Fluit Notes

On My Bookshelf, Part 3

Welcome back. Like a lot of comic book fans, I have a bookshelf full of trade paperbacks and graphic novels. I’ve been having fun writing about the books on my shelf- why I bought them, why I liked them, and whatever other thoughts pop into my head. I hope you’re having fun reading about them, too.

Swamp Thing Vol. 1-6

You might have noticed in the first two articles that I collected a lot of series from the ‘70s and ‘80s in trade. These are series that started before I was born or came out when I was too young to buy them. But I’m not regretful. As an adult, it’s been great to go back and buy them as trades. I get to pick and choose, bringing home only the best. I’ve even been fortunate to buy a few series of books as they’ve been released. One of the first series I collected this way was Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. A new printing of Saga of the Swamp Thing was released in July of 2000. I bought it and was blown away, much as I suspect happened to the readers who bought the original issues back in 1982. I followed the series through the end of the Alan Moore run.

Sandman: Endless Nights

Neil Gaiman wrote seven different stories, drawn by seven stellar artists for this prestige original graphic novel. Each story focuses on an individual member of the Endless. It was a truly incredible piece of work. And it’s the book that changed my mind about Frank Quitely, who I hadn’t liked before.


Wonder Woman: Amazonia

This is an average Elseworlds story featuring Wonder Woman as a circus performer. It’s also oversized which is why it’s out of alphabetical order. I stuck it between a couple of hardcovers (Sandman and Spirit) so it wouldn’t be bent as easily.


Spirit Archives Vol. 1-8

Some day this will be complete. I’ve loved every volume I’ve bought, even the ones drawn by fill-in artists while Will Eisner was away during World War II. After all, the fill-in artists are guys like Lou Fine. But I’m way behind because it’s not often that I have an extra $50 lying around for buying a single book.


Spirit Vol. 1-2

This is the Darwyn Cooke series from a couple of years ago. It’s actually one of the first new series that I decided to buy in trade rather than as individual issues. We even splurged for the hardcover collections instead of waiting for the inevitable softcovers. That’s because Ana is a big Darwyn Cooke fan and she’s the one who brought home the first volume shortly after it was released.


Starman: Sins of the Father

Once again, this is a pretty typical entry on my DC shelf. I honestly prefer single issues to trades for most series. But sometimes the early issues are too scarce or too expensive.
So I fill in my collection with a trade for the opening arc. I did that for Fables, Justice League and Starman. I started collecting Starman around issue 29. It quickly became one of my favorite titles and is still at the top of my all-time list. I find that I have a lot in common with Jack Knight. He was right there beside me, struggling with the same questions of career and family that I was. He loved life and odd little artifacts. I co-opted some of his personal philosophy as my own. We even share an on-again, off-again goatee. But, unlike Jack, I don’t have any tattoos.


Superman: World of Krypton, Death of Superman, Superman/Batman Vol. 1

The next time I prune my trade paperbacks, I expect this section will shrink. I recently read and enjoyed John Byrne’s Man of Steel and early Superman stories. So I thought I’d take a shot at the World of Krypton mini-series that came out around the same time. I still like Byrne’s depiction of Krypton as a science-dominated yet sterile society. I especially like the fashions, which seem suitably alien. But the story was not good at all.

And the back-up stories from the late ‘70s were just as bad.

I didn’t dislike Superman/Batman Vol. 1. I even bought the series for a little while. I just don’t see myself reading it again.

The one keeper in this bunch is the Death of Superman. I loved DC’s early ‘90s epics, such as Knightfall and the Death of Superman. They had great scope and emotion. They were suitably grandiose. They earned the name “epic.” And I re-read this story every couple of years.


Watchmen

No comic book bookshelf is complete without Watchmen (unless you have the original issues sitting in a longbox somewhere). It is truly one of the best comic book series ever. Though, truthfully, I re-read the Death of Superman more often than I re-read the Watchmen. It may be great, but it’s sometimes oppressively pessimistic.


Wonder Woman: The Contest, Second Genesis, Lifelines and Hiketeia

I noticed something when I did a similar set of articles about the comics in my longboxes a couple of years ago: I have more Wonder Woman comics than Batman comics or Superman comics. That’s true of my bookshelf as well. There are two Batman trades, three Superman trades (two which I’ll probably get rid of) and four Wonder Woman trades. The first trade collects the William Messner-Loebs story in which Diana loses her role as Wonder Woman to Artemis. The next two collect the first year or so of John Byrne’s run on the title. The fourth is the best of the bunch, and one of my favorite stories for any superhero. It’s an original graphic novel by Greg Rucka, with Batman and Wonder Woman on opposite sides. It’s well worth checking out.


Y: The Last Man Vol. 1-3

These were a gift from Captain Comics. I don’t remember the exact details- whether I did him a favor or won a contest or something- but I do know that these came in the mail courtesy of Andrew Smith. He was convinced that I would like them. And he was right. I read this shortly before going on a family vacation and spent small parts of that subsequent vacation buying back issues from Calgary to Vancouver until I was all caught up. I’m not a huge Vertigo fan. I find that the imprint is sometimes too dark and, in its own way, as unrepresentative of reality as Pollyanna. Yet there are a few Vertigo series that rise above the rest of comics. Y: The Last Man is one of those.


Alan Moore’s Wild Worlds

Collecting Alan Moore’s Wildstorm work. It’s a real haphazard affair. It has
some of Alan Moore’s worst work (the Spawn/Wildcats crossover). And it has
some stories that rank right there with his best, like Majestic at the end of universe.


Astro City: Life in the Big City

It’s amazing how many of my favorite series fit this profile. I hear about them a year or so late, pick up the first trade, buy the rest in back issues and continue collecting the singles. You can add Astro City to that list. The last couple years of Astro City haven’t been up to standard but these first issues are among the finest ever made. They introduce us to the Samaritan, Winged Victory and the city itself. They teach us to dream and to inspire others to dream. They renew a sense of wonder- of beauty and awe.


Danger Girl: Odd Jobs

I bought the original Danger Girl series as it came out. When it came out. But I missed these odd jobs- specials published outside of the main title. It’s a surprisingly good volume, featuring stories by Phil Noto.

Gen 13

Yes, I like Gen 13. I like Wildcats and Wildstorm and J. Scott Campbell and Jim Lee. This might even be the first series where I bought the initial trade before switching to individual issues.


Top Ten: The Forty-Niners

I’ve mentioned it before but it keeps coming up as I peruse my bookshelf: I miss the days when you could count on DC for several high quality original graphic novels every year. There’d be a great superhero story, like JLA/JSA Virtue & Vice. And there’d be a great Vertigo book like Sandman: Endless Nights. And, right around the same time, there was this excellent story set in the past of Alan Moore’s Top Ten. The story was about the heroes returning from World War II and the new city that was built as their home (the government wanted some separation between superheroes and the normal populace). We read of their struggles, their triumphs and their loves. It’s one of the best stories I’ve read.

Wildcats: A Gathering of Eagles and Nemesis

This is a mismatched pair. The first volume is Chris Claremont’s arc on Wildcats. The individual issues were hard to find and expensive so I grabbed this very early trade instead. The second volume is a mini-series from this past decade that introduced a new character, Nemesis, to Wildcats. It was really well done and it told two simultaneous stories: Nemesis’ introduction to the team in the present and her shared history with Majestic throughout the past.

Whew! That’s it for the DC shelf and part three. But there’s more to come. I still have all of Marvel to go plus quite a few miscellaneous series.

On My Bookshelf, Part 2

I don’t know if this is interesting to anyone other than me, but I’m having fun so I’m
going to keep going. For those just joining us, I’m looking at the trade paperbacks and original graphic novels sitting on my bookshelf and writing whatever I want to about them. Part 1 was the Dark Horse shelf. This is DC.

All-Star Superman Vol. 1-2

I was planning on skipping this entirely. I didn’t care for Marvel’s second-continuity
Ultimate line which seemed to be the basis for DC’s All-Star out-of-continuity All-Star line. And Grant Morrison tends to be hit or miss for me. But the reviews were glowing. The Frank Quitely art was some of the best I’ve ever seen from him. So I finally broke down and bought the first trade. The reviews were right. Morrison and Quitely crafted some of the finest comics I’ve ever read. Not just Superman comics either. Comics period. The wait for the second trade was interminable (though Ana must not have minded as it’s still sitting on her shelf waiting to be read).


Batman: Prodigal and Thrillkiller

That’s an odd pair of Batman trades. The one thing they have in common is that they star Dick Grayson. Prodigal is the post-Knightfall story in which Bruce gives Dick a turn under the cowl. It’s not actually as riveting as Knightfall but it’s still a nice story- especially for fans of Dick Grayson like me. Thrillkiller is an Elseworlds story by Dan Brereton.


Bizarro Comics

I bought this hardcover featuring independent creators on DC concepts when it was
first released. I can’t say that I enjoyed every story in it. A few of the artists seem to go out of their way to be ugly or obtuse. But, on the whole, it was a great experience. Most of the stories were fun and quirky. I have no idea why I never bought the sequel.


Catwoman: The Dark Side of the Street and Selena’s Big Score

Like a lot of other comic readers, I didn’t think I’d ever buy a Catwoman comic. I associated the character with Jim Balent and big breasts. But Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke brought an entirely different approach to the character. She was sleek and sexy, instead of top-heavy. She was a cat-burglar, with all of the finesse of an Olympic gymnast. She came right out of noir movies. I bought the first of these for Ana as a gift (in return for the Star Wars trades I mentioned in last week’s column, if I remember right). I bought the second one for myself.


Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 3-4

Sometimes a title is capable of helping you crystallize your thoughts and opinions. DC’s collection of the annual JLA/JSA team-ups did that for me. I bought the first couple
of volumes but I didn’t enjoy them. The stories were too formulaic, the heroes too
bland, the villains too insipid. It was a struggle to finish each volume with that many
uninteresting stories in a row. But I kept plugging along thanks to a small completist streak. Plus, it was cheaper to buy these trades than the actual back issues so I thought I was coming out ahead.

Then, I got to volume 3. I actually liked it. I really liked it. It featured great stories
by Len Wein and art that was more my style. Len brought in additional teams
like the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the stories got bigger and bigger as he kept
trying to outdo himself. It was great stuff. I loved it. And volume 4 was just as
good, even as other writers like Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell took over.

I realized that I just didn’t like Silver Age JLA. I didn’t like the few beat-up back issues I had bought. I didn’t like the trades. I didn’t like the series… at least, not until Len Wein took over around issue 100. I sold off my few back issues. I donated the first two trades to my local library. My completist streak is still simmering, but not for anything before issue 100. I stopped collecting this series after volume four, though. By volume 5, I already had the back issues.


DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

This is a wonderful collection. It features Alan Moore’s classic Superman stories and incredible nuggets like his work on the Green Lantern Corps.


Fables: Legends in Exile and 1001 Nights of Snowfall

This is a pretty typical entry for me. On the Dark Horse shelf (which I wrote about last week), I have a lot of series that I collected entirely in trades. However, it’s a lot more common for me to try the first trade of a series and then switch to the single issues.
That’s what happened with Fables. I missed the first issue. I don’t buy a lot of Vertigo titles as it is and I had no idea how good this series would be. But it didn’t take long for me to hear about and get interested in it. I bought the first trade and absolutely loved it.
I was able to buy a few back issues and caught up with the regular series just like that. I’ve been a faithful reader ever since, falling in love with Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Rose Red, Little Boy Blue, Cinderella and the rest of the cast.

1001 Nights of Snowfall is a Fables original graphic novel. It was an  outstanding collection of short stories with an interesting linking narrative. It also came out when DC was testing the market for prestige graphic novels, something that’s sadly fallen by the wayside in recent years.


Golden Age

An excellent Elseworlds story by James Robinson.


Green Lantern: The Power of Ion

This was a gift from a friend. He knew I liked Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern but hadn’t been following the regular series for a while. He was impressed by Judd Winick’s tale of absolute power and bought a copy for me, thinking I would enjoy it. He was right.
Thanks!

Jack Kirby’s Forever People, Fourth World, Mister Miracle, New Gods and Jimmy Olsen Vol. 1


I have an almost-complete collection of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. I was really impressed with the scope of these stories and the wealth of imagination. I eagerly
anticipated each successive volume (yes, I bought them as they came out). It was a chance to collect another classic from the ‘70s. And I liked them. I’m just missing the second volume of Jimmy Olsen. The Jimmy Olsen stories were just a little two weird. I didn’t consciously decide not to get volume 2. I just never got around to buying it.


Just Imagine… Stan Lee Vol. 1-3

That’s kind of a fun pairing. I’ve got Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s DC work sitting side by side on my bookshelf. It wasn’t something intentional either as Jack Kirby and Just Imagine follow each other alphabetically. I skipped Stan Lee’s Just Imagine when it was first published despite the all-star line-up of artists. I know that a lot of other fans were looking forward to it but I was fearful that it would be reminiscent more of Stan’s substandard work from the last 20 years than it would be of anything he had done back in the Silver Age. However, a couple of years later, I found all three volumes on sale and decided to give them a try. I’m very glad I did. I had a lot of fun reading these stories. They were a great re-imagining of the characters, on par with Tangent Comics or some of DC’s better Elseworlds. And they fit together like a pleasant jigsaw puzzle.


Justice League: A New Beginning, A Midsummer’s Nightmare, A League of One, Earth-2 and Virtue & Vice

I like this little collection of Justice League trades. It was easier to buy the first trade of the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire series than it was to track down (and afford) the individual issues. I have the rest of the series in singles. A Midsummer’s Nightmare is the Mark Waid mini-series that paved the way for Grant Morrison’s JLA which I picked up much later. Then there are three original graphic novels from the short time period when DC was really trying to make a go of that format. The last one, Virtue & Vice, was a crossover with JSA.


Justice Society Vol. 1-2 and Returns

Here’s another fun pair. Those first two volumes collect the run of All-Star comics from the late ‘70s that revived the Justice Society and introduced new characters like Huntress and Power Girl. The last volume is the fifth-week event that prepared the ground for a new JSA series in the late ’90s.


Showcase: Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1-3

Earlier, I mentioned that I can’t stand the Silver Age issues of DC’s Justice League of America. And honestly, most of the flaws in the JLA show up in these Legion of Super-Heroes stories as well. Additionally, they’re repetitive. How many times did the Legion allow a new member to join only to have them betray the team in their very first adventure together? But there’s a sense of whimsy in these Legion stories that I didn’t find in the early JLAs. And I do have a little completist in me. I just can’t read too many stories in a row. On the bright side, the stories are starting to get better. Jim Shooter in particular is starting to play with the formula, upending our expectations and actually introducing some characterization.

Manhunter

The Archie Goodwin-Walt Simonson classic back-up strip collected into one volume.


Nightwing: The Ties That Bind

DC had a pretty good system for a while. They would try a character out in a mini-
series. If that was successful, they’d come back with a second story. If that worked, the character would graduate to an ongoing title. The system worked for Birds of Prey, Robin and Nightwing. This trade collects the Nightwing mini-series that convinced DC the character might be able to hold his own in an ongoing title.

That’s only half of the DC shelf but that’s enough for one article. With all of
the random single trades on this shelf, it turns out that there’s a lot to talk about.

On My Bookshelf

I thought it would be fun to talk about the comic books on my bookshelf. Like a lot of comic book fans, I have a bookshelf full to overflowing of original graphic novels and trade paperback collections.

Abe Sapien Vol. 1 and BPRD Vol. 1-12

Although I primarily buy single issues (I refuse to use the pejorative term “floppies”), there are a few series that I read as trades. At the top of that list is the Hellboy spin-off BPRD. The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development has great characters and compelling adventures of its own. I especially enjoyed the way it developed into an ongoing series even though it’s still solicited as a series of mini-series. There’s more room for sub-plots, character development and an overarching narrative.

Abe Sapien is one of the best characters of the past 20 years. He stole the show in the second Hellboy movie and his solo adventures in comics are well worth reading too.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 1-7

I really like the way that Dark Horse approached their big Buffy collection. They
eschewed reprinting the stories in publication order. Instead, they chose to reprint the comics in the fictional chronology of the series. That means we get some great tales at the outset featuring stories set in the past for Buffy, Spike and the rest of the crew. It also makes for a better mix of stories as long arcs and short stories, and solo features and ensemble pieces alternate. It makes for a better blend of quality (the initial ongoing series took a little while to get really good). Plus, it’s fun to see Dawn written into some of Buffy’s earliest adventures.

I should mention that technically only volumes 1-6 are on my bookshelf. Anacoqui has volume 7 in a “to-be-read-someday” pile on her bookshelf.

The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 1-14

Conan is one of the first older series that I collected exclusively through trade. I
had always heard great things about it but it seemed way too intimidating (and cost-prohibitive) to try buying all of the back issues. Dark Horse’s reprint collection was perfect. I bought the first volume in 2003. I loved the stories, the Barry Windsor-Smith art and the Roy Thomas retrospectives. I eagerly awaited each successive volume, and waited in trepidation when it looked the series might be cancelled (there was an unexplained delay of a year between volumes 10 and 11). After 14 volumes, I mostly had my fill and decided to walk away with Roy Thomas (they’re now up to volume 20).

The Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 1-5

These 500-page black-and-white monsters are a satisfying chunk of story. However, the simultaneous publishing of Savage Sword “phonebooks” and Chronicles may explain why I got burned out on Conan and ready to leave with Roy.

MySpace DHP Vol. 1

I’m funny that way. I rarely read webcomics. But I have no problem buying collections of comics previously available on the web for free. Dark Horse’s MySpace collections
are a wonderful anthology featuring characters from their diverse line as well as entirely new concepts. They’ve introduced me to Usagi Yojimbo, delighted me with Dr. Horrible and impressed me with so much more. Volume 1 is on my shelf. 2 and 3 are on Ana’s (a recurring theme). However, I’m a little behind and haven’t yet bought volumes 4 and 5.

Hellboy Volume 1-5, 8-10

Who says that movies can’t bring new readers to comics- or, at least, to a series? The first Hellboy comic I bought was a $1 reprint of “The Body” that came out with the first Hellboy movie as a promotion. I loved it. I bought a couple of the early trades and started collecting the new stories as they came out. I soon discovered that I enjoyed Hellboy a lot more in trades than in single issues. So I switched back to trades with volume 8.

Spyboy Vol. 1-5 and Young Justice

I started buying this Peter David/Pop Mhan vehicle just as it was being canceled. I loved the blend of action and humor. I loved the characters and the use of chibis (Japanese style animated avatars that crack jokes along the margins). And I would have switched to buying the monthly issues except it was, y’know, discontinued.

Star Wars: A Long Time Ago Vol. 1-7

I enjoyed reading the older Conans in trade form so much that I decided to take
the plunge with another classic series from the ‘70s and ‘80s: Marvel’s Star Wars.
Thankfully, Dark Horse had collected the entire series in 7 distinctive volumes. Ana bought me the first couple as a moving to Rochester present just over 3 years ago. I completed the collection in just over a year. I greatly enjoyed the series. There were some lows (Carmine Infantino had no idea how to draw Chewbacca). But there were some real highs as well right through the end with the introduction of compelling villains like Lumiya.

Classic Star Wars Vol. 1-3 and Early Adventures

These volumes collect the Star Wars newspaper strip. The first three volumes are by Al Williamson and they’re absolutely brilliant. Williamson had an incredible
eye for detail. He drew luscious landscapes, intricate spaceships and recognizable
characters. Early Adventures was drawn by another comics legend, Russ Manning, but unfortunately the strips are some of the worst Star Wars comics I’ve read in any format.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 7, Darth Maul, Force Unleashed, General Grievous and Menace Revealed Omnibus

For a while, I was collecting quite a lot of Star Wars comics. Even so, I missed the occasional mini-series and had to pick it up later in a trade. Clone Wars Volume 7 collects the excellent Obsession mini-series with art by Brian Ching. It features a classic confrontation between Anakin and Obi-Wan on one side and Asajj Ventress on the other. Darth Maul and General Grievous focus on a couple of prominent villains. Force Unleashed is an original graphic novel based on the recent video game. And Menace Revealed is a big collection of issues that came out before and during Star Wars Episode I.

Umbrella Academy Vol. 1-2

I was curious about this series from the get-go, even though I wasn’t a fan of Gerard Way (the writer) or My Chemical Romance (his band)… yet. But I was cautious. Hesitant, even. I skipped the single issues. Yet I kept hearing good things about the series. Finally, I dropped down an even bigger chunk of change to buy the trade. I am so glad I did. Umbrella Academy was excellent. It featured great characters (though I always thought Kraken and Horror had their names backwards) and told an engrossing story over time. Plus, the White Violin is one of the greatest- and most visually interesting- villains I’ve ever seen. The second volume, Dallas, is just as good, though this time I intentionally waited for the trade.

Witchfinder

One more Hellboy/BPRD spin-off to finish off the Dark Horse shelf.

Next week, on to the second shelf and DC.

Retro-Review: Peter David’s Incredible Hulk

He’s big and gray and mean. He’s the incredible Hulk. And I’ve never really read his adventures before. Oh, I have a few issues of the Hulk: some from the late ‘90s that received as free give-a-ways and a couple I had read as a child guest-starring the Soviet Super Soldiers. But I can’t say that the Hulk is a character I’ve followed or ever cared all that much about.

He’s bald and white and funny. He’s Peter David. And I’ve read plenty of his adventures before. In this case, I’m talking about the adventures he’s written. His Captain Marvel was one of my favorite titles at the time. I loved his Young Justice, admired his Spider-Man 2099, enjoyed his Spyboy and still love his X-Factor right now. But I had never read the run that had earned him more accolades than any other: his work on the Incredible Hulk.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a row of Incredible Hulk trades on a library book shelf. And, right in the middle, I saw a half-dozen volumes of Marvel Visionaries: Peter David. I decided to take the plunge. I grabbed the first three volumes (2-4, as number 1 wasn’t there) and figured I could come back later for the rest.

First things first: I liked them. I enjoyed them enough to set any other comics aside for a couple of weeks and plow through these instead. I even took one volume on vacation with me and read it at a friend’s house. If the point of a comic book is to entertain, Peter David’s Incredible Hulk succeeded.

So what did I like about it? And, if I’m being honest, what didn’t I like about it?

In volume 2, I liked the structure. I liked that there was an over-arching story- the Leader manipulating the Hulk- while each issue still had its individual battle as the Hulk fought the Leader’s minions in succession. The structure made sure that each individual issue (or, in the case of the trade, each chapter in the story) was satisfying while also giving you a reason to keep on reading.

(SPOILER ALERT)

I liked that the Leader was able to pull off his plan. It’s not often that you see a villain succeed. Two-thirds into this volume, the Leader successfully completed his plot and exploded a gamma bomb. I like the resolution even better. Peter David gave us a great done-in-one story as Rick Jones, Clay Quartermain and others dealt with the fall-out from the explosion (pun intended, I am reviewing a Peter David book after all).

I liked the abrupt change in status quo. After that, we were introduced to an all-new Hulk as he assumed the identity of a Las Vegas bouncer named Joe Fix-It. The sudden shift kept the title fresh and interesting. I understand that’s one of the hallmarks of Peter David’s work on the Incredible Hulk, and a major reason why he was able to last so long.

(END OF SPOILER ALERT)

I also liked the Todd McFarlane art. I realize that may be heresy in these parts, but I did. The Hulk’s body was bulging all over the place, like his skin couldn’t contain him. He looked like a clay monster, a golem, something simultaneously more and less than human. It was great. I also liked his exaggerated features for the Leader and most of the human cast. Ironically, the only depiction I didn’t care for was Bruce Banner. Banner was so exaggerated- with huge glasses and big bangs- that it was difficult to identify or empathize with him.

That’s not to say that volume two was perfect. I didn’t like that some of the Leader’s scenes were long-winded. I didn’t like most of the villains. We had Wolverine at the beginning (yay!) and Absorbing Man at the end (hooray!) but it was a league of losers in between.

However, my biggest problem was with the Hulk himself. It’s not entirely Peter David’s fault. The Hulk was created to be a Jekyll-and-Hyde character, two distinct personalities sharing one body. I happen to think that Wolverine is more interesting as an anti-hero, knowing that the demons he fights are part of who he is and not some other. But David didn’t help himself either. Triggering the change by the moon instead of by anger
separated the two halves even further. We weren’t reading about Bruce Banner as the Hulk; we were reading about Bruce Banner and the Hulk.

In volume 3, I liked the situation. The idea of casting the Hulk as a Las Vegas bouncer was brilliant. It gave him motivation beyond smashing things for the sake of it. He had a job. He had a reason to beat people up. He had a boss, co-workers, rivals and a potential girlfriend. And he had a secret to protect. The set-up had been established in volume 2 and came to a head in volume 4. In volume 3, it was the background yet it still added to the story over all.

I liked the side-trip to Jarella’s world. It was funny seeing the locals treat the Hulk as a god. It was even funnier seeing the Hulk’s reaction. It reminded me of some of the great Conan stories in which the barbarian is baffled by the customs of civilization.  The Hulk’s reactions are just as surprising to the locals and the reader. It’s a great way to keep things interesting. It’s a great way to include humor. And it’s a great way of exposing the foibles of our own society.

I liked the developments with Marlo. She’s an interesting addition to the cast. I was amused by her infatuation with Mr. Fix-It and intrigued by her interactions with Bruce Banner.

Once again, I mostly liked the art. That was kind of a surprise to me. I wasn’t familiar with Jeff Purves and was expecting a bit of a let-down between the bigger names on the title. But Purves did a very good job. He was more consistent than McFarlane and gave the Las Vegas stories his own imprint.

But I didn’t like everything. Volume 3 had a very rough start with crossovers with Web of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. The stories were mediocre. Even the art was bad, and not just on the non-Hulk halves. Purves had trouble drawing Spider-Man, Dr. Doom and Beast (the last in a one-panel cameo).

In volume 4, I liked just about everything. I liked the progression of the relationship triangle between the Hulk, Marlo and Bruce Banner. The web of assumptions, expectations and deceptions was intriguing. It had humor, as Bruce had to keep coming up with stories and excuses. It also had depth, as Marlo and her friend began to fear that Marlo fell for an abusive boyfriend. Mr. Fix-It had never been rough with her, but his tendency towards violence with everyone else was starting to scare her.  And it had pathos, as you really hoped that the Hulk would find happiness in love.

I liked the antagonists. This volume had the strongest cast of adversaries- even if some of them were expressions of someone else’s power. The collection of Wolverines, Things and other Hulks was fantastic. The battle with Iron Man was great. And the unknown Ghoul was developed much better than foes from previous volumes. I even liked the opponents from the short stories- Hulk Hogan (though David overdid it a little with the “who deserves the name” argument) and a killer whale. Plus, there was a behind-the-scenes antagonist in Glorian. Like the Leader, he cast a shadow over the entire volume even though he rarely faced the Hulk directly. Unlike the Leader, Glorian was trying to save the Hulk instead of defeat him. It was a great twist, with a lot of possibilities and emotional conflict. There were a few duds in there- I think that Nightmare and D’Spayre are pretty boring as metaphysical threats but that can be blamed on guest writer Bob Harras.

I especially liked that Peter David addressed some of my earlier concerns. Marlo had a great speech in which she told Bruce that he and “his cousin Joe” had a lot more in common than they thought. Bruce had anger in him and Joe had sensitivity. They just didn’t like to show it. Though she wasn’t aware of it, Marlo spoke to the fact that the two of them were halves of the same person.

I’m looking forward to volume 5 and beyond.