Hulk #1 2023: Banner on the Run

Introduction

Hey, y’all. And welcome back to the Volcano Base. Let’s talk some comics, specifically Hulk #1, when you start to the series that came out just this past week.

Hulk’s Story So Far…

I was a huge fan of the Al Ewing run. It was very horror centric, very look at all the weird, crazy, messed up things that would happen if you could transform and if gamma radiation was involved. The exploration of that was great. It was amazing. And I’ll use absolutely killed it.

I was so-so on the Danny Cates run. This is the Hulk is a mechsuit run, where Bruce Banner finally figures out how to control. The Hulk with some tech and is running him from the inside as though they’re two distinct beings, which they kind of are, but still,

You Wouldn’t Like Hulk When He’s Angry

when we open on Hulk #1, Incredible Hulk number one here, we find out that the Hulk knows what Banner did and is beyond pissed. He’s angry. He’s frustrated. How dare you do this to me, etc., etc. He’s got Bruce on the run. We see Bruce as like, you know, we’re back to Bruce on the run. This isn’t a surprise.

It’s a Hulk book. We’ve got to get an element of that. But this time he’s on the run from himself. The Hulk is essentially threatening to go nuts in every place that Bruce stops or, you know, seek refuge. He can’t even stop and get a sandwich without the Hulk. poking his head out being like, hey, what’s up? You want me to destroy everybody here?

Who are the Big Bads?

We also find our big bads, I’m guessing from the for the arc or maybe even the run of the book are a group of we don’t really know much, but they’re a group of seemingly ancient beings that revel in their transformation to monsters.

you know, even if you look at the cover, the whole thing is like the Age of Monsters has begun.

And so we see these quote unquote, monsters who just love their transformation, love turning into the beings that they are. And the contrast with Banner is going to prove interesting.

In Conclusion

This book is Back to the body horror thing in a great, great way. There’s a transformation scene that happens later on in the book. You know, when we see Bruce finally transform into the Hulk and it is gnarly, it is disgusting in the best possible way, like it’s what you want to see out of a book like this, especially if we’re going back to this horror direction.

So just go pick it up. You’re not going to be disappointed. It’s a new number one. It’s a jumping off point. And I’m really curious as to what the Age of Monsters actually is.