Good Hulk Reads

[Aztec]

I was wondering if anyone could direct me to some of the better Hulk storylines? I haven't read Hulk comics before but I am very interested in the character.

I'm looking for stories that involve the Green, rage induced, Hulk. I'd prefer if you could also direct me to some stories that feature The Abomination. I'm not interested in tales about: outer space, time travel, mystic worlds, magic, etc. Just stories that reflect the good old fashioned Hulk. I'd particularly prefer if you could steer me in the direction of graphic novels, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Inc...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206136909&sr=1-1

These volumes are pretty good, and relatively cheap, but they're in black and white.



http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Master...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206137055&sr=1-3

These are in color, but bring less issues and are a bit more expensive...

Choose wisely, young Jedi.

 

[The Bruce]

I've started picking the Peter David run in tpb form - Can't wait to get the first volume...

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Banner

and THE quintessential Hulk story.

Hulk: The End

hard find and you are looking to pay at least $20-$30 dollars for it.

 

[Kirmit]

Banner

and THE quintessential Hulk story.

Hulk: The End

hard find and you are looking to pay at least $20-$30 dollars for it.

Not that hard http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Hu...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207353115&sr=8-1 .

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

That's not the original printing. That's why it's only $13

 

[GNR]

Hulk Gray by Loeb/Sale

Banner by Azarello/Corben

 

[YJ1]

I still like the brief John Byrne Hulk run...

http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Hulk-Visionaries-John-Byrne/dp/0785127054

It doesn't get any better then Peter David/Dale Keown's run (even though Savage Hulk is shelved for a complex version)...

http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Hulk-Visionaries-Peter-David/dp/0785127577/ref=pd_sim_b_title_3

 

[co2]

I still like the brief John Byrne Hulk run...

http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Hulk-Visionaries-John-Byrne/dp/0785127054

It doesn't get any better then Peter David/Dale Keown's run (even though Savage Hulk is shelved for a complex version)...

http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Hulk-Visionaries-Peter-David/dp/0785127577/ref=pd_sim_b_title_3

Agreed. That John Byrne trade is a heck of a read. I have the original issues.
I am currently reading that PAD trade too. pretty good.

 

[Dr. DavidBanner]

I am sorry but that John Bryne run was horrible!!! Even when he relaunched the title it was horrible!!! Thats just my opinion and The Hulk is one of my obssessions. You want good Hulk reads then I'll tell you what to get-

-The Crossroads Saga- It was amazing and quite simply a truely entertaining Hulk story.
-Ground Zero- Granted this is a little overrated due to McFarlanes art and the Wolverine story, but its The Leader at his best.
-Ghosts of the Past- A great arc featuring The Pantheon, Riot Squad and of course my fave, The U-Foes. Plus it has a good Marlo/Rick subplot.
-The Incredible Hulk (Volume 2) Issues 24 and 25. Great Abomination fight. Jenkins hits all the nerves and this is an epic fight. I would put this up there as the best fight between the two.
-Countdown- I personally like Madman as a villian. I know a lot of people disagree. But this also features the Abomination, Leader, Riot Squad, and The Thing.
-Future Imperfect- Duh any Hulk fan would recommend this one.
-Banner - Ditto above.
-And any of the Jarella stuff.

-Also the short lived series Rampaging Hulk was decent. I would recommend it as something different. Plus Ravage is a decent villian as well.

 

[co2]

I am sorry but that John Bryne run was horrible!!! Even when he relaunched the title it was horrible!!! Thats just my opinion and The Hulk is one of my obssessions. You want good Hulk reads then I'll tell you what to get-

-The Crossroads Saga- It was amazing and quite simply a truely entertaining Hulk story.
-Ground Zero- Granted this is a little overrated due to McFarlanes art and the Wolverine story, but its The Leader at his best.
-Ghosts of the Past- A great arc featuring The Pantheon, Riot Squad and of course my fave, The U-Foes. Plus it has a good Marlo/Rick subplot.
-The Incredible Hulk (Volume 2) Issues 24 and 25. Great Abomination fight. Jenkins hits all the nerves and this is an epic fight. I would put this up there as the best fight between the two.
-Countdown- I personally like Madman as a villian. I know a lot of people disagree. But this also features the Abomination, Leader, Riot Squad, and The Thing.
-Future Imperfect- Duh any Hulk fan would recommend this one.
-Banner - Ditto above.
-And any of the Jarella stuff.

-Also the short lived series Rampaging Hulk was decent. I would recommend it as something different. Plus Ravage is a decent villian as well.

wow. I'm an oldschool Hulk fan mysefl, and the original Byrne run is generally regarded as good by most Hulk fans I have interacted with. His second run with the relaunch...I haven't read that one, but I haven't heard anything good about it.
I would agree with everything else you listed above. 'Cept for the Banner mini (That one just didn't do anything for me at all).
Anyone that has that much appreciation for the Crossroads saga gets my respect. Why can't they release that as a trade!!

 

[Dr. DavidBanner]

wow. I'm an oldschool Hulk fan mysefl, and the original Byrne run is generally regarded as good by most Hulk fans I have interacted with. His second run with the relaunch...I haven't read that one, but I haven't heard anything good about it.
I would agree with everything else you listed above. 'Cept for the Banner mini (That one just didn't do anything for me at all).
Anyone that has that much appreciation for the Crossroads saga gets my respect. Why can't they release that as a trade!!

The one reason I cant stand the Bryne run was because it felt like an old school Godzilla movie. 'A monster on the loose'. It just didnt feel like anything spectacular...also look at what that run fell in middle of. It was right before PAD's run and shortly after Mantlo and The Crossroads stuff. Maybe I was just looking at it unfairly.

But his relaunch -- MEH. If you havent read it dont. I just recently read through the relaunch (Including Bruce Jones' stuff) and it just isnt very good. Great idea --hope you dont mind me spoilering it -- but Tyrannus finds a way to take control of the Hulk by using some virtual reality type machine. So when Banner falls to sleep he can take control of the Hulk. After Banner rips apart a town, he finds out about this, temp stops the villian. He then lands in an island where its like Fantasy Island (Best way to describe it), Betty is alive, but Banner realizes with help from the Man-Thing its just a cult pretending shes alive (Or something like that). After that I think Bryne got let go of the title and they brought Tyrannus back (Right after bringing in the Avengers and Wolverine to fight the Hulk) who now had an army of Hulks. FEW. IT was a mess.

As for Banner. The reason why I like it so much is it was refreshing at the time. Granted the art was horrible I feel it brought back the tormented Banner, at a time when the Hulk was superhero-esque.

Oh God yes I have huge respect for the Crossroads saga. Too bad it probably wont be in trade until Essentials catches up that far.

 

[The_Joker7895]

I've been dying to read Hulk: Gray, mostly because I'm a huge fan of the Loeb/Sale collaborations (Batman: The Long Halloween being my favorite graphic novel/comic storyline of all time). The guy who runs the comic book store in my city said Hulk: Return of the Monster was also a great one, even if the art is somewhat bland.

 

[snoodmonger]

Just stay away from the Bruce Jones stuff.

 

[November Rain]

I need to start getting some hulk stuff on my shelf, i'm going to subscribe here to give me a head's up...

 

[Kirmit]

Just stay away from the Bruce Jones stuff.

To be fair, Abominable was good.

 

[Supernewbie]

I agree that Peter David's and Dale Keown's run was one of the best. I personally liked the early issues #372-379 (except that #378 was a x-mas story filler, out of continuity.)

Highlights from this arc were the reunion of Betty and Bruce after having lost each other for so long and Hulk vs Super Skrull, which doesn't happen too often. Also, the new "professor" Hulk persona made his surprise debut but only after a deep exploration of Banner's psychological history. Dale Keown's art was at first a little similar to John Byrne's but his style brought the Hulk's muscles and massive proportions to the next level.

My next favorite story arc is the relauch by Paul Jenkins and Ron Garney, Incredible Hulk #12 - 18 which has been collected in the trade: Dogs of War.

Writer Paul Jenkins builds upon Hulk's multiple personalities and adds even more layers to it. A new gamma powered character, Flux is introduced as an adversary with his own twisted back story. The art by Ron Garney is also worth taking a second look at.

 

[Dr. DavidBanner]

Yeah the PAD/Keown stuff was great. I think I am one of the only people who thinks the Pantheon era was decent.

As for Bruce Jones stuff. Also to be fair it started off pretty damn good. The first two trades were pretty well written and good stuff. Then it fell into the ****ter.

Abominable was eh alright. If it wasnt for Super-Banner and Nadia taking her shirt off to distract her husband was kind of far-fetched. I thought th eonly other decent arc other than the first two of his run was Dead Like Me. But after that its garbage in my eyes.

 

[Green Scar]

To be fair, Abominable was good.

No...not really. It wasn't so hot.

 

[Kirmit]

No...not really. It wasn't so hot.

Compared to the other stuff in Jone's run, it was good. I found it to be better than most of the other stuff in his run and felt more like hulk, even if the big guy still weren't in it much.

 

[Green Scar]

i look at bruce jone's run the same way i look at ang lee's Hulk...an embarrassment.

 

[Mr. Green]

Planet Hulk and WW Hulk are very good stories.

Aztec, I know you aren't interested in space, etc. But please be advised that two stories that Omega Wizard just mentioned are two of the best Hulk stories that I have ever read. EVER.

And I know you don't like time travel either but Future: Imperfect is an AWESOME story that comes in two parts that are both pretty giant sized.

And Hulk: The End is one of the best Hulk stories ever as well.

Even the five volumes of Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, as legendary and highly regarded by Hulk fans as they are, features the grey incarnation of the Hulk or the smarter "professor" Hulk personalities.

But rest assured, if you're looking for the BEST Hulk stories, the ones mentioned abover are IT.

 

[Punisher RULES]

I read Return of The Monster by Jones/Romita Jr. the other day and was a bit let down. The story took weird turns at the end and left me wanting more..Like Ang's Hulk, it didn't have much action and only had a few pages with the Hulk out of a full TPB. I'm gonna read Azzarello's "Banner" this afternoon and I hope it's as good as some of you have said.

 

[co2]

I read Return of The Monster by Jones/Romita Jr. the other day and was a bit let down. The story took weird turns at the end and left me wanting more..Like Ang's Hulk, it didn't have much action and only had a few pages with the Hulk out of a full TPB. I'm gonna read Azzarello's "Banner" this afternoon and I hope it's as good as some of you have said.

Ha! Ang's Hulk had WAY more action and appearances of the Hulk himself than almost all of Bruce Jones' run.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

It's funny how Bruce Jones' run is considered lame but I think I read somewhere that Edward Norton was influenced a bit by those comics.