Well, here we are: the first official post on my website. Since this site is supposed to be a testament to my love of and personal journey through speculative fiction, I thought I’d start by blogging about a series I’m reading right now.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a huge comic book fan. Granted, when most people hear that, they assume I’m referring to superheroes, which is fair considering that’s probably the genre most often associated with the medium. It’s certainly the genre I’ve read the most comics about, and therefore my familiarity with it makes me at least somewhat equipped to write about it intelligently.
Not to mention, Peter David’s “Hulk” run just seems like a good place to start blogging. He’s a writer I’ve encountered in my readings before (his work on “Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man” is great, I just wish Marvel would finally collect that series in Omnibus format so I could read the whole thing), his work with the jolly green giant is the stuff of legend, and it’s long. This run went for about 12 years, so there’s plenty of material to discuss, filled with lots of plot twist and turns.
I’m about 10 issues into my reading of the first omnibus, but I’ll be taking things from the top, starting with issue #328, Peter David’s first on the title.
Overview
Peter David took over as monthly writer for “The Incredible Hulk” in 1987 for the simple reason that nobody else wanted it. The Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno-starring TV series had been over for years by then and the comic wasn’t one of Marvel’s best sellers. Most readers at the time were more interested in Spider-Man or the X-Men. The Hulk, while still a legacy character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in their prime, was going through a rough patch.
As David tells it in numerous interviews, Bob Harras (one of the editors) just entered David’s office one day and offered him the book out of the blue. David only eventually said yes because Harras assured him that he wouldn’t have editors constantly scrutinizing his work as had happened during his run on “Spectacular Spider-Man”. Since the Hulk was a lesser-read title, he could get away with adding more of his own personal stamp to the series.
Due to the lengthy nature of his run, David would have the chance to work with a multitude of talented artists over the years including, but not limited to, Dwayne Turner, Todd McFarlane, Jeff Purves, Dale Keown, and George Perez. Each artist would add their own style to their respective issues, giving the run a nice sense of variety.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, as they say, and that includes David’s work on “The Incredible Hulk”. In 1998, the writer had a dispute with Marvel’s editors that resulted in his firing. His last issue on the series (not including one-shots and specials he wrote in the following years) was #467. All told, Peter David wrote over 130 regular monthly issues for the Hulk, not including annuals and other specials.
I often wonder how much longer David’s run on the series would’ve gone if he’d been allowed to execute his ideas that apparently drew the ire of the editorial team. Would he still be writing the series today? We may never know.
Anyway, let’s get started. Our story begins in issue #328, and Dr. Banner is contemplating his woes in the middle of a desert in the southwestern United States…
Praetorian Author 