Friday, February 11, 2011

HULK IS THE STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!!!!!! : 100 Reasons to Love the Hulk part 2



Continued from last week.

51. The cover to Incredible Hulk #355, which is much funnier today than it used to be.



52. The Jarella stories.

53. As much as people like to say Hulk fans hate change, his many and various incarnations make him one of the most malleable superheroes in comics.

54. In Incredible Hulk: The End, we learn the Hulk can survive on eating cactus. The Hulk can help fight hunger and decrease his carbon footprint by eating crappy food that no one else can eat and leaving the mac and cheese for the rest us.

55. Over the years, Bruce Banner has occasionally returned to his secret lab in New Mexico. I just think it's kind of cool that Banner has his own little Bat-Cave, but unlike Batman he isn't in it all the time. He doesn't see the place for 5 years and then he just figures hey, what the hell, why don't I stop by?

56. There's a scene in Incredible Hulk #333, in the beginning of Peter David's run, where David does something interesting with the Hulk/Banner conflict. This was during the era of the gray Hulk, back when Banner changed to Hulk at night. As morning draws closer, the Hulk breaks into a liquor store and drinks half the store. As he changes back to Banner, there's enough alcohol left in his system to keep Banner incapacitated all day. I love the fact that the Hulk and Banner's relationship offers the opportunity for stories like that and it's a shame more writers haven't taken advantage of their conflict in similar ways.



57. The U-Foes. A wonderful group of super-villains that's never been used to their full potential.

58. The two Moby Dick homage stories of Klaatu and the spaceship Andromeda. First in Incredible Hulk #s 136-137 and later in Incredible Hulk #s 306-307.

59. Mercy from Peter David's run. She was a mysterious killer, an alien if I recall, who killed people because she genuinely believed it was best for them. David had a lot of great villains who were never heard from again after he left the title.



60. The Warbound.

61. James Kochalka's 3-page strip chronicling the epic battle between the Hulk and the rain in Incredible Hulk 2001 Annual.



62. The Hulk fights the army. He fights cops. He fights other superheroes. If any superhero is punk, the Hulk is punk.

63. He's going to be in 5 Ronin. The Hulk is a fucking samurai.

64. Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect



65. He's one of Marvel's only heroes to not claim New York City as his base of operations.

66. Hulk battles materialistic symbols of holidays that should be about love and peace and brotherhood and all that shit.



67. He's psychic. As this bit of dialogue between Hulk and Scarlet Witch proves, he predicted "Avengers Disassembled."



68. He's bipartisan. He got Clinton to develop a unique, across-the-aisle campaign strategy.



69. Jeff Purves, whose art I don't believe appeared in any other comics unfortunately (with the exception of the some Hulk stories in Marvel Comics Presents).



70. Incredible Hulk: The End

71. Dale Keown.



72. Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero

73. The Pantheon.

74. In Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, he's the only old school hero left.

75. He's seemingly immortal, yet in future dystopian sotires he always has long white hair and a long white beard. That's dumb. But stylish.

76. He used to be the only one who could see Dr. Strange in Strange's astral form. But the writers changed that. My guess is they just forgot.



77. If John Belushi played him, he's cool. That's pretty much a given.



78. Few of the Hulk's villains catch on in other books. Most of the villains in Hulk's rogue's gallery that share any significant amount of time fighting other heroes are villains who "belonged" to other heroes first; like Absorbing Man (Thor) and the Rhino (Spider-Man). Some might say this is because Hulk's villains are lame. I prefer to think it means Hulk's villains are more selective.

79. He was one of the last members of the Justice League. No, really. I have proof.

80. This panel, which is just full of potential.



81. He now has more than one ongoing monthly, but he doesn't have an absolutely ridiculous number of ongoing monthlies.

82. I've heard it said that war helps fuel the economy because of the demand for military equipment. If that's true, then the Hulk is the best thing to ever happen to the economy, considering all the military equipment he's destroyed. They always replace the things within a few issues, so somebody's dropping some serious cash.

83. In the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance games, he's too cool to just pick. You have to do some special crap to get him.

84. He's so cool, he didn't have to even show up during Bruce Jones's run. And that was 4 years long, man.

85. His name does not include a "-man."

86. He gave Yoda something to live for.



87. He's one of the only reasons anyone ever knew who Omega the Unknown was (which seems to contradict the name now that I write that out).



88. Rocket Raccoon.

89. The Texas Rangers.

90. The Glob.



I miss the Glob. Do you miss the Glob? I totally miss the Glob.

91. Easy event names. World War Hulk. Fall of the Hulks. Planet Hulk. If only everyone could do that. Infinity Thanos. Our Superman at War. Batmanfall. Less poetic. More to the point.

92. The Hulk would know what to pick for #92.

93. Incredible Hulk #s 320-322. The Hulk vs. the Hulkbusters, Doc Samson, the West Coast Avengers, and the East Coast Avengers. Not the best story in the world, but one of the longest battles you'll ever read.



94. The anatomically correct Hulk doll.



95. Green can be a problem.



96. Betty always gets her presents.



97. Hulk is a party animal.



98. Hood Hulk (Totally Not Safe For Work)



99. Christopher Nolan's director's cut of The Dark Knight



100. Still better than the Spider-Man musical.

3 comments:

Chris said...

That is an impressive list. Hulk would be proud. Or he's smash your computer and tell you to LEAVE HULK ALONE WITH YOUR LISTS!!

One or the other, I'm sure....

Mick Martin said...

I pretty much operate on the assumption that if he were real and we met, no matter what the circumstances, the Hulk would smash me. I'd almost be insulted if he didn't.

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