Hulk 13 and 14 - An interesting new status quo?

[blinkytreefrog]

Providing that this is how Waid intends to keep it, of course, but I really hope he does...



The Hulk's always been a bit of a hit and miss title for me, and whether I pick it up tends to depend on a) who's writing it (I very quickly lost interest in Bruce Jones's run, and even he who must not be named lost my interest many times. The brief second run he had was both baffling and screwed around with all sorts of continuity, even his own) and b) the current configuration of Bruce Banner's mind.

See, while this seems a bit contradictory because they are technically the same person, I've always been far more interested in Bruce himself than the Hulk. I found the “Merged Hulk” pretty boring, and I totally admit that “Planet Hulk” was well written, but I don’t have the enthusiasm for it that many do. I was therefore kind of worried that Waid's “they’re working together!” idea for the new series would mean that the Hulk would take over and we wouldn't see Bruce again for a while.

If the latest issue of Aaron's run is how it's going to be though, I'm kind of okay with it. I've been ambivalent about the run as a whole, because the sheer wacky weirdness tended to sit uncomfortably when he tried to add in some seriousness. This issue sort of has the same problem, but the idea is cool.

So last issue, Banner and Hulk had a serious conversation, the Hulk more reluctantly than Bruce.







And they came to an... agreement. Amanda Von Doom quite sensibly would like to know who it is that she’s talking to here.



And it turns out... it’s both of them. Still separate, but working together, taking it in turns at the “controls” to their body. Of course, in the mind, there's no such thing as a metaphor, so this is what it currently looks like in Bruce Banner’s head.



I have to admit, that’s kinda of cool :-).

They are being attacked by a mind assassin, so Bruce leaves Hulk in charge and goes off into the vault of dangerous memories to find him (literally. The name is on the top). I love the details here. You can see a drawer of Joe Fixit’s memories, and memories from Sakaar...



And their mind's “control panel”. In case you can’t read it, on the right are Bruce’s controls: theoretical physics, atomic theory, quantum mechanics, build a gamma bomb (it's slightly worrying that this needs its own button), reason and compromise. On the left is Hulk's control. It is big and red, and says “Smash” :-).



I'm guessing the “other doors” contain other personalities as well as dangerous memories. And Bruce is very right in that this is really the very last mind you'd want to go swanning around in :-).

Comments

[chocochuy]

Not exactly my cup of tea, mostly because I was spoiled by Planet Hulk and its sequels, but I do approve this new status quo and hope this gives us bodacious dynamics between Banner and Hulk.

[silverhammerman]

That scene with the Hulk taking over the controls, and his version of the controls, is great, charming and hilarious. This might not be enough to get me onboard with the current run, but if this idea carries over I'll be very happy.
Incidentally, when does Waid's run start? I've forgotten and I'd like to know when so I don't miss the first issue.
Also, I'm immensely pleased by any mention of the Joe Fixit persona.

[shadur]

Do you see that gleeful look on his face as he gingerly takes the stick?

Very delicate maneuvering followed by HITTING THE SMASH BUTTON LIKE BUDDY RICH CATCHING FIRE.

[thehood]

Waid's run starts in November.

[zabilac]

Well, it's a start...at least they're not actively trying to kill each other. Now if only they could grow their hair back, I'd be a happy person.

[biod]

I like what they've been trying to do with Bruce. He's essentially a mad-scientist who becomes the strongest being on the planet when his emotions get the better of him, which is often (see: mad scientist), so he is a scary motherfucker. From what I've seen of this run I feel like they took it a little too far though.
I like it when Bruce acts a bit bonkers, because he's definitely bonkers, but to make him outright villainous without the Hulk forgoes the underlying heroism that he and the Hulk share; they're the same person in many respects, after all.
I might have even accepted darker behaviour from Bruce if they'd explained he was so used to having the Hulk as outlet and coping mechanism he forgot how to channel his crazy alone, but he already spent part of Pak's run seperated and at worst that turned him into a huge(ly entertaining) dick.

[blinkytreefrog]

Yeah, Aaron's run has been pretty damn wierd. I can't say I really liked it as a whole, even though there were cool bits and pieces, and I didn't pick up every issue. It lurched wildly from being batshit insane to being deep and angsty practically from panel to panel sometimes, and it just gave you whiplash.

And the Banner/Hulk dynamic was just all kinds of out of continuity. They might even have gotten away with the whole "Banner is evil without Hulk" idea if they hadn't, as you said, had Pak's issues only a couple of years ago outright showing that wasn't true. And you could brush it all away as the separation going wrong, except Bruce himself seemed to believe it, which doesn't really make sense.

I loved Pak's Banner too. The "Son of Banner" arc managed to be touching and hilarious without going completely overboard. Hooray for huge dick Banner!

[akodo_rokku]

Simplest answer: Blame it all on Doom. It's shown in this issue that his Doombots are collecting Banner's gamma monsters, so he clearly *wanted* an insane, evil Banner making monsters. And since he's the one who separated them, he could have made it happen.

[akodo_rokku]

Also, Pak's Banner wasn't really separated from the Hulk so much as the Hulk was subdued until he got the gamma jolt he needed to come back out. The Hulk was presumably still in his head.

[blinkytreefrog]

Well yes, as I said, you could blame it all on a crappy separation by Doom (although it's not actually Doom; it's pretty clear that his Doombots are working without supervision right now), but Bruce seemed to believe that he was evil without the Hulk, and I'm a bit baffled as to why he'd believe it, since he's been separated before! The Doombots claimed they just did it better than anyone else, but why Bruce would believe anything that came from their mouths I really don't know.

[akodo_rokku]

Poor self-image?

[espanolbot]

Amanda von Doom?

[blinkytreefrog]

She's not related. Or at least, she's not related as far as she knows; there are hints. But I mean, if there is one family called Von Doom in the marvel universe, it stands to reason there'd be more!

Err, anyway, she leads a team that takes down mad scientists. They were interested in Bruce Banner because... well, Bruce Banner. And to be fair, he had been acting crazier than usual because of plot reasons (involving an operating table and a chainsaw). Yeah.

[lonewolf23k]

Maybe she's related to the Doctor Doom who's a dentist.

[thehood]

She claims she's not related to Victor.

She's also pretty cool.

[mullon]

I wonder if they can get headaches inside their own head.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Looks interesting - and the first couple of pages are very reminiscent of of Steven Moffat's "Jekyll", which isn't a bad thing...

[thatnickguy]

Honestly, while I like the idea behind it, the execution isn't doing it for me.

For one, I'm not crazy about the art. Especially Hulk in the "I mean in here..." panel. He looks like a wrestler on steroids who's fasting.

Two, I don't like the over-simplification of the "control deck." It's cute, but it just doesn't work for me. I could understand it being simplified for the Hulk, especially with the very cute "SMASH" button, but I think it's one of those things that doesn't NEED to be explained. It feels like they're just walking around a giant Hulk robot, like in Doctor Who.

[shadowpsykie]

okay... wow i like but i am confused... can some one give me a brief explaination what happened post "hulk kills banner?"

[an_idol_mind]

The gamma bomb blast that killed Banner actually re-merged Banner and the Hulk. Since then, evil Banner went around trolling the Hulk and setting traps for him as part of a grandiose plot. The plot was actually to gather up the ingredients for a Hulk cure, which he has here.

[blinkytreefrog]

Except he wasn't actually evil, since he regained his equilibrium when he recombined with Hulk. Hulk just assumed he was, because he had no idea what was going on :-).

[halloweenjack]

The thing with two people in the same head and a mental control panel is used quite a lot in the sixth Dark Tower book, but I have to admit that the big red SMASH button made me LOL.

[beyondthefringe]

I got all sorts of giggles out of this particular setup.
I do wonder how it all relates to the "Hulk will smash for you" we've seen in Avengers Assemble and A vs X... My fear is that Bruce will be mentally "killed" or otherwise incapacitated by the end of this series, leaving the stupider Hulk in control again to all tie back to the Hulk best known by the casual audience.

[thehood]

Far more likely, is poor continuity and the writers of AvX and Avengers Assemble not paying attention of what's happening in Aaron's book.

Besides, Bruce will be fine, Waid saif that Banner and Hulk will co-exist and work together in his book. So Bruce won't be killed and i think we are keeping the smarter Hulk going by his comments.

[big_daddy_d]

Ok, this is awesome. Hoping they stop with the angst and Bruce accepting who he is..which I thought was the point of Heart of the Monster. Still, very interesting development. I really hope to see more sequences of Hulk and Banner in one mind like the body is a megazord. Hoping they take Bruce in the direction of his portrayal in the Avengers or something good.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

So, wait, I thought Banner was forcibly removed from Hulk's brain via chainsaw?

And somehow, an explosion put them back together?

Sigh... comics.

[blinkytreefrog]

There really is no other reason than comics :-). Although, since "Evil Banner" was in a cloned body, I suppose you could say that Banner never actually went away, and was merely suppressed, possibly until Hulk's brain recovered from the surgery :-).

[thehood]

This book has been hit or miss, but i'm liking this last arc.