris Hilton) and Ben is back to laying guilt trips on Reed about the accident. I’ll admit that I’m not a big fan of the Fantastic Four and thus not overly familiar with the character arcs, but I thought they’d both moved past that shit. It really annoys me that Millar has to set back both characters decades to tell his story. That’s some Mephisto shit right there, kids.

There’s not much else to say, because not much really happened in this issue.

Not much besides the reveal that Reed’s ex is building THE DEATH STAR!   I have always loved the concept of the Ghost Rider character, but the execution has quite often been… lacking.That hasn’t really changed with new writer Jason Aaron. Ghost Rider is still an angel, but now he’s an angel with an edge, out for vengeance and not caring who he has to go through to get it! He needs a few more r’s at the end of his name - he is now Ghost Riderrrr!!

This edge appears to include Johnny Blaze forgetting all of the grammar and speaking skills he’s had over the years, since he now speaks in cliche’s and, as mentioned, horrible grammar that feels very forced. The Ghost Rider doesn’t need to talk tough, because he IS tough - nothing to prove. Aaron may try to blame this on Blaze’s circus past, but I know circus folk - they don’t speak like that and, to my knowledge, Johnny Blaze has never spoken like that. It’s LAME, Aaron!

Other than Blaze’s apparent brain damage in the language center of his brain, this issue isn’t really any worse than the last few; it’s just a continuation of what I think is a ridiculous direction for the character. I’ll try for a few more issues in case they actually pull something good out of this, but my hopes are very low.

I really wanted to hate Hulk 2. I really really really wanted to hate it. I haven’t really liked anything Jeph Loeb has done in awhile and I’ve been thinking the entire concept of this series is… something not good, but I didn’t hate this issue.I actually thought the majority of this issue was kind of fun. The fear and near-panic of everyone on board the carrier was palpable during their cat-and-mouse game with the Hulk and the few battle scenes were very cool and slightly amusing. Joe Maduiera’s (I mean) Ed McGuiness’s art is made for this type of book and Loeb’s writing was even decent.

In short, I enjoyed this issue… until the end. I was pretty sure that Rick Jones wasn’t the Red Hulk, but a blue Abomination knock-off called “A-Bomb”? LAAAAAAME!!!

I still think Banner is the Red Hulk, but I could be wrong. If Loeb doesn’t step up his game, I won’t find out.

Technorati Tags: Reviews, Marvel, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Hulk, Red Hulk, A-Bomb, Mark Millar, Jason Aaron, Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness

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Popularity: 25% [?]

I’ve found some leaked footage featuring the Red Hulk in the Incredible Hulk movie…

Man, that Edward Norton sure can write!

Found via the CBR forums.

tag: Edward Norton, Gay Hulk, Hulk, Incredible Hulk, Parody, Red Hulk, youtube

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Popularity: 81% [?]

Marvel has released new preview images from Hulk #1.

First the images then my speculation:

Okay, the solicitations and interviews regarding Hulk have stated that the initial arc will involve a mystery surrounding the murder of one of Hulk’s oldest cast members, the investigation being led my Doctor Leonard Sampson, and Hulk being the prime suspect.

It’s hard to tell without dialog balloons, but these appear to be images of Doc Sampson and She-Hulk trying to retrace the steps of a battle between Hulk and (I think) The Abomination, which leads me to the following question:

Is the murdered cast member The Abomination? If so, is that really a good idea, considering Emil Bronsky/The Abomination is going to be one of the main villains in the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie?

I say it’s a horrible idea, for many of the same reasons that the rumored plan to kill Bruce Wayne was a terrible idea.

You don’t kill the cashcow, kids.

What do you think? Am I way off base, is that even the Abomination in those images? If it is, do you think I’m reading too much into it by thinking The Abomination will be killed? Am I wrong that it’s a horrible idea? Am I the only one to notice that the Hulk in those images is NOT red?

Or am I a mad supergenius who is reading Jeff Loeb’s mind and should be granted an exclusive contract writing for Marvel?

tag: Abomination, Doc Sampson, Emil Bronsky, Hulk, Jennifer Walters, Leonard Sampson, Marvel, Red Hulk, She-Hulk

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Popularity: 100% [?]

Marvel has released two new alternate covers for the upcoming Hulk#1, both featuring the mysterious Red Hulk.

The first, by new Marvel exclusive Daniel Acuna, I’m not too sure how I feel about :

The second, by regular Hulk artist Ed McGuinness, I’m kinda in love with:

Also, I still stand by my most recent Hulk predictions.

tag: Comics, Daniel Acuna, Ed McGuinness, Red Hulk, Hulk, Alternate Covers, Marvel

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Popularity: 12% [?]

I’ve finished reading World War Hulk and… I’m really not sure how I feel about it.

I mean, I guess there really wasn’t any other way to end it. It wouldn’t have made sense for Hulk to kill everyone, because Hulk is not a killer and, even if he was, there wouldn’t be any comics left to publish if Hulk killed everyone.

The Miek thing… I don’t know. I mean, basically sacrificing his home, his race, and ultimately himself (he obviously knew that would be the result of killing Rick Jones), just to keep the Hulk’s rage going, because he believed that it was what the Hulk “needed”? Very odd and I’m not sure that I buy into it.

I know that Miek allowing the Red King’s people to blow up the ship is supposed to redeem the Illuminati, but I’m not sure that it does. I mean, they didn’t plan on killing the Hulk, fine. But they’re still somewhat responsible. They put Hulk on that ship against his will, thus they are responsible for what resulted from their actions.

And Hulk’s “suicide/sacrifice”? Ehhh…. I understand that it was necessary to bring an end to the story, since things couldn’t just go back to normal and he wasn’t going to kill them. I don’t like it, but I’ll accept it. The self-loathing, rage, and ultimate self-sacrificing nature IS in character for him, really.

So here are my revised predictions. From CBR’s interviews with Mark Paniccia and Fred Van Lente, we know that:

Skaar, Son of Hulk looks to be pretty damn cool and Skaar just may be even more powerful than his father, being half Shadowperson and half Gamma-powered Hulk, and is likely to be a must-read for those who loved Planet Hulk

Also…

Incredible Hulk is changing to Incredible Herc and will focus on Hercules and Amadeus Cho while they evade the Initiative and try to find a way to take down SHIELD. Since Cho is in Incredible Herc, it seems that he is most likely NOT the Red Hulk, as I previously guessed.

But this blurb from the Van Lente interview:

Some might wonder why Van Lente and Pak’s collaboration is keeping The Incredible Hulk’s old numbering system instead of launching with a new number #1. “It’s partly because the functions of the Hulk will be in the new adjectiveless ‘Hulk’ series that Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness are doing,” Van Lente explained. “So I think it’s neat that Herc is kind of keeping Hulk’s seat warm. The good news is we keep getting renewed with story arcs so right now there’s no definite end to ‘Incredible Herc’ so maybe ‘Hulk’ will continue on as well.

leads me to believe that Hulk is not planned to run indefinitely and Incredible Herc will eventually go back to being Incredible Hulk. This, combined with the final panel of World War Hulk, leads me to believe that Bruce Banner is not dead and that this image:

Is a before/after split and not a split between two characters,

And that the blacked out man in this image:

is Bruce Banner, as I originally believed, making this image a red herring.

Of course, it is totally possible that the coloring on the final WWH panel was a red herring and I’m totally wrong, but this is my current theory and I’m sticking to it.

For now.

tag: Red Hulk, Incredible Hulk, Marvel, Amadeus Cho, Bruce Banner, Speculation, Rumor, Hercules, Incredible Herc, Hulk, World War Hulk, WWH, Skaar Son of Hulk

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Judging from how many hits I get on this post - which really amounts to nothing more than “WTF is this shit?!?!” - from the keyword “red hulk” on WordPress’s tag browser thingy, I’m guessing that nobody knows any more about who or what the Red Hulk is than I do.

I have to admit I’m rather impressed with Marvel’s rumor control.

For the sake of speculation, though, I will say that I’ve read that Hulk#1 is not replacing Incredible Hulk, but will be running alongside it, which leads me to believe that maybe this Red Hulk will not be replacing Banner Hulk, but coexisting, in a sense.

Thus, my best guess at this point is that the Red Hulk will be… Amadeus Cho, for no other reason than the anime hair on this image:

Also, if I’d known that post would have gotten so much attention, I would have put alot more effort into it. I mean, I would have at least come up with a better title, ya know?

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Popularity: 11% [?]

I’d heard that the Hulk was going to turn red, but I’d never heard any speculation that it was going to be someone else turning into the Hulk. I’d always assumed that something would happen to Bruce Banner (Is it telling of my generation that I had to pause and make sure I didn’t type “David Banner”?) to make him turn into a red, bulkier, more rage-fueled Hulk. That idea is lame enough, but if they’re going to make it a new person too, that’s double lame.

On the bright side, that will probably give me another comic to drop, since this “One More Day” crap is shaping up to be the worst idea in the history of Spidey, even taking into account the Clone Saga and the six arms and alllllllllll that shit.

So, with One More Day ruining Spiderman, if they ever get the last two issues out, and this Red Hulk crap looking to ruin Hulk, I’ll be saving money.

Thanks Quesada, I guess.

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Popularity: 13% [?]