Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1984-12-01 00:07:10 |
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Hulk #302
Issue(s): Hulk #302
Cover Date: Dec 84
Title: "Lady of life - city of death!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Gerry Talaoc - Inker
Review/plot:
How annoyed am i? First, it turns out those puffballs that the Hulk ran into last issue are going to be reoccurring characters.
Second, here we are in the Crossroads of all reality. The only limit to what we might see is our writer's imagination. And where are we already, with but the second regular issue of this new direction? A medieval world. Why do writers always go to the medieval world? Alternate realities, space travel, whatever, we always wind up with knights and princesses and castles. I don't get it.
Anyway, the Hulk, supposedly a savage unstoppable creature, falls in love with a beautiful green princess who is a captive of the evil red knight, and the Hulk winds up a prisoner as well. Yep, this generic baddie did what SHIELD, the Human Torch, Power Man & Iron Fist, Thor and the Avengers, and Dr. Strange couldn't do two issues ago.
The green princess, one assumes, is a Jarella homage.
But this red people/green people story also brings to mind Mantlo's Hulk annual #12. Maybe it's unfair, but it feels like recycling to me.
So, how annoyed am i? About this annoyed, i guess:
One interesting thing about this issue is that when the Hulk jumps off the Crossroads at the beginning of this issue, he sees aspects of his past (of which it's said he no longer has any memory), and that includes an image of himself as the grey Hulk from Hulk #1.
Until this was brought up recently, i hadn't realized that there were any references to the Hulk being grey until the John Byrne and Al Milgrom issues leading up to the Hulk actually turning grey again in 1986.
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Hulk annual #13 takes place between Hulk #301-302. This issue ends with the Hulk still on the medieval world, but some time passes before the beginning of issue #303.
References:
- Although the Hulk ate on the "world of the symbionts" in Hulk annual #13, he's hungry again at the beginning of this issue and eats the fake food offered by the Puffball Collective.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
fnord, not to be a pest but do you know if anyone wrote in to the letter pages in the issues following this one, confused about the appearance of the grey Hulk..? up until that time, all reprints of the Hulk's first appearance had him re-colored to the familiar green.
The reactions to this issue would have been in #306, but neither that issue nor #307 has a lettercol, and #308's is truncated by a statement of ownership.
To be fair, writers don't always go to medieval worlds. Sometimes they go to ancient Roman gladatorial worlds.
Gerry Talaoc is my favourite Sal Buscema inker. He added to the art without overriding his style.
