Roger Stern (Writer), Zach Howard & Cory Hamscher (Artists), John Byrne (Pencils), Bob Layton (Inks)
This Giant-Size Hulk is a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve got a pair of stories by Roger Stern, one new and one a reprint from 1978’s Incredible Hulk Annual #7, which, although Marvel claims it’s hard to find, seems fairly plentiful if you cared to look for it. The new tale follows a one-time Hulk sidekick, Fred Sloan, as he interviews people who have seen or encountered the Hulk in an attempt to write a biography that is fair to the misunderstood green giant. It’s a decent one-off story that reads like a throw back to an earlier era of the Hulk (in fact it reminds me of something you’d have read in the Rampaging Hulk, if you remember that magazine). This book feels completely divorced from current continuity, so if that sort of thing bugs you then this may not be the book for you.
I’ll wager a guess that Sloan and his subjects are all characters from Stern’s run on the Hulk in the late 70’s. I don’t have those books to check, but it sure feels like he’s revisiting his time on the book. The art for the story is serviceable – nothing to write home about. At times it slips into too cartoonish a style for my tastes and suffers by comparison with Byrne’s work in the reprint.
The reprint story is first rate. I don’t recall ever having read it, so it was a fresh read. It co-stars the Angel and the Ice-Man from their Champions days. They enlist the Hulk’s aid against a Sentinel, go into space, and generally sit back while the Hulk gets in his licks. This is a fun read if you like action packed, self-contained stories. It’s also a chance to enjoy John Byrne on a character with whom he’s not ordinarily associated. (Grade: B)
-Arthur Cooke
Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Bob Layton, Cory Hamscher, Giant-Size Incredible Hulk #1, Hulk, John Byrne, Roger Stern, Zach Howard
