Hulk: Season One - Part One
Sep. 30th, 2012 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blinkytreefrog posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_dailyI've been on a bit of an Iron Man and Hulk blitz of late, and I've been catching up on a lot of trades and issues via my local library and local comic shop. The "Season One" series that Marvel has been publishing lately is a set of hardcover graphic novels that provide updated origin stories for their major characters.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Again?"
I admit that I was a bit hesitant about picking this up, because it was a 100 page hardcover with a pretty hefty price, and it didn't seem like it was covering anything new. Then my library got it in, and I read it and then went out and bought it straight after, because dammit, I wanted my own copy, expense be damned. This is an awesome little story, which recounts the original Hulk origin with some nifty twists and shows a Bruce Banner who's damaged but resolute and brilliant.
The story starts a few days after the "accident" that caused Bruce's transformation. He's getting grilled about what happened, why he ran out to save a random teenager, and how the hell he's still alive.
Then he goes out to talk to Betty. This is one of the bigger changes - rather than being just the general's daughter, she's part of the military police and in charge of the base's security. I can deal with this. She's always been around the military, so it makes sense that she'd join and it means that she's got a reason for being there and a career of her own.
Anyway, she and Bruce flirt adorkably with each other.
Adorkably. She asks for his help with a mysterious problem that he knows nothing about. Nothing! And flirts some more.
Awww...
What is he doing with his nights? Well, turning in to a huge scary monster, basically. And trying very hard to figure out how to turn himself back. He's figured out how to keep himself from doing any damage, though - lock himself in an abandoned vault at night.
"I am not a sane man! I am a scientist!" That's like the catch phrase of every scientist in the marvel universe :-).
Anyway, one night an escaped child from a sinister organisation happens upon the vault and lets the Hulk out (though that's reducing a many page sub-plot to a few words). The Hulk is pissed after the confinement, but when he sees it's a kid, he promises to help out.
And he does find them (literally; they look like AIM minions but call themselves THEM). When he realises they're scientists, though, he relents, believing that they might be able to rid him of his pesky "other half".
Meanwhile, Rick Jones is let out after convincing the military that he really was just a stupid teenager and not a spy or worse. They are unkind.
Ouch :-).
One more scan, skipping over quite a bit more story. Bruce decides plucks up the courage to talk to Betty, only to find that Betty, depressed that he doesn't seem available, has agreed to try a date with someone else.
:-( Someone needs a hug.
That's it for now, but I'll post another part later, because there are lots of cool bits!
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Again?"
I admit that I was a bit hesitant about picking this up, because it was a 100 page hardcover with a pretty hefty price, and it didn't seem like it was covering anything new. Then my library got it in, and I read it and then went out and bought it straight after, because dammit, I wanted my own copy, expense be damned. This is an awesome little story, which recounts the original Hulk origin with some nifty twists and shows a Bruce Banner who's damaged but resolute and brilliant.
The story starts a few days after the "accident" that caused Bruce's transformation. He's getting grilled about what happened, why he ran out to save a random teenager, and how the hell he's still alive.
Then he goes out to talk to Betty. This is one of the bigger changes - rather than being just the general's daughter, she's part of the military police and in charge of the base's security. I can deal with this. She's always been around the military, so it makes sense that she'd join and it means that she's got a reason for being there and a career of her own.
Anyway, she and Bruce flirt adorkably with each other.
Adorkably. She asks for his help with a mysterious problem that he knows nothing about. Nothing! And flirts some more.
Awww...
What is he doing with his nights? Well, turning in to a huge scary monster, basically. And trying very hard to figure out how to turn himself back. He's figured out how to keep himself from doing any damage, though - lock himself in an abandoned vault at night.
"I am not a sane man! I am a scientist!" That's like the catch phrase of every scientist in the marvel universe :-).
Anyway, one night an escaped child from a sinister organisation happens upon the vault and lets the Hulk out (though that's reducing a many page sub-plot to a few words). The Hulk is pissed after the confinement, but when he sees it's a kid, he promises to help out.
And he does find them (literally; they look like AIM minions but call themselves THEM). When he realises they're scientists, though, he relents, believing that they might be able to rid him of his pesky "other half".
Meanwhile, Rick Jones is let out after convincing the military that he really was just a stupid teenager and not a spy or worse. They are unkind.
Ouch :-).
One more scan, skipping over quite a bit more story. Bruce decides plucks up the courage to talk to Betty, only to find that Betty, depressed that he doesn't seem available, has agreed to try a date with someone else.
:-( Someone needs a hug.
That's it for now, but I'll post another part later, because there are lots of cool bits!
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 06:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 07:31 am (UTC)As soon as he realised how dickish he was (he was taking drugs on base) she dropped him like a hot potato.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 02:59 pm (UTC)Especially with the, ah.. new guy whom the solicits promised would turn up " in present continuity ".
(And, yeah, THEM was an early AIM. Or, just as slightly grammatically awkward, AIM is a later THEM.)
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 04:20 pm (UTC)One thing this makes me think of is how in the early issues, Marvel really din't have much of a handle on the Hulk. At first Banner seems to have turned into the Hulk permenantly, then only at night, then everytime he gets even slightly upset (he actually takes anxiety pills to keep calm at one point, which I thought was wonderfully sensible, but then he goes and lets the prescription run out) then for like, two issues, he was a mindless Hulk, remote controlled by Rick Jones. Only after all that did we finally see the Hulk we know and love start to emerge.
Also, has anyone read the Doctor Strange Season One? Is it any good? MGK's "I Should Write Doctor Strange" posts left me with an affection for the Doc.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 02:15 am (UTC)If I had one complaint, it would be the back issue they added as an extra. I would have much preferred something like the recent "From the Vaults" oneshot.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 10:46 pm (UTC)For the record...
Date: 2012-09-30 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 11:03 pm (UTC)I also liked Bruce's interactions with Monica Rappaccini.