When Monsters Die.

[sherkahn]

This week, some dark and unstable individuals left the comic book universes they existed in.

Selections from the Incredible Hulk #6 & #7 and B.P.R.D. the Long Death #3.

The fights were ugly and brutal, and in the end the monsters did as they have lived.

Good night, and may you find the peace you did not have in life.

**SPOILERS**

***Fair warning, may be NSFW due to gore.***



Over at the Green Hulk book....



being cut out of the Hulk by Dr. Doom, he and the Hulk have went to war with one another over the last few issues. At the end of the last issue, Amanda Von Doom activated the bomb Bruce had built to recreate the explosion that created the Hulk. (He had wanted the Hulk back inside him so bad he was willing to recreate the process). Amanda took advantage of the situation and activated the bomb in order to overwhelm Banner's gamma-mutate forces.


Issue #6, last scene


And how it played out, as Hulk returns to Dr. Doom.
#7




The rest of the issue is passable as the Hulk blames Doom for Banner's madness, Doom counters, the two fight and Doom beats him, with no rage left for Hulk to tap to power himself up.

The art, it suffers, except for the pages where Banner died. I've seen more love and detail in Whilce's work before.

****

Now, onto the other fight over at B.P.R.D: Long Death.

Johan and the sacrificial dagger have failed, Capt. Daimyo cannot kill himself, and the were-jaguar remains unbound. Only one thing may have a chance to end the nightmare.




The fight between a human soul trapped within an ancient demon body vs. a Bolivian jaguar-demon possessing a mortal man.

It is BRUTAL and gory and beautiful.




The fight goes into the forest and onto a frozen river, and the were-jaguar believes the wendigo to be defeated.
But as always, never turn your back on a monster....


I love the look in it's eyes. It has bit off more than it can chew, and for once the were-jaguar is scared.

As morning comes, the B.P.R.D team finds the gore that once used to be someone. They think it's another victim, but when Johann washes away the blood from the face, it's Ben Daimyo, finally free of the curse of the were-jaguar, but now trapped in the Wendigo.

Comments

[darkknightjrk]

Wow...has Aaron's Hulk been this good the whole time? Damn, definitely going to have to get the trade for this.

[shadowpsykie]

hmmm i call shennanigans.... i am almost positive that Banner probably re-merged with the hulk. something seems... off.....

[sherkahn]

yeah, I've never been able to think of Banner and Hulk as completely separate beings... that the Banner that was grown from Hulk's brain was more or less a clone.

[eyz]

*waves hand* Same theory here :P
Plus Marvel wouldn't want to get rid of Banner entirely, with that promised new Hulk live TV show coming down the road...

[spacebetween]

Same, the gamma explosion probably remerged them. That or Banner has always still been in his mind suppressed and the separate Banner was just a neuro-clone.

[shadowpsykie]

yeah my thoughts are with you Eys and Sher. if i know comics, and i know i know comics, something is going on.

[md84]

Has moving split personalities into different bodies ever worked in fiction? And Coldstone from Gargoyles doesn't count since they were technically three different gargoyles trapped in the same shell.

How does "splitting" Hulk and Banner even make any sense? They aren't different people. It's just one deeply unhappy and mentally disturbed man suffering severe gamma radiation poisoning exacerbating his mental problems.

[q99]

-Has moving split personalities into different bodies ever worked in fiction? And Coldstone from Gargoyles doesn't count since they were technically three different gargoyles trapped in the same shell.-

There's one towards the end of Battle Angel Alita.

[md84]

Did Den actually possess the other body, or did he just operate it remotely? If it was the latter, I guess he simply chose to stop existing at the same time his body broke down.

But yeah, it did work out for Kaos.

[q99]

He was physically in Kaos's 'heart,' but his mind was in the other body and he died when it died. He might've been able to not-die by going back into Kaos, but he chose not to.

I'd say it worked out for him too- sure, he did die, but he died trying for his dream and able to act as he wanted. Rather than likely breaking Kaos's body and both dying at a young age.

[md84]

"I won't go back to Kaos' body. To die here...is fitting."

He also managed to go out with some decent last words.

[his_spiffynesss]

Well this has happened to the Hulk before, don't recall when but the two of them got separated and Banner joined the Hulkbusters. Then he started declining and had to re-merge with the green guy.

IIRC

[sir_mikael]

A bath of gamma-something-juice and Vision helping them merge was required at that time. Banner and Hulk joined into Banner/Grey Hulk but since Rick had fallen into the vat as well he became a green Hulk at nights too.

[spacebetween]

They have split a few times. Twice as best as I can recall.
The first that comes to mind is when Doc Samson did it. The Hulk ended up as a mindless brute just acting on aggressive instinct.
The second time I know of is during Onslaught. The Hulk remained on Earth, while Banner went to Counter-Earth with the rest of the heroes. Though that time it was Franklin who did it

[sir_mikael]

After Onslaught there was a lot of talk of how the orignal Hulk that remained on 616 was a lot weaker and hurting without Banner.

[espanolbot]

Yay, the sad wendigo guy is free! ^^ Not so yay for Ben, but he's hopefully less miserable now.

[sir_mikael]

Why does Hulk have a beard all of the sudden in the panel where Banner is hitting him?

[espanolbot]

...Withstanding an explosion like that is so manly that he grew a beard?

[sherkahn]

At the time Banner and Hulk were fighting, Hulk had been hiding out for months with a Mole Men tribe under the Earth. It was AFTER the blast that the hair was burned off. (Banner's death is a flash back).

[sir_mikael]

He doesn't have a beard in the scan from #6 though.
I can see now that the rest of Hulks hair burns of during the blast but the beard is oddly obscured by Banner's hair (although you'd think you'd see some of it) and possibly miscolored in the "time slows down"-panel. But I guess if he has a beard in the pages not depicted then that's that. Not a huge fan of the art. The BPRD art on the other hand is gorgeous.

[darkknightjrk]

I think it's less of a beard and more of a mix of unnecessary cross-hatching and gore.

[silverzeo]

So Banner is dead, but Hulk is still around? ... umm, so it is really 100% official that Hulk and Banner are two seperate people altogether like in Fight Club? Casue I remember some comics that he is basically the same, his mind just being overwhelmed by rage and instinct.

[shadowpsykie]

naw the genral consensus is that someting is missing. either the explosion re-merged them, or the banner we saw was a clone and the Hulk is repressing Banner.

or as this Hulk seems smarter than normal... i would say that either hulk is unconsciously supressing Banner's personality and keeping some of his intelligence, or Bruce is giving some of his intelligence and giving up control

[big_daddy_d]

I really enjoyed the Hulk vs Banner arc, but one problem I have is that the current writer said that Banner wouldn't be a villain and so far, that's what he's clearly been. So I wonder what happens from here.