Hulk #1

[arbre_rieur]

"I really do just dive down inside myself and connect [to characters I write] however I can. With Banner, I see a guy who claims he's driven by all the right things but, secretly, knows that some of his momentum comes from darker places he doesn't want to address — places like jealousy, regret, fear of never leaving a mark. And he's come to find that it's all self-sabotaging nonsense." -- Mark Waid

First, the last three pages of INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #20, the final issue of the previous volume, and the conclusion to the "Humanity Bomb" storyline:







HULK #1:

Comments

[freezer]

He gets his smarts back by the end of the second arc. Assuming, of course, he isn't faking it.

You'd think folks would've learned their lesson after SHOOTING HIM INTO SPACE DIDN'T WORK.

[aperturedreams]

(SPOILERS) You're off by an arc.

[doodleboy]

To give Waid credit, the moment where it starts to get undone is a great moment for Banner.

[drtechnobabel]

Yeah, but if there's one thing comic characters are really bad at doing, it's not repeating their mistakes.

[freezer]

Sadly valid point.

[drtechnobabel]

Wait just a goddamn minute, COULSON is behind this? HE organized a plan to shoot Banner in the head, then implant something in his head to trigger the Hulk? And then threatens to kill an innocent man for refusing to follow orders? I could (barely) see Hill doing all that, but COULSON?!? This seems more like the kind of plan that he would be trying to STOP, not enact.

I mean, I know that comic!Coulson isn't the same as movie!Coulson, but I'm still having a hard time believing this. Is he seriously that different between mediums? Or is there some part of this I'm missing, like that Banner actually came up with the brain bullet plan himself and we're just not being told that right now?

[silverhammerman]

I don't think that's supposed to be Coulson, since he said they weren't actually SHIELD. My guess would be that they're either HAMMER or Hydra. Then again it's Mark Bagley on art and they'e all drawn to look like generic Men In Black, so I can't be sure who's supposed to be who.

[drtechnobabel]

I'm almost certain it's Coulson. He's obviously the guy who led the surgeon to the helicopter, and the man in shadows commended him for the choice, so even if he isn't the mastermind behind the plan (which, looking back at the scans, I think I might have jumped the gun on that one), he's definitely complicit in it, which is still wildly out of character for the Coulson I'm familiar with.

EDIT: Wait, helicopter guy has a widow's peak that Coulson doesn't. I think that may literally be the only difference between them... except the widow's peak is gone when he's being commended on the choice of surgeon. Son of a bitch, I can't tell these people apart either.

[silverhammerman]

I dunno, dig the hairlines, the guy taking the doctor away has more of a widow's peak thing going on, whereas Coulson's in the last couple pages is a little further back and more rounded. It'd be a pretty basic goof for someone as experienced as Bagley to make. I just don't think Marvel would throw Coulson under the bus when his show's been renewed for a second season.

Whoopsie doo, didn't catch that edit in time. Yeah, Bagley's art really isn't great for differentiating people, there's a lot of SameFace going on.

[icon_uk]

The fact Hill and Coulson find him, doesn't mean they're the ones who shot him.

[dcbanacek]

I don't believe this is the first time Banner has been shot in the head and even if it were, wouldn't the damage just heal up the next time he "Hulks out"?

[obsidianwolf]

That depends on the story. How much Banner heals when he Hulks out is one of those things that varies depending on the writer and the story they want to tell.

This time around Banner stays seperate from the Hulk so he doesn't heal at all until he gets fixed in a later story arc.

[thatnickguy]

I give this six months, tops, before it's undone.

[lonewolf23k]

As of the most recent issue, Banner's already healed up to get his brains back, but there might be ongoing side-effects.

[shadowpsykie]

i hope the side effect is him being able to call the hulk on will... but personally i prefer him being able to take control of the hulk by realizing that they are not two separte beings and realizing that anger and rage are in fact HEALTHY things, when properly vented or used, and that repression is in fact UNhealthy. but you know...

hulk could be a very interesting story if they focused in on the idea of self acceptance. perhaps with a lady gaga numger in there some where. "I was irradiated this way"? Maybe?

[silverzeo]

... this is pretty much a small extra bend to go through before everything goes back to normal... yeah, I've read enough comics, and seen enough Simpsons episodes, to know when a big life changing event for a character is going to be either fixed by an arc, a book finale (cause never 'the end'), or just a cross-over event that will "change everything forever" for another year or so after awkwardly changing what has been established.... but might be one fun ride... if it's not a money grubbing bust...

[tugrul]

So did they manage to get the implant in?

[arbre_rieur]

Nope.

[tugrul]

Thanks. :)

[dewinged]

Man, considering a number of the more recent posts about Marvel comics, SHIELD has this Big Brother/Omnipresent/Won't Go The F*** Away thing down pat.

[bradygirl_12]

I find Bruce's password rather amusing.

[shadowpsykie]

how prescisely does he intend to do do the smashing? :D

[bradygirl_12]

Hulk smash Tony's scientific supremacy! Take that, Mr. Smug! ;)

[shadowpsykie]

okay several things:

This could be Evil Banner (as it was established he was switched out by Tony and Bruce).

when does this take place? before or after the Illuminati (he had all his brains there).

Even if he is brain damaged here, as many pointed out, the hulk tends to regrow stuff. they already established that hitting him here at these specific points would SLOW his healing. These doctors who proclaim "He has IRREPAIRABLE brain DAMAGE. HE will NEVER be SMART again!!!" don't know WHO this is. so i will not take these guys' word for it.


i haven't found hulk all that fascinating since Pak... (though i DID sorta like his Indestructable story, and his part in Avengers, and of course Avengers Movie Hulk

[silverhammerman]

Same, the Pak version of the Hulk, who actually had some level of intelligence and autonomy was excellent. Plus it felt like a nature evolution and modernization of the character, the same as stuff like Thor ditching the Donald Blake identity, or Magneto growing more sympathetic and nuanced as the years passed.

Seeing that Hulk was back to being mindless in both Hickman's Avengers and Waid's Hulk was one of the deciding factors in my not picking either up.